Emotional intelligence - Assignment Example

Name Date Affiliation Question one Emotional intelligence is the individual ability to monitor emotions collectively (personal and other people) hence labeling them appropriately and using that particular information to guide behavior and thinking. Three aspects of emotional intelligence involve perceiving emotions, reasoning with the emotions, Understanding the emotions and managing the emotions. Emotional intelligence is a fundamental skill for potential employees in the customer service. It involves the entire task of managing emotions at individual and third party levels hence becoming a crucial part of the customer management business. For employees working for the customer service jobs, they should have the skill since it will help in managing the emotions of the customer as well that of the individual. In such a case, it will be possible to culture an effective organization behavior (Aswathappa 2010, p.67). Emotional intelligence is crucial in improving the organizational outcomes in various ways. Through perceiving the emotions, the individual knows when the customer or co-worker has unstable emotions. This makes it possible to reduce chances of collision amongst the employees. Reasoning with the emotions helps in creating a good environment where people can understand each other hence facilitating a good working environment (Brooks 2006,p.78).Therefore; emotional intelligence works better for improved organizational outcomes. Teaching emotional intelligence is technical, and practical skills are the most applicable in the task. First, caring about people is crucial since it gives a chance to get to the details of individual information hence understanding the emotions of that particular individual ().Embracing the individual differences are crucial in the pursuit of effective emotional intelligence. It will prevent any possible instances of crisis hence creating a good working environment. The individual differences should be sources of strengths rather than weakness. Question two Attribution theory refers to the process through which social perceiver uses information to come up with explanations for particular circumstances. The theory normally examines the information gathered and the process of combining it to form causal judgment. Attribution theory deals with reason behind why and how ordinary people explain particular events, as they appear to do. Attribution theory is paramount in the goal oriented organizational behaviors since it seeks to explain why and how the ordinary people explain particular events. The goal oriented organization behavior will behave in a unique way and hence attribution theory seeks to explain the phenomenon. For instance, an organization that seeks to appease the customers will behave positively towards the customers even if it means disappointing the workers. Therefore, attribution theory facilitates shaping of goal oriented organization behavior(Buelens 2006,p.67). The fundamental error of attribution theory is external and internal attributions. Internal attributions emanate from personal traits. For instance, people tend to explain the behavior of a person through aspects of naivety, jealousy or reliability. On the other hand, individuals explain their behavior using external attributions such as the environment or situations. Managers should avoid using internal and external attributions to explain behavior for it will result in erroneous conclusions. For instance, a mistake committed at work should not have a close affiliation with environment or environment. Rather competency and know how should be the first priority. Stress has high contribution to fundamental attribution error since many employees commit the error when they are under stress (Heinrichs 2013, p.89). Question three Content motivation theory concentrates on the concept of what motivates people and follows the Abraham Maslow hierarchy of needs. The motivation to ascend to the next level of needs prompts one to work hard in a given organization (Karthick 2010,p.65). On the other hand, process theory deals with issues relating to the process of works and its sustenance over time. A theory is a scientific study whereby the events or occurrences emanate from input states leading to particular outcome (output) situation following a set of processes. Herzberg’s two-factor theory involves motivator and hygiene model. The motivators are factors that promote motivation in the working environment while hygiene factors promote job satisfaction in the working environment. According to Herzberg, job satisfaction emanates from achievement, features of the work, responsibility and finally advancement (McShane& Travaglione 2007, p.56).On the other hand, job dissatisfaction emanates from jobs that have poor company policies, supervision, salaries and interpersonal relationships. The hygiene factors normally lead to increased levels of job satisfaction. On the other hand, Abraham Maslow hierarchy of needs asserts that human beings work to meet the needs in the hierarchy. First, the physiological needs motivate people to work hard so that they can get food and other necessities. The motivation of people towards work increases according to the hierarchy of needs in the Maslow motivational theory ().The Maslow theory has various levels, and they include, physiological needs, safety needs, belonging, esteem needs and finally