For and against Emotional Intelligence - Coursework Example

Introduction Emotional intelligence is one of the factors that greatly contribute to the human behavior. It refers to that personal ability of each individual to control, perceive as well as evaluate emotions. It has also been defined as the social intelligence subsets involving people’s abilities to monitor their very own as well as other people’s emotions and feeling to make a difference and be in a position to make use of the information gained in guiding their actions and thoughts. According to the research that has been carried by a number of people; some claim that it is inborn while other argues that it can be strengthened through teaching (Terence, 1984). There are number of theories that have been developed by different sociologist to help people understand the human behavior in different levels like at personal level like personal motivations and personalities, the level of team like group dynamics and personality and finally the level of organizational differences like culture and structure differences found in different organizations. These factors are what contributes to differences in the human behaviors, the manner in which they inter relate with others, the management and structures found in different organizations and the relationships in teams. Emotional intelligence Emotional intelligence which is abbreviated as EQ (emotional quotient) is a behavior model which was developed in the early years of mid 1970’s by the famous psychologist Gardner Howard and others. It is a very important aspect of human being since it is what defined their personal development as well as the organizational development. This is because it is the principles of EQ that gives a way of enabling people to understand as well as be able to assess the behaviors of other people, the styles of marketing, the different attitudes, different interpersonal potential and skills. It is also a very important factor of consideration especially when making planning for the human resource, selection and interview recruitment, job profiling, management development, understanding customer service and customer relations (Sosik & Jung, 2002). This is because of the fact that all of the above entails dealing with the human beings who are different in so many ways and so understanding the concept of emotional intelligence will help improve the human aspect of interrelation as well as management of the organization. It is the Emotional intelligence that strongly provides a link with matters of spirituality and love a factor that contributes to the humanity and compassion to work. The theories of the emotional intelligence on the other hand enable the measure and illustrate the capacity contained in different people as far as their value is concerned (Robbins, et el, 2008). This is because of the fact people are different and by measuring their capacity it is very easy even for the managers to be able to assign duties to the employees at work place. Despite the fact that emotional intelligence has been associated to great success in that people who have a very high EQ are said to be very successful especially academically, research has proved otherwise. This is because they argue that success in not just EQ but it is worth much more. They have come up with empirical evidence that shows measuring success only by EQ ignores some very essential characters and behavior since there are so many people in the world who are very brilliant academically but are inept both interpersonally and socially (Robbins, et el, 2008). This means that even relating with other in the workplace or even relating with their employees is a big problem hence a vey great contribution to their downfall. There are four main factors that should be considered for anyone to be able to use his or her emotional intelligence appropriately. They are the perception each individual has as far as emotions are concerned, one’s ability to use his or her emotions to reason out, one’s ability to reason out using the emotional intelligence and finally the ability of any person to be bale to manage as well as take control of their emotions (Robert et el, 2008). Some of the issues like one’s ability to understand and perceive their own emotions are very important irrespective of their level of emotional intelligence since it is that which enables them to be able to control and regulate their own emotions before helping other do it. Also this will help people to be better mangers of relationship. Emotional intelligence has been associated with the aspect of embracing as well as relying on a number of areas like some branch of behaviors, communication theories and emotional theories. It should be noted that the ability of an individual to understand his or her emotions greatly contributes to his or her ways of communication with other people. This is because communication is more than verbal; it also entails the aspects of physical communication displayed by different attitudes (Peter et el, 2004). The process of emotional development is associated with the reduction of stress both at the individual level as well as et the level of the organization, it is also a way through some of the conflicts in the society and country at large is reduced hence helping in enabling people to understand and improve their relationships, increase stability and also ensure harmony. This will also improve the issues of social competence through social skills and awareness and personal competence through self awareness, self motivation and regulation. Emotional intelligence is very important in the place of work through paving a way to be able to assess all organizational needs, gives a way to assess the individual abilities and quality for the purposes of job assignment, enables the assessment to be delivered in a great care in that the communication approach is well developed and delivered to the people. There is also the aspect of learning choices maximization, participation