Review of Golemans Emotional Intelligence - Essay Example

13 October Review of Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence Emotional intelligence has been a thriving field of study, since Gardner and other scholars argued that IQ is not the entire aspect of human intelligence. Daniel Goleman believes that emotional intelligence, or EI, has a critical role to play in human functioning and organizational development. He studies the nature and effects of EI in his book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Goleman argues that EI development can be a significant resolution to existing personal, team, and organizational challenges, and that emotional literacy should be integrated into childhood education to ensure the holistic development of society’s future citizens. His book is divided into five parts, which encompasses the impact of emotions in human behaviors and relationships, the dimensions of emotional intelligence, and the relevance of the EI construct to diagnosing and resolving problems in personal relationships, organizational performance, and health. Goleman supports his main premises through combinations of empirical studies, logic, and personal opinions and experiences, thereby providing a lay approach to a scientifically-hard-to-measure dimension of intelligence. IQ is not the guaranteed means to success because EI can matter more given certain circumstances. Cognition does not depend on only IQ to process and respond to people: “cognition— the understanding of oneself and of others in motives, in habits of working, and in putting that insight into use in conducting one’s own life and getting along with others” (Goleman 40). Feelings are critical aspects of cognition, which EI literature aims to unravel and support. Goleman asserts that EI is part of the 80% factors that account for success: “…emotional aptitude is a meta-ability, determining how well we can use whatever other skills we have, including raw intellect” (36). He does not argue that EI is better than IQ, but that it has a large role to play in maximizing people’s existing talents and skills. Goleman appeals to logic on this regard: “The brightest among us can founder on the shoals of unbridled passions and unruly impulses; people with high IQs can be stunningly poor pilots of their private lives” (34). EI can provide the social and emotional skills needed to put talent into better use in people’s personal lives and careers. Two studies supported the relationship between EI and academic/workplace success. Di Fabio and Palazzeschi in “An In-Depth Look at Scholastic Success: Fluid Intelligence, Personality Traits or Emotional Intelligence?” investigated the functions of fluid intelligence, personality traits and emotional intelligence (both ability-based and self-reported) in affecting scholastic success, and corroborated the incremental validity of emotional intelligence, in relation to fluid intelligence and personality factors. Their sampling included one hundred twenty-four high-school students. They completed the following instruments: the Advanced Progressive Matrices, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised Short Form, the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory: Short (Di Fabio and Palazzeschi 582). Findings showed that fluid intelligence, personality and emotional intelligence shaped scholastic success, emphasizing the role of emotional intelligence, using the ability-based model (Di Fabio and Palazzeschi 581). This research indicates that intelligence has numerous dimensions and that they are all important to academic effectiveness. Pornpandejvittaya and Sukkhewat analyzed the impact of emotional intelligence quotient (EIQ) on professional practice in “Emotional Intelligence Quotient, Professional Practice and Job Success: Empirical Research in the Stock Exchange in Thailand.” They also explored the relationship between professional practice and job success. They conducted a systematic random sampling strategy in selecting participants from a population of accountants in The Stock Exchange on Thailand (Pornpandejvittaya and Sukkhewat 202). Questionnaires were e-mailed to the sampling and attained a 23% response rate (Pornpandejvittaya and Sukkhewat 202). Findings showed that emotional intelligence, particularly its dimensions of intrapersonal, adaptability and general mood, has a positive effect on professional practice and job success (Pornpandejvittaya and Sukkhewat 202). The limitations of the study are reliance on Bar-on’s emotional intelligence model which may not be sufficient in explaining the factors and effects of emotional intelligence, and the small sampling size that reduces generalizability across cultures and professions (Pornpandejvittaya and Sukkhewat 202). Like Fabio and Palazzeschi, Pornpandejvittaya and Sukkhewat supported Goleman’s premise that EI is critical in attaining the kind of development that will result to success in scholastic and workplace settings. Aside from the role of EI in intelligence and success, self-awareness is an aspect of emotional intelligence that results to individual and workplace success. Goleman underlines that EI includes self-awareness: “Empathy builds on self-awareness; the more open we are to our own emotions, the more skilled we will be in reading feelings” (96). Empathy is both an inward and outward aspects of feelings for others. But more than feelings, Goleman suggests that critical thinking is involved in empathy (Goleman 96). He does away with the notion that empathy is blinded feelings, by underlining that self-awareness is part of feeling (Goleman 96). It is an awareness that requires analysis and reflection, and not just basing actions on passions. In addition, Goleman explains that emotions help people manage cognition through managing one’s emotions and the emotions of others: “To the degree that our emotions get in the way of or enhance our ability to think and plan, to pursue training for a distant goal… they define the limits of our capacity to use our innate mental abilities, and so determine how we do in life” (80). Managing emotions results to communication and people skills that are vital to human functioning. On this regard, Goleman provides several real-life examples, such as Eliot, who had a tumor removal (Goleman 53). After his surgery, his life went upside-down. He consulted the neurologist Antonio Damasio, who realized that “along with the brain tumor, [the surgery removed] a part of Elliot’s prefrontal lobes,” which turned him into a computer-like being (53). Damasio explained the process of feeling and thinking in the brain: “Elliot’s thinking had become computer like…And that overly dispassionate reasoning…was the