self-actualization. These needs form a hierarchy hence creating a ladder. These theories are crucial when setting up efficient organizational behavior. People work to meet the needs, and the organization behavior should have a clear orientation (McShane & Travaglione 2007,p.89). Vroom’s expectancy theory asserts that behavior emanates from conscious choices among other alternatives whose purpose is maximizing pleasure and minimizing the pain. Vroom realized that employee’s performance has base on the individual aspects such as personality, knowledge, skills, abilities and experience (Buelens 2006,p.78). The theorist asserts that performance and motivation have linked with motivation of an individual. The variables expectancy, instrumentality and valence normally account for this. Expectancy is the belief that the increased effort leads to increased performance. For instance, if an individual works hard, then the issue will be better. The excellence goes hand in hand with having the right resources, skills and relevant support to ensure implementation of the job. Similarly, instrumentality asserts that good performances results to valued outcome. The first level outcome contributes to the second level outcome (Heinrichs 2013, p.45). On the other hand, Prof. Edwin Locke formulated goal-setting theory. It postulates that people who have difficult but attainable goals normally perform better than those who have goals that are less difficult. The goals might be accuracy goals or directional, and they contribute to the effectiveness of the organization. The two theories are paramount in shaping productive and essential organizational behavior ().Manager can apply goal-setting theory to create a certain organizational behavior. Setting high but achievable will promote the effectiveness of the parties involved. On the other hand, Vroom’s theory is applicable in situations where people want to eliminate chances of pain life. Through working hard, it is possible to minimize pain and at the same time increase chances of getting better in life. Application of the theories creates conducive and effective organizational behavior hence improving team performance(Brooks 2006,p.89). Question four Theory Y and X are among the best theories of human motivation created by Douglass McGregor. The theory X asserts that employees are naturally unmotivated to work, and they do not like working. Therefore, authoritarian style of management is the most opportune and applicable in this case. This shows that the management has to intervene in an attempt to ensure that things follow the right direction. The theory assumes that people dislike working, normally avoid responsibilities and need direction. Consequently, the organizations that follow the management exhibit heavy management and supervision. In most organizations, theory X is not common though in large-scale production it is inevitable. On the other hand, Y theory assumes that the employees normally love their work, and they are happy whenever they work. The employees have self-motivation, and they work at ease. The employees in the Y environment take life as the natural part of life, and they solve incoming problems imaginatively. For instance, employees in the X environment, the manager will closely supervise and direct the employee while in the Y environment the employee will not need supervision since the work itself is motivation (Heinrichs 2013,p.78). Stacey Adams formulated the idea of fairness and equity as key components of motivation. The equity theory has a fundamental idea that individual have fairness a major motivation. Individuals will get higher motivation if cases of equity are high enough. However, reduction in equity will lead to decreased cases of motivation among the employees. Good illustrations of the equity theory are a situation where people are working in the same office, but one individual gets a higher pay than h other. In such case of unfairness, one party will feel unmotivated hence creating a gap or a disparity (Karthick 2010,p.45). Critics have postulated that each of these theories has flaws, and they are not effective alone. Conglomeration and blending make them more effective and productive. For instance, equity theory does not consider qualification. The manager does less work compared to a casual laborer, and this does not agree with the theory. On the Gregory theory, X theory is more diverse and applicable. Gregory asserts that Y theory is the most common, which is not true. Therefore, the effectiveness and practicability of each theory depend on the immediate milieu. Question five Conflict refers to friction, discord or disagreement that arises within a given a group due to differences in beliefs or actions of one or more parties hence terming the action unacceptable amongst the parties (McShane& Travaglione 2007,p.56). There are various approaches used in solving the conflicts, and they have proved to be effective in solving such challenges. First, it is important to define acceptable behavior. Definition of acceptable behavior is important since it is a crucial step in deterring occurrences of conflicts. Creating framework for decision-making using the published delegations of authority is crucial in encouraging sound business practices and team building. The second approach is hitting the conflict on the head. It is impossible to prevent conflicts from arising and facing the conflicts is the best