among the employees is also encourages since they are able to understand each other and embrace each other’s ideas and opinions (Jeanne, 1997). People are able to link their personal goals to be in line with the organization’s they are working for; they are also able to make adjustments to their individual expectations. Also it is very important to the management of the organization in that it enables them to make assessment of the motivation and readiness for the workers to embrace emotional quotient development. It is also the key for working towards change in the world. This is because it is the key for fostering a good relationship between the leaders and the people under the leadership; it enables people to be able to do personal and self directed learning as well as change, enables people and organization to split the organizational and personal goals to be achievable (Goleman, 2006). Through teaching people how to manage their personal emotions it has helped them to give the right feedback, build support, improve their self awareness and encourage personal insights. Also there is the aspect of encouraging people to apply their new knowledge in their workplaces as well as develop cultures in the organization to support the same acquisition of knowledge. Emotional intelligence is very important in the area of leadership. This is because a leader who is very well versant with his or her emotions and is able to manage and control them appropriately will make a better leader. Leadership is all about influencing other people and not dictating. A good leader is meant to help the employees in their efforts to develop and improve the performance of the organization. This is because they are the one’s the employees look up to for direction and performance (Gerald et el, 2004). This means that the attitudes as well as the behaviors of the leader are very important an important factor in relation to the humanity. Leadership is all about people and it involves a lot of decision making and as well as so many actions but the most responsibility is the fact that it directly involved the responsibilities towards the people who are directly under the leadership. Good aspects of leadership mean a great deal of emotional strengths as well as characteristics in terms of behavior which are dependent on the spiritual and mental reserves of the leader. Some responsibilities of the leaders are inevitable especially with reference to the needs of the people meaning the responsibility of leadership is a great profound concept demanding the leader to be very stable as far as the issue of emotional intelligence is concerned (Gaines et el, 1995). It should be noted that leadership is more than management, directing controlling and instructing people. People will follow someone in the name of a leader nor because of the skills they possess but because of the trust as well as they respect they have for that person. This explains why leadership is all about attitudinal qualities as far as humanity is concerned. The reason for that is because it involves the relationships they have with their subordinates with reference to some qualities like integrity, humility, honesty, commitment, courage, sincerity, confidence, positivity, passion, sensitivity, determination, compassion and wisdom (Elenkov, 1998). All of these characters are largely dependent on one’s emotional intelligence level of development. This means that it is a very important aspect as far leadership is concerned. Conclusion The ability for people to attract people to follow them or rather to bow to their authority is dependent on their attitudes and behaviors. This means that if a certain person is seeking an opportunity for leadership at whatever level. Even in the aspects of politics, there would be not conflicts if the politicians were well conversant with their own emotional intelligence since they could be able to control their communication as well as their actions. Understanding one’s level of communication and being able to control their emotion intelligence is the best option for starting a negotiation incase there arises an aspect of conflict. It is also through understanding emotional intelligence that the employees can be able to adjust to different cultures in the organization. Also good communication is dependent on one’s understanding and ability to control his or her emotional intelligence the best way. Reference Daniel, G. 2000. Working with emotional intelligence. Oxford: Oxford University press. Elenkov, D. 1998. Can American Management Concepts Work in Russia? A Cross-cultural Comparative Study. California Management Review, 40(4), pp. 133-156. Gaines, S.O. and Reed, E.S. 1995. Prejudice: From Allport to DuBois. American Psychologist, 50 (2), pp. 96-103. Gerald, M, & Moshe, Z. & Richard, D. 2004. emotional intelligence: science and myth. London: Greenwich publishing group. Goleman, D. 2006. Emotional intelligence. New York: Barron's Educational Series. Jeanne, S. 1997. Raising your emotional intelligence: a practical guide. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books/D.C. Heath and Company. Peter,S & Marc, A. & John, D. 2004. Emotion intelligence: key readings on the mayer and Salovey model. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Robert, J, Vinod, K, & Manas, K. 2008. Emotional intelligence: theoretical and cultural perspective. New York: Pearson Education. Robbins, S, Judge, TA, Millet, B, & Waters-Marsh, T 2008, Organizational Behavior, 5th ed. Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education Australia, Sosik, J. and Jung D. 2002. Work-group characteristics and performance in collectivistic and individualisti cultures. The Journal of Social Psychology. Washington, pp 5-23. Terence, R., 1984. Motivation and performance. Chester: Pearson Weaver, K. 2000. Attitudes toward Cooperative Strategies: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Entrepreneurs. Journal of International Business Studies, 31, Fourth Quarter 2000: pp 591-609. Read More