The Emotional Intelligence Test - Essay Example

Word Count: 1,665

Introduction

The personality test is widely used across the world for various reasons both to individual and other interested parties. At the individual level, a personality test can help one to associate with others comfortably since we realize our strengths and weakness. The ability to gain self-awareness enables us to appreciate strengths and weakness of others since they tolerate our weakness too. The self-analysis essay will focus on my emotional intelligence and social style.

The emotional intelligence test will enable me to gather information required to determine my thinking and behavior since I can appropriately differentiate my thoughts and those of other people. According to Daniel Goleman, emotional intelligence can be elaborated using a mixed model which entails analysis of five constructs that includes self-awareness, managing emotions, motivating oneself, empathy and social skills (Mayer & Salovey, 1993). The figure below elaborates more variables on each construct;

Fig 1: Source-selfstudyhistory, 2015

The social style enables individuals to determine personality through analysis of assertiveness and responsiveness. The two variables are measured in scale then a comparison of the two measures arrives at the desired result that explains one’s social style. According to social style model, individual possess one of the four behavioral patterns which include driving, analytical, amiable and expressive style (Lee & Ofshe, 1981). The understanding of behavioral pattern enables individuals to develop proper and interactive relationship with other people in workplace or groups. It makes it easy to meet control and decision-making needs of the group. The figure below elaborates more on social style model in personality test;

Fig 2: Source -The social styles handbook, 2004

Analysis

The analysis of the personality test will look into my personality, strengths, weakness, the implication in the workplace, areas of improvements and ways to improve. The analysis is elaborated below;

My personality

According to the emotional intelligence test, I was able to find out that my emotional intelligence shows that I have an excellent platform to develop good leadership capacity since I scored 97 which is below 100 and above 50. Emotional intelligence is not innate talent but developed through a learning process. Therefore, I have the ability to achieve high emotional intelligence by focusing on variables with the low or intermediate score.

To achieve high emotional intelligence, I need to focus on construct with a score of less than 20 since they are considered intermediate since it is below 20 (high) and above 10 (low). The components with intermediate result include self-awareness and managing emotions. The variables with the score of 20 and above (20) include motivating oneself, empathy and social skills.

The personality test with social style model showed that my behavior pattern imitates amiable style meaning that I do not hide emotions or give orders but prefer to ask questions instead (Kondalkar, 2007). The variable score entails score of 2.4 for assertiveness and 2.8 for responsiveness. The amiable style on the right side means that I like being with people, good listener, loyal and value a good relationship with other people. On the weaker side, amiable style means that I am not good in dealing with a hard situation or task, risk averse and less productive since we take a lot of time in establishing good relationship than working. The way my friends needs to interact with me to foster a healthy relationship can be achieved by following six steps as elaborated below by Tracom Group;

Fig 3: Source-TRACOM GOURP

The understanding of my personality enables me to find values that I need to uphold and those that needs improvement. The development will ensure that I relate well to workplace colleagues and people in other social gatherings that requires my participation either actively or passively.

Strengths and weakness

Strengths

According to the personality test, I was able to identify my strengths which I need to uphold to ensure success in handling myself and other people. The emotional intelligence test showed that I am an individual who can motivate oneself. This value is essential when handling the task or a situation in solitude since I can quickly push myself to achieve the desired result despite the complexity of the task. Also, a high social skill is important when working with the group since I can accommodate other people’s views and respond appropriately without causing havoc. On the other hand, high empathy level enables me understand my colleagues or individuals in my social circle and share their feeling which is good for fostering a good rapport.

The social style test echoes my characteristics strengths from emotional intelligence test. For example, high social skills and empathy score goes hand in hand with the love of being in a company, loyalty, listening keenly and concern on building a good relationship with workplace or social circle. These strengths limit conflicts with another individual I interact with on daily basis thus improving my productivity and promote healthy living due to the low stress level.

Weakness

The understanding and acceptance of self-weakness is the beginning of self-improvement and appreciating weaknesses of others both in the workplace and other social gatherings (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). The social style test enabled me to understand my weakness which entails putting much concern in establishing a good relationship with everyone instead of focusing on my productivity to other parties and me. Also, love of being in group distorts the feeling of being secure or correctness when I am making the decision on my own. Therefore, it makes it difficult for me to make a decision under a difficult situation due to risk evasiveness.

According to amiable style, one cannot easily hide emotion or give orders but instead, ask a question. It supports my emotional intelligence results on managing emotions (18) which were less than recommended score of 20 and above. Therefore, I cannot handle sensitive matters or compel individuals to work since I am poor in giving orders. Lastly, low self-awareness makes it hard for me to understand what makes me happy or feel right.

Workplace implication

The personality test is used in most firms during selection and recruitment process to determine the desirable individual to be hired. Also, it is used in job division and specialization since human resource department must ensure that individuals feel comfortable. The comfort within the workplace is achieved through management of organization behavior which majorly relies on personality test (Alansari & Alansari, 2004). Therefore, personality test reduces psychological stress arising from individual and environment factors since coping and the cognitive process is integrated well.

Fig4: Source- LAZARUS and FOLKMAN, 1984

The ability to be a good listener according to social style and high empathy score enables me to be keen to instruction thus delivering quality results. Also, I can listen and show empathy to my workmate thus enabling them to be productive since understanding and sharing their feelings their stress level.

My ability to work well in a team and high social skills is essential in achieving organizational goals. Most organizations promote teamwork due to its merits such ease in solving the difficult task and improved job satisfaction for employees. Therefore, my personality of being a good team member and high social skills is vital in my workplace since organization comprises of many individuals and departments but works towards achieving a common goal (Arvinen-Muondo & Perkins, 2013).