option. Facing the conflict head on means finding the underlying cause of the problem and getting relevant solutions(Buelens 2006,p.56). Thirdly, understanding the WIIFM (what is not for me) factor is critical is solving the problem. In this approach, the best way to solve the conflicts is helping the other parties to achieve their objectives. The fourth approach is the importance factor. It is an important topic up the battles and avoids conflict for the sake of such conflicts. However, if the issue is vital enough to create conflicts, then it is also crucial to seek the best methods to solve the conflict. Finally, conflicts should be an opportunity for learning. When conflicts occur in an organization, it is possible to grasp important lessons that will be crucial in future management and shaping effective organizational behavior (Karthick 2010,p.45).The nature of the problem determines the relevant approach used in solving the conflict. However, the above approaches are crucial in solving the challenges effectively. Question six Bruce Tuck man published the forming, storming norming, performing and adjournment stages of team development. The stages are paramount in facilitating effective team building. The first stage of team development is known as forming. The team at this level requires leader for guidance and direction. The individual responsibilities and roles are unclear at this stage. The leader in this stage must answer many questions concerning the main purpose of the team. The level ignores the processes and the members normally test the tolerance of the leader and the system. For example, the forming stage is the initial meeting of a new group seeking a particular goal. Storming lies second in the stages of team development and decisions does not easily come within the group. The team members seek to establish themselves, and they vie for positions in the team. The team needs to focus on the goals and objectives of the team otherwise; the emotions might lead the team astray. Norming stage is the third stage and at his point, the team has consensus and respond towards the leader (Heinrichs 2013, p.67). The responsibilities and roles are clear and accepted, and the group seeks to develop. Performing is the fourth stage and at this time, the team knows exactly what it needs. The team has some shared visions, and it stands on its own feet. The team exhibits a high degree of autonomy and in case of disagreements, and the teams solve them amicably with all signs of maturity. For instance, registered business operating for one year matches the performing stage. The final stage is adjourning stage, and it involves break-up of the group. The dissolution happens after the completion of the task successfully (Heinrichs 2013, p.68). Question 7 onwards What is the difference between personality types and personality traits? How can personality traits be used to improve organizational performance?  Describe a personality trait cluster such as the Big 5and give examples of how it might be used to improve individual performance. Personality is the way of thinking, feelings and behavior that people portray individually, many ways can be used to measure personality but due to difficulty in dividing humans neatly into types psychologists tend to focus on personality traits which are broadly categorized into big five which make up the personality of an individual, Change of personality traits is considered a tough process but after the process openness can be prevalent. Contentiousness brings organization and a strong sense of duty, dependability, discipline and a strong focus on duty and achievement; it can be used to improve achievements in job and other places like school. (Gerald 2003) Extraversion and introversion traits are also major components of the big five, extravert people tend to be more social, they attract crowds, are chatty and social, in their social interactions they are most cheerful, introverts on the other hand spend most of the time alone, they may not necessarily be shy but they prefer most being alone on engagement with small groups. Neuroticism is where one shifts blame to anyone, worries of everything and where one can even quit job for not having some preferences, people with high levels of neuroticism worry frequently and are engulfed by anxiety and depression where people with low levels of neuroticism are keeled and emotionally stable. (Desiree 2008) In an organizational environment people behave in a certain way, there are factors that affect the job performance, interaction of employees, job commitment, managerial and leadership styles. Increase in organization performance can easily be achieved after carefully studying the organizational behavior of an institution. This area examines human behavior in the environment of work and its impact in the structure of work, communication, motivation, performance and many more. Internal perspective is based on employee’s personal feelings, thoughts interactions and experiences, and external perspective involves environmental factors that affect individual job performance and his behavior. Trustworthiness brought about by validity and reliability of the research and credibility of the research which ensures that the measures of study will produce what is intended and realistic, transferability which ensures that the findings of a study can be applied to other fields and situations, dependability which will help the information gathered to be dependable on its purposes and conformability which will ensure that the information of the study can be confirmed and are true in nature.