Emotional Intelligence

“Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while others claim it is an inborn characteristic” (Higgs, Dulewicz, 2016). Emotional intelligence is a long terms process in which a person cannot become emotionally stable within a few days moreover it requires practice over and over again. Emotional Intelligence plays a vital role in leadership (Issah, 2018). An Ideal leader must be aware of their own emotions and should have control over them to an extent. The leader should also know their strengths as well as their weakness and should work over them in order to become a perfect leader. Daniel Goleman studies suggest that emotions are a crucial part of behavior and if not executed properly would lead to incorrect decisions. Emotional Intelligence is also an ability through which a person becomes more social and understand the emotional elements of others as well (Higgs, Dulewicz, 2016). Hence, we should try to become emotionally intelligent in order to succeed in life and achieve the goals we admire.

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The purpose of the following research paper is to answer the assignment questions provided to us by our professor Dr. Michele Vincenti. Another crucial aspect of this paper is for us is to understand how emotional intelligence has a significant role in everyday life. Hence, Dr. Michele Vincenti has made the questions in such an engaging manner that will enhance and enrich our knowledge and perception towards our own emotions and behavior as well as their effects on others.

Q-1) Provide an explanation of the factors of Emotional Intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence

“Emotional intelligence can best be described as the ability to monitor one’s own and other people’s emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior”(Srivastava, 2013). It can be explained merely as a skill that identifies others as well as own emotions and evaluates them in order to gain knowledge of thoughts and behavior.

Emotional Intelligence is composed of 5 factors

Self-Awareness

Self-Regulation

Motivation

Empathy for Others

Social Skills

Self-Awareness: It is the ability to recognize our own emotions and to evaluate in order to gain the benefits as well as limitations of those emotions (Daniel Goleman). In self-awareness, a person should be aware of their emotions. This is a vital step in order to gain emotional intelligence. This is because before we can make any changes in our behavior, we have to know how we behave? In certain situations, a person may act differently because they do not have the exact knowledge about their behavior. Once the knowledge about our strengths and limits are precise, we are more confident and a hence it helps us to be more assertive regarding our decision. However, it should not be confused with the fact that assertiveness means we are always correct but what it means is we tend to justify our decision based on our emotion. Daniel Goleman has divided Self Awareness into three more parts:

Emotional Self Awareness: We should acknowledge our emotions and the possible effects they can have on our lives.

Precise Self Awareness: We should be able to distinguish the benefits as well as the limitations of emotions on our behavior.

Self-Assurance: We should be able to distinguish our self-esteem and abilities.

These breakdown of self-awareness by Daniel Goleman helps to know what possible effects one can have on their behavior if they are not aware of their emotions and hence it becomes a necessity to know the limits as well as the benefits of our capabilities.

Self-Regulation: The second step towards emotional intelligence is Self-Regulation. It is a process through which we regulate our emotions regarding responding towards the situation and other people behavior. To overcome this situation, one has to practice on his self-regulation. It is composed of 6 factors (Batool, 2013):

Emotional Self-control: Controlling emotions.

Trustworthiness: Being honest and making a decision based on values and beliefs.

Flexibility: Being able to adjust when it comes to an understanding other people emotions.

Optimism: Being able to see opportunity in a situation.

Achievement: Developing ourselves in order to achieve our goals and aims.

Initiative: Being able to take steps towards situation whenever required so.

One has to overcome all these situations and grasp them in order to gain self-regulation. Without self-regulation, we cannot respond to a situation in the right manner.

Social-Awareness: As the word explains itself that one needs to be aware of the society which means to evaluate and understand others needs and responding in that manner.  To be more precise we need to understand other people’s needs to coordinate with them. According to Daniel Goleman, it is made up two factors(Batool, 2013):

Empathy: Considering the needs of other people and their emotions.

Organizational Awareness: Being aware of the organization itself, for example, the environment within the organization, behavior within the organization and whether they are affecting the employees.

Motivation: It describes how motivated a person is and how they tend to motivate others. One should have motivation towards their goal and an achievement drive. Achievement drive is the commitment towards the achievement of goals. They should have a mentality of optimism which means they should be confident and full of encouragement when it comes to their future. Motivation can be intrinsic(internal) or extrinsic(external) and should be possessed in such a manner that the required is fulfilled (Batool, 2013).

Relationship Management: The last factor that maintains a relationship with the management. In order to maintain a relationship, one must possess the needs of employees and understand their emotions in order to influence them to achieve goals. The influence should not be considered with a negative aspect, but it has to do with executing the right method to build a relationship (Batool, 2013).

Q-2) Explain how each factor is linked to leadership effectiveness.