The relationship between workmates is one of the factors that determine one’s productivity in a given organization. Therefore, my personality of putting more effort in establishing good relationship can prove to be an essential asset in increasing company productivity. Also, a good relationship in the workplace increases job satisfaction thus reducing stress levels and employee turnover.

The personality of risk averseness can be advantageous or disadvantageous since I cannot make huge losses or profits. According to financial management, returns depends on the level of risk i.e. return is directly proportional to risk level

The motivation of oneself is beneficial to me in the workplace since I can comfortably work under pressure by motivating myself using end results or reward.

The lack of ability to manage emotion has a negative consequence in the workplace since I am not able to give orders well which hampers the delivery quality of work.

Areas of improvement

The sectors that need improvements include the ability to feel secure as an individual or in a group which will improve my appetite to risk (Ahmed, 2015). I can improve by increasing my knowledge of what we deal with by exposing myself to a wide range information i.e. reading books and journals. It will assist in making an individual decision without fear of failing. Also, exposing myself to information improve self-knowledge thus boosting my self-awareness level thus reducing the possibility of being swayed by masses in making decision rather than making it on my own. I will keep a diary of the books I read as shown in the figure below;

Fig 5: My Diary

Consequently, finding a balance between the establishment of the good relationship and productivity is required in improving my personality. I will achieve the balance by setting relationship and productivity goals as a benchmark. The goals can be assessed on a daily basis, weekly or monthly. For example, ensure that I produce three units and interact with five workmates each day rather than creating one unit and interacting with twenty workmates every day (Burke & Dunn, 2003).

The level of managing emotions requires attention since I cannot order my colleagues at work to do anything or communicate instruction well. I will take the initiative of reading two books on management and effective communication each month to understand more on what it takes to give clear orders

Conclusion

The understanding of emotional intelligence and social style is necessary since we can know our strengths and weakness. The knowledge of our personality fosters a level of association with others. Also, the ability of one to learn certain traits such as emotional intelligence results to an avenue for self-improvement which is essential to an individual, company, and our social circle.

Reference:

Ahmed, M. (2015). Emotional Intelligence Is Synergy in Intelligence. Psychology, 06(04), 447-455.

Alansari, B., & Alansari, B. (2004). The relationship between anxiety and cognitive style measured on the Stroop test. Social Behavior And Personality: An International Journal, 32(3), 281-291.

Arvinen-Muondo, R., & Perkins, S. (2013). Organizational behaviour. London: Kogan Page.

Burke, K., & Dunn, R. (2003). Learning Style-Based Teaching to Raise Minority Student Test Scores: There's No Debate!. The Social Studies, 94(4), 167-170.

Kondalkar, V. (2007). Organizational behaviour. New Delhi: New Age International (P) Ltd., Publishers.

Lazarus, R., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer Pub. Co.

Lee, M., & Ofshe, R. (1981). The Impact of Behavioral Style and Status Characteristics on Social Influence: A Test of Two Competing Theories. Social Psychology Quarterly, 44(2), 73.

Mayer, J., & Salovey, P. (1993). The intelligence of emotional intelligence. Intelligence, 17(4), 433-442.

The social styles handbook. (2004). Herentals.

Workplace implication

The personality test is used in most firms during selection and recruitment process to determine the desirable individual to be hired. Also, it is used in job division and specialization since human resource department must ensure that individuals feel comfortable. The comfort within the workplace is achieved through management of organization behavior which majorly relies on personality test (Alansari & Alansari, 2004). Therefore, personality test reduces psychological stress arising from individual and environment factors since coping and the cognitive process is integrated well.

Fig4: Source- LAZARUS and FOLKMAN, 1984

The ability to be a good listener according to social style and high empathy score enables me to be keen to instruction thus delivering quality results. Also, I can listen and show empathy to my workmate thus enabling them to be productive since understanding and sharing their feelings their stress level.

My ability to work well in a team and high social skills is essential in achieving organizational goals. Most organizations promote teamwork due to its merits such ease in solving the difficult task and improved job satisfaction for employees. Therefore, my personality of being a good team member and high social skills is vital in my workplace since organization comprises of many individuals and departments but works towards achieving a common goal (Arvinen-Muondo & Perkins, 2013).

The relationship between workmates is one of the factors that determine one’s productivity in a given organization. Therefore, my personality of putting more effort in establishing good relationship can prove to be an essential asset in increasing company productivity. Also, a good relationship in the workplace increases job satisfaction thus reducing stress levels and employee turnover.

The personality of risk averseness can be advantageous or disadvantageous since I cannot make huge losses or profits. According to financial management, returns depends on the level of risk i.e. return is directly proportional to risk level

The motivation of oneself is beneficial to me in the workplace since I can comfortably work under pressure by motivating myself using end results or reward.

The lack of ability to manage emotion has a negative consequence in the workplace since I am not able to give orders well which hampers the delivery quality of work.

Areas of improvement

The sectors that need improvements include the ability to feel secure as an individual or in a group which will improve my appetite to risk (Ahmed, 2015). I can improve by increasing my knowledge of what we deal with by exposing myself to a wide range information i.e. reading books and journals. It will assist in making an individual decision without fear of failing. Also, exposing myself to information improve self-knowledge thus boosting my self-awareness level thus reducing the possibility of being swayed by masses in making decision rather than making it on my own. I will keep a diary of the books I read as shown in the figure below;

Fig 5: My Diary

Consequently, finding a balance between the establishment of the good relationship and productivity is required in improving my personality. I will achieve the balance by setting relationship and productivity goals as a benchmark. The goals can be assessed on a daily basis, weekly or monthly. For example, ensure that I produce three units and interact with five workmates each day rather than creating one unit and interacting with twenty workmates every day (Burke & Dunn, 2003).