(Ricky 2013) Objectives of the organization will be determined and performance standards will be defined and workers will be given work according to their fields of specialization in scientific way of leadership. Decision making approach is applied where importance of decision making is being evaluated and those making decisions are restricted in the environment and will choose those alternatives that will meet success but not optimal solutions. Systems approach will evaluate organizational behavior as input and processes output within the system, finance are included and human resources are included in the system. What is perception and how does it relate to organizational behavior? Describe three (3) frequently used shortcuts in judging others and discuss their managerial implications and applications. Give positive and negative examples of how these biases might affect team performance. Perception is the way an employee sees the value of work, goals and management of the organization as a whole, management is given the task of motivating employees to do their work correctly and on time, those workers who perceive to have control in their work will be more motivated and will excel in the organization, on the other hand how an employee perceives other people in the organization can greatly affect the his performance in an organization for instance where he observes there are chances of personal advancement and development he will be motivated by a larger degree and will complete his tasks correctly.(Stephen 2013) People will follow a number of shortcuts when evaluating others and making judgments regarding their activities, selective perception is where people are observed accordingly and perceptively according to their attitudes, experiences, backgrounds and interests for instance a manager in the production department will identify the need to strengthen the system of production and will focus on activities that will achieve these strengths such as marketing and sales promotion, to avoid the effect of this bias a manager should include other members of the team in his decision making. Projection is another frequently used shortcut is projection where a manager implies his own personal attributes to others for instance where he is found corrupt he will project that all the others are corrupt like him, mangers should like challenging work to make others like the same since if not so the people under him will not like it neither. Lastly, stereotyping which is the tendency to judge others based on the group to which one belongs, some people within the group may not possess the characteristics of the general group in reality so the management should not judge people this way as it will greatly affect the team performance if wrong group of people are included in the group.(Stephen 2013) French and Raven identified five bases of power within organizations. Explain these five bases and illustrate your explanation with examples. Discuss the influencing tactics that would be appropriate for each base. How might these tactics affect organizational performance in the short and long term? According to French and Raven authority possession and influence over others is what is referred to as power and can lead to positive or negative outcomes depending on how it is used in an organization, sources of power in an organization emanates from; Legitimate power or positional power which comes from the position a person holds in the hierarchy of an organization for example managers will give juniors work and in return the juniors are required to report to the managers, legitimate power must be earned to for exercise of positional power. Expert power is the power of knowledge where one gains expertise in a particular area and these people will receive high value in the organization for their skills in problem solving for example an IT expert can be promoted to hold the position of an IT manager in an organization. Referent power is achieved from the relationships which are interpersonal with the other people in the organization such as a person who wins peoples loyalty or lovable in the company will be admired, respected and trusted to gain this form of power. Coercive power is gained when a person has the ability to influence through sanctions, threats and punishments for example where a boss will punish a junior employee for being late or failure to meet deadlines and lastly, reward power which is derived from a person’s ability to influence allocation of resources and incentives in an organization such as positive promotions and appraisals, reward power can greatly motivate employees if used well. (Richard 2014) In short run the organization can benefit if these tactics are used since ones the manager has the required knowledge he will be able to apply the required knowledge in management depending on the employees he is dealing with and in the long run the organization will be able to achieve its desired objectives so as to improve its performance and its relations with the employees. a) Explain the terms, "operant conditioning" and "social learning theory" b) Explain four methods that managers can use to shape employee behavior and illustrate your explanation with relevant examples. c) What type of