Emotional Intelligence - Essay Example

Emotional Intelligence The precise definition of emotional intelligence keeps on changing with more and more research into this newly administered topic. Emotional intelligence is the ability or characteristic or a skill of a person, to recognize, review and supervise the emotional variations of one or others. This capability comes in handy in today's dynamic organizations where much emphasis is paid on working in dynamic teams. As mentioned earlier, it is one of the relatively new fields of research in psychology Since emotional intelligence is a topic that is new in the domains of psychological research, there are three models which help in explaining the topic better. These three models are the ability based EI model, mixed model of EI and trait EI model. The ability based model views emotions as powerful resources of information that help people understand their environment better and intermingle with the social environment in a more profitable way. The concept of emotional intelligence is gathering exceptional importance in recruitment these days. This concept has revolutionized the way human resource is identified, assessed and evaluated. A very fine example of its importance in recruitment and selection is when a number of graduates are applying for the same post with the same degree; the managers would base their selection on the assessment of the EI and the person with the best Emotional Intelligence Quotient will be selected. The reason for selection for the person with the best EI quotient would be because this would be the quality that would set the graduate apart; he or she would possess the ability to create a synergy between the different kinds of people working under him or her, he would be able to display empathy and create reverberation with others. This quality would make him or her, a better candidate than others. People with high emotional intelligence are more emotionally aware of themselves. Being self aware means to understand the functioning and ups of downs of one's own emotional stability and how it affects their work and daily activities. According to research, people with high emotional intelligence are likely to be self aware of themselves and their surroundings. They are familiar with their inner vibes and how their inner feelings affect their work. in complex situations, people with higher emotional intelligence are able to make better decisions based on their intuitions because they can see the bigger picture in time of a crisis. They are confident about their guiding principles are this helps them in successfully administering those guiding principles in his or her followers. Emotional intelligence is highly desired in leadership situations. Leadership is a word which has been associated with the words brave, tough with a sense of purpose. However, the requirements from a typical leader have changed because today's environment doesn't require autocratic leaders like before and leadership has evolved over the years to become an intrigue form of democracy of the workforce and independence to work. Also, employees these days have far more bigger and better options to work and exploit their own capabilities. Therefore, emotionally intelligent people are better off realizing these present requirements from leadership and they take better steps at understanding the needs of their employees, empathize with them and satisfy those needs by the help of various tools. 360 degree questionnaires are used in big organization to appraise individuals now to let the individual know where they stand in the eyes of others and how big a gap there is in between their own perception about themselves and others perception of them. This gives them a clear understand about what areas they need to work on to reduce the gap between the actual state and the desired state. This helps to increase self awareness which in turn is a pre requisite of emotional intelligence. These measure are now being taken, show the importance of development of emotional intelligence in managers and individuals. It has become people become better individuals in terms of their work and other curricular areas such as family. 1. Power is the ability to make people work according to your needs and wants. To ability to influence others decision by the use of force of otherwise. Leadership, on the other hand, is the power an individual possess by the help of which he or she can motivate or manipulate the decisions of others without the use of force. It is a quality that is rich is people power and not position power. 2. Fielder's contingency theory is a type of situational theories of leadership which propose that styles should match the situation at hand. According to Fielder, leaders are either task motivated or relationship motivated. Fielder's theory says that the leaders should learn to manipulate their leadership qualities and style according to the situation at hand in order to create a match between their leadership style and the control of the situation. 3. When individual needs are directly related or perceived to be related to individual outcomes, then they result in motivation. If person believes that a certain action would help him gain respect in the eyes of his or her boss and this is the individual outcome that he wants the most, then that person would be motivated to undertake that action. The point to ponder is managers should always know what their employees needs are in order to induce motivation with the help of individual outcomes. 4. Maslow's hierarchical needs suggest that people quench their needs in a certain direction, one by one. For example, physiological needs come in first and the person has to physiologically fit in order to achieve the self esteem needs. The hierarchy suggests that self-actualization is the step that is the last step of this hierarchy cannot be achieved without accomplishing all the other needs. 5. Motivation is dependent on the individual's perception about linkage between a action and a desired outcome. Therefore, if a person believes that working late hours will get the person the required result in the test, that person will be motivated to work harder other than the person who does not perceive any linkage between the two. a. Communication: the process of transferring of information between the sender and the receiver. The information is coded in the form of a message, transmitted through a medium and reaches the receiver. b. Effective Communication: it is the process of communicating in the right manner so that the message that was intended to be transmitted should reach the receiver in the same context. c. Conflict: disagreement between two or more people over a certain topic of interest. d. Negotiation can be a strong tool in handling conflicts between different parties. It reduces the difference between the states of both the parties to a point where there is mutual agreement. e. Negotiating successfully requires; to listen to the other person's perspective, needs and find a loophole in it, bank on that loophole and then put forward your own demands. The key is effective listening and banking on the weak points. Reference Perry Akasha Lonsdale (2007) The Importance of Emotional Intelligence. Retrieved May 22nd, 2008, from web title Web site: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Lonsdale1.html Read More