Leadership Effectiveness can be defined as the process in which leaders influence the employees in such a manner that their motivation and trust is increased towards an organization along with an increase in effective productivity (Madanchian, Hussein, Noordin, Taherdoost, 2017). A leader plays a crucial role in balancing both the aspects of motivation and productivity within an organization. However, the crucial role comes with crucial skills. In order to balance out both the aspects, a leader must be well trained in skills.

The five factors discussed above are closely related to effective leadership. There is a correlation between them and are discussed as followed:

Self-Awareness and Leadership Linkage: In order to become an effective leader, the leader must be aware of their limitations and benefits. Leaders should eliminate all the possible limitations involved in self-awareness in order to achieve goals. They should present themselves as confident and honest in front of their subordinates in order to maintain a healthy relationship. If a leader is not aware of themselves, then it might lead them to the wrong path towards leadership and would disrupt them making a proper decision. If his own emotions overpower a leader, then they might not be effective. For instance, if a leader is suppressed by their emotions than the decisions that they make are always under the influence of their emotions.

Self-Regulation and Leadership Linkage: Once we are more explicit about our own emotions, we can make better decisions. An effective leader must absorb all the information first and evaluate it by it in their perception. A leader must try to understand the emotions of their employees in order to attain a better relation. In a study of self-regulation in leaders states that leaders who tend to have self-control can make a valid decision. A leader must be adaptable with employees of different cultures and values. The emotions of a leader should not outweigh the situation itself.

Motivation and Leadership Linkage: One of the key attributes in leadership. Motivation is directly proportional to employees satisfaction. An effective leader must motivate their employees in order to achieve organizational goals. If the employees are not motivated, they tend to put fewer efforts towards their work, and it directly affects the outcome of an organization. There are possible methods through which motivation can be tackled such as recognition of work of employees, rewards, appraisal or even verbal appreciation is enough to increase the motivation of the subordinates. It depends that how the employees are motivated by intrinsic factors such as appreciation or extrinsic factors by providing them some rewards.

Empathy and Leadership Linkage: Empathy is the ability to understand the employee’s situation, needs, and feelings. Empathy tends to effects leadership if it is not executed correctly. It allows a leader to understand how their decision will affect their employees. Empathy cannot be gained in a single day, it all depends on small things a leader do to create that bond between him and the employees.

Social Skills and Leadership Linkage: Social skills can be defined as the persuasion and essential skills that are necessary for an effective leader. Being an influential leader reads the emotions of employees and understands them to gain trust. In order to achieve that the leader must have the required communication skills where they must listen carefully to the employee’s feelings and convey their thoughts as well as feelings towards the same situation.

Q-3) Investigate if emotional intelligence can be taught. If yes, then how; if no then why not.

Emotional Intelligence can be taught. Some of the big universities in the World such as University of San Francisco, Trinity College Dublin, and Birmingham City University teach Emotional Intelligence as one of the subjects (University cite). As a part of the course, they teach their students with the help of group discussions, being social, helping out other students, and elaborating one’s strengths and limitations. According to these Universities, the students during these courses become more stable emotionally and tend to look at the world in a different way (University cite). The students are even put in situations where their behavior is monitored in order to obtain result’s whether they have control over their emotions or they overpowered by them. Those students also behave with a positive attitude in other classes amongst the other students. Hence, from these facts, we can conclude that Emotional Intelligence could be taught. Emotional Intelligence can be taught by putting them in social group and seeing them to get together, the reactions they produce and how they cooperate with them. I would support my answers with the following research and studies done about the teaching emotional intelligence. 

Recent studies by Child Development showed that Emotional Intelligence can be taught and leads to positive effects. The research was done by Child Development which involved 97000 students from Kindergarten to Middle School from the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe. These students were taught emotional intelligence for six months and assessed afterward. The result that they concluded were astonishing. The behavior of these students was positive not within the classroom only but also outside the classroom environment as well. Now comes the astonishing part of the results which was the students who took this course passed College at 11 percent higher rate than their peers who did not, and it did not stop there. The high school students who were taught Emotional Intelligence graduated from school with 6 percent more rate, arrest cases dropped by 19 percent among those who were taught and 3 percent less drug abuse and 13.5 percent less mental disorders. The data itself showcases the results that Emotional Intelligence can be taught and can bring positive results along with it (Taylor, Durlak, Weissberg, 2017).

RULER is a school in the United States where they teach emotional intelligence to students from kindergarten to the eighth standard. The results that they show are surprising. The school faculty explains that just due to the teaching of this course has dropped the incidents of bullying, anxiety, mental disorders such as depression and has also increased their grades significantly(Grace, 2017).