reinforcement schedule does random drug testing represent? Is this type of schedule typically effective or ineffective? Operant conditioning refers to behavior shaping due to punishments and reinforcements, men in work are treated as strong and big and on the other hand ladies are treated as being delicate and pretty. Operant conditioning principles suggests that reinforcement of behavior is made with rewards, men will be rewarded for showing male behavior and ladies for showing female behavior and will be punished on the other hand for showing inappropriate behaviors. Social learning theory uses the principles of social learning theory, observational learning and various reinforcements, men are more likely to copy male behaviors and ladies will imitate female behaviors, relevance which is behavior relevant and likely to be imitated such as behavior gender based and identification where the learning will happen when there is identification with the learner.(Glenn 2000) Shaping of employees behavior is a purpose of giving reward to employees, Methods that employers can use to shape employees are; positive reinforcement which involves behavior strengthening, a worker may find himself working overtime due to hoe the CEO praises him. Negative reinforcement is a process of strengthening behavior thus increasing its frequency by contingently doing away with what is not in line with the expectations for example a manager who will not yell at an employee who achieves his sales target. Positive punishment will involve weakening behavior and decreasing its frequency by presenting something that is displeasing contingently for example asking an employee to rewrite an article that was wrongly written and negative punishment where a manager will weaken behavior by decreasing its frequency by removing something that is unpleasing contingently for instance suspending an employee without any benefits or pay. (Stephen 2013) Random drug testing is crucial for any organization, it is effective since drugs pose a threat to work in an organization, athletes for example use drugs and this will risk their lives or can even be removed from competitions. Decision making often occurs in groups in the workplace.  Describe three advantages and three disadvantages of making decisions in a group.  Describe three common decision making biases including examples.  Discuss how these biases might strengthen or weaken organizational culture. Decision making is crucial in any organization, decisions can be made in groups and which has its own advantages and disadvantages, the advantages of group decisions is that the there is pooling of a variety of information from different people in the group, there is also making of decisions that will satisfy large number of the members since it may involve even voting to some issues and the decision making process in a group gives everyone equal chances to contribute to the management the organization. On the other had it has its own disadvantages where decisions made can take a longer time due to disagreements, there is lack of accountability from the outcomes of the decisions made and less efficiency where a lot of coordination is required among the groups. Describe three eras of organization structures over the last two centuries.  Discuss how technology has driven and/or responded to these changes.  How is organizational culture maintained in organizations without boundaries? Eras of organization structures over the last two centuries include the era of scientific management where there was shifting from small towns, businesses and agriculture to advanced cities that were industrialized, had factories and linked with rail. The era of nervous globalization followed due to expansion of the economy and increase in inflation where the states encouraged global trade by turning to telecommunications and finance and the third era was the era of leadership and innovation where the states concentrated much on improving the illiteracy levels among its citizens. Technology has mobilized much and has positively adopted to these changes in that It experts have all the way been able to come up with ways to deal with the populations demands such as telecommunications and transport sectors be creating modern rails and advanced communication sector, organizational culture can be maintained by ensuring there are rules laid down to be allowed by every employee and ensure other parties out of the organization can be included in some activities of the organization.(Arnold 2008) Organizations face dynamic and changing environments and managers are their primary change agents. What is force field analysis? Explain how Kotter’s eight-step plan builds on Lewin's three-step change model to create a more detailed approach for implementing change. Where appropriate illustrate your discussion with relevant examples. Force field analysis is decision making tool or technique as it helps in analysis of effects of change in management. Kotters came up with more detailed approach on implementing change which involved, creating urgency, forming a powerful coalition, creating a vision for change, communicating the vision and lead by example, removing obstacles, creating short-term wins, building on the change and anchor the changes in corporate culture. Work groups have properties that shape the behavior of members and make it possible to explain and predict both individual and group behavior. Explain