core of Elliot’s problem: too little awareness of his own feelings about things made Elliot’s reasoning faulty” (53). Self-awareness is important to EI, which affects people’s proper handling of their relationships and jobs. Some scholars supported Goleman’s contention that workplace success cannot be attained without EI. Colfax, Rivera, and Perez studied the relationship between EI and success at work in “Applying Emotional Intelligence (EQ-I) in the Workplace: Vital to Global Business Success.” They proposed that leadership has three dimensions: personality, cognitive intelligence, and emotional intelligence. They used several studies, where they interpreted that cognitive intelligence is not enough to be successful in many kinds of jobs (Colfax, Rivera, and Perez 89). This applies to leadership too. For them, leaders are made, especially when their EI is trained to help them succeed in their respective career goals: “…everyone is predisposed to becoming a global leader. For each person then, while potential may exist, that potentiality may still be left wanting without legitimate realization and actualization of certain skills” (Colfax, Rivera, and Perez 95). Intelligent people may unsuccessful because they lack the social or emotional skills to handle high-level jobs. Colfax, Rivera, and Perez argue the key ingredients to being an effective leader: “It is through awareness, opportunity and training that the manifestation for such leadership evolves” (95). They note that globalization requires expertise in handling cross-cultural relationships that leaders with high EI will be good at (Colfax, Rivera, and Perez 95). In their conclusion, they emphasize how EI supports effective global leadership: “Effective global leaders have a developed emotional intelligence (EQ) (Colfax, Rivera, and Perez 97). Their EQ awareness will allow them the ability to maintain the balances needed for better global leadership in the business world of today and tomorrow” (97). They understand that leadership concerns several intelligences and personality traits. Like Goleman, they believe that EI is essential to great leadership in the business community. Because EI is something that can be embedded into people’s values and actions, it can be taught to people to enhance their abilities to manage their emotions and to respond to the emotions of others. Goleman believes that like other competencies, EI can be integrated into leadership and school curriculum: “The emotional-literacy movement, though, turns the term affective education inside out— instead of using affect to educate, it educates affect itself” (262). This statement magnifies the importance of emotions in educating people about morality and social conduct. EI molds people’s minds and characters, which is significantly important in modern society, where many children are growing up angry and frustrated in the world: “The bedrock of character is self-discipline; the virtuous life, as philosophers since Aristotle have observed, is based on self-control” (Goleman 285). Teaching students about EI can help them become more connected to their inner humanity, as well as more connected with other human beings as well. One study supported the teaching of EI. Ashkanasy and Dasborough believe in EI training’s role in raising great leaders, in “Emotional Awareness and Emotional Intelligence in Leadership Teaching.” Their sampling included 144 students. Findings showed that teaching students about EI can enhance their team performance (Ashkanasy and Dasborough 18). This study gave empirical evidence to the acceptance of EI as an important measure in leadership and team effectiveness (Ashkanasy and Dasborough 18). Like Goleman, Ashkanasy and Dasborough assert that EI is something that can be taught to people, so that they can enhance their ability to work effectively with others (Ashkanasy and Dasborough 18). This book affects everyday life because it shows that feelings should be undervalued in managing personal relationships. Goleman stresses that EI is part of thinking, the kind of thinking that people need to make the right decisions in their lives. First, the book helps provide tools that can manage communication patterns. These tools help people deal with different kinds of people more effectively. Second, the book discusses how self-awareness can be attained. Self-awareness makes people more sensitive to others, because they know themselves better. Third, EI is beneficial in raising children. EI will be taught to children, so that they can hone effective EI skills. In addition, Goleman improves professional competencies through recognizing the multiple aspects of intelligence to leadership. As a leader, it is important to enhance EI to better manage social and emotional challenges at work. EI explains the difference between great and ineffective global leaders, through how they manage emotions and social connections. Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ proposes the importance of nourishing EI in having a balanced life and attaining workplace and organizational effectiveness. It is recommended to parents, educators, and leaders who want to expand their understanding of intelligence and become more effective in their roles and responsibilities in life. Businesspeople will benefit from using this book at the workplace because its trains leaders and employees to be effective managers of their emotions and workplace relationships. Finally, it is a book worth applying in everyday life, as people strive to become more balanced in their approach to their identities and others. It suggests an important aspect of human happiness that relies on thinking with feelings and feeling without forgetting how to think. Works Cited Ashkanasy, Neal M., and Marie T. Dasborough. “Emotional Awareness and Emotional Intelligence in Leadership Teaching.” Journal of Education for Business 79.1 (2003): 18-22. Print. Colfax, Richard S., Rivera, John J., and Karri T. Perez. “Applying Emotional Intelligence (EQ-I) in the Workplace: Vital to Global Business Success.” Journal of International Business Research 9 (2010): 89-98. Print. Di Fabio, Annamaria, and Letizia Palazzeschi. “An In-Depth Look at Scholastic Success: Fluid Intelligence, Personality Traits or Emotional Intelligence?” Personality and Individual Differences 46.5 (2008): 581-585. Print. Goleman, Daniel. Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. New York: Bantam Books, 1995. Print. Pornpandejvittaya, Pairat, and Anchalee Sukkhewat. “Emotional Intelligence Quotient, Professional Practice and Job Success: Empirical Research in the Stock Exchange in Thailand.” Journal of the Academy of Business & Economics 11.3 (2011): 202-212. Print. Read More