how the Hawthorne studies make an important contribution to our understanding of norms in determining individual work behavior. Explain Asch's experiment on group pressures for conformity and discuss its implications for the problem of "groupthink". Hawthorne studies showed that productivity could be affected by social conditions, attention of supervisors and their handling of the employees will greatly affect productivity, and the results of his experiments did not show any relationship between the lighting intensity and the output rate. Asch in his experiment on group pressures found out that conformity in the society is so strong and a matter of concern raises questions on the ways of education and the values that are conduct guiding, in groupthink where a group of people face a psychological phenomenon and where conformity is required in decision making, loyalty is required to avoid many contradicting solutions due to lack of creativity and independent thinking.(Richard 2010) Describe two theories of leadership including how they define leadership.  Critically discuss the argument “that leadership can be learnt” for a modern workplace setting.  In your answer please discuss at least three different perspectives and provide examples. Traits approach and behavioral approach are theories of leadership where traits focus on physical, social and mental characteristics of the leader, behavioral approach focused on on how concerned, how supportive the employer is towards employees and whether he recognizes their achievements, there great effect on the productivity of employees where they are motivated and recognized. It is true that leadership can be learnt from a modern workplace, when we take for example a media company we require people with expertise on different fields starting from reporters, publishers to news anchors, the manager will require to deal with all these people accordingly, ensuring that the decisions made are in line with what is expected, the leader is required to have traits and behavior which are admirable and can be followed by the rest of the staff. What is conflict?  Discuss how views of conflict have changed over time (from 1930 until today). Provide three (3) different examples of how conflict can improve performance of teams. What can managers do to stimulate conflict in the workplace? Conflict involves disagreement between two or more parties regarding their needs, concerns and interests conflict may be normal for the organization or may be a threat on t other hand, it can improve the team’s performance when there is a situation where every individual is not afraid to raise any opinions that challenges the management, individuals among the teams may also be allowed to raise opinions in the personal levels although this needs to be carefully handled so as not to create enmity. Conflict will improve processes, change behaviors and help in resolving misunderstandings. Managers can stimulate conflict by engaging employees in team work and allowing individual contributions towards the group work. (Barbara 2008) Sir Richard Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate and investor. He is best known as the founder of Virgin Group, which comprises more than 400 companies. a) Describe Branson’s leadership style using three different perspectives of leadership. b) How might Branson’s leadership style affect employee motivation? Richard Branson applies three forms of leadership, he is charismatic where he influences others through his personality power and inspires passion where he wants to expand the market place of his organization, he is innovative where he brings new ideas and do away with what is not working when he wants to create work and develop new products and services and lastly he is a pace setter where he sets standards that are high for the group so that the staff can feel highly motivated and skilled. These leadership styles Richard applies can affect employees motivation in case of him being charismatic the success of the team being seen as the presence of him brought it and too much risk involved can make the leader of the group leave or have feelings of invincibility. He being innovative will lead to increased risk for, respect for others is observed and job satisfaction for the team is gained. References Aswathappa, K. (2010). Organisational behaviour (Rev. ed.). Mumbai [India: Himalaya Pub. House. Brooks, I. (2006). Organisational behaviour: Individuals, groups and organisation (3rd ed.). Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Glenn D. Walters (2000) Beyond Behavior: Construction of an Overarching Psychological Theory of lifestyles. Library of congress. USA Gerald Matthews, Ian J. Deary, Martha C. Whiteman (2003). Personality Traits. Cambridge University press. USAv Buelens, M. (2006). Organisational behaviour (3rd ed.). London: McGraw-Hill. Heinrichs, K. (2013). Handbook of moral motivation theories, models, applications. Rotterdam: Sense. Karthick, K. (2010). Organisational behaviour (Rev. ed.). Mumbai [India: Himalaya Pub. House. McShane, S., & Travaglione, A. (2007). Organisational behaviour on the Pacific rim (2nd ed.). North Ryde, NSW: McGraw-Hill Australia. Stephen P. Robbins (2013). Organisational behaviour in Southern Africa, 2nd edition. South Africa Pearson publishers Ricky Griffin, Gregory Moorhead (2013) Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. Michael schenk. USA Read More