Another research that suggests that Emotional Intelligence can be taught took place in Holly Risk School (Defao, 2016). The research was conducted to show that teaching aspects of emotional intelligence can help students to emerge in social activities as well as perform better than other. The research applied to teach students emotional intelligence from kindergarten to ninth standard showed spectacular results. As the student tend to grow, they were aware of emotions about themselves as well as of other students. They respected other students and maintained a good relationship as well. The grades were also criteria that increased throughout the schooling, and they were more motivated than the other students. The program that the students were taught was Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).

Hence, Yes Emotional Intelligence can be taught. I would support my answer with research done by Jaeger, where he noticed that Emotional Intelligence if taught in the right manner, can be accomplished. Jaeger research results displayed that students who were taught emotional intelligence possessed it in real life in comparison to students who were not taught (Jaegar, 2004). Another significant discovery that Jaegar did along with his colleague Kevin showed that emotional intelligence was directly related to improvement in their academic performance of those 864 students. The results that came out of the research amazed me that how that emotional intelligence is positively correlated to the academic performance of students (Jaegar, Kevin, 2007). However, it takes time to learn emotional intelligence, but the benefits that one gets are evergreen and significantly fascinating.

Q-4) How would a person convince you that they had emotional intelligence (beyond tests).

Without a test, it is quite difficult to convince me whether they have emotional intelligence or not. However, it is still possible. One of the methods of finding out whether they are emotionally intelligent or not is by using behavior as a predictor (Bejamin, 2010). Those behavior are as followed:

They tend to remain calm when under pressure. It should not be confused with lack emotions but to be linked with that the person can regulate the emotions to an extent where they tend to stay calm.

Emotional Intelligent people do not get defensive when we criticize them instead they look at the criticizing element as feedback in order to improve.

They are keen listeners and analyzers before coming up to a conclusion. It directly relates to the fact that they will feed themselves with information provided by someone else they will try to digest it (analyze) and after that, they evaluate it to a conclusion. This tendency helps them to become a more critical thinker and more of emotional intelligence.

Emotionally intelligent people care about other people perception and perspective. This brings in the concept of showing empathy and building a relationship.

They are willing to admit they are wrong. Emotional intelligent people know their limitations and hence are not afraid of accepting it. 

This would not be enough for me to understand or be entirely convinced whether they are emotionally stable and hence I would have to ask them some specific follow-up questions and by their answers, I can conclude whether they had emotional intelligence or not. The questions that I will put up to them would be:

What are you are goals in life and how will achieve them?

In this question, I will test his motivation towards the achievement of his goals. For instance, if he wants to be physically fit in life than I will look forward if he tries to achieve all the factors related to being fit. Another component I would look for is whether he is persistent or not? Which would directly provide me an idea of how dedicated and committed he is towards his goals. If the commitment and dedication are high than according to my perception, he would be an emotionally intelligent person.

Have you been a part of the company that you did know? How well did you manage to keep up with it?

Is the person self-regulated or not. This question would help me understand that how well he tried to cooperate with an unknown company. Did he manage to do well by adapting to changes in the circumstances? From these answers, I will be aware of whether they are emotionally intelligent or not.

Have you tried something and failed, what were the reasons?

In this question, I will look forward to an answer where the person without hesitation will speak about their failures. In this scenario, I will look forward to whether he makes excuses regarding the failure and blames others. Even though external factors might be involved in the failure, I would still look forward to him being responsible and accepting his failure (Self-Recognition).

Have you received negative feedback from someone and how did you feel during that time?

In this case, the answer would describe whether that person is stable regarding emotions and their reactions towards negativity. If the response is something where the person asked the sender of negative feedback that what made them say that and later on improved in that particular area would convince me that he/she is emotionally stable. They do not react unnecessarily towards the situation and instead try to find out the cause of it so that they can improve (Self-Awareness).

Have you asked for help while doing an assignment?

An emotionally intelligent person would not be afraid to ask someone for help. This is theory where they know their weakness and are not afraid to showcase them explains how they want to improve as self-being.

How was your relationship with the colleagues you last worked for?

Asking this question would answer if the person has social skills and empathy towards other or not. If they answer that their relation at work previously was positive and they had good relations with the staff would lead me to believe that they can understand other person emotions as well (Social Skills).

Conclusion

The purpose of this paper was to enhance my knowledge and to be aware of the aspects of one’s emotions and behavior in decision making. At the beginning of the assignment, I was amazed to find out that how much I did not know about myself. The purpose of writing this assignment has significantly improved my perception towards myself as well as others.

The first portion of the assignment helped me understand the factors related to emotional intelligence and followed by a relation between leadership and emotional intelligence as well as their effects on each other.

The next portion of the assignment helped me to gain knowledge whether emotional intelligence can be taught or not. By doing some research (supporting with evidence) I came up with and conclusion that it can be taught and at some universities and school it is already being taught. The last portion of the paper includes how to understand whether someone is emotionally intelligent or not and what factors to look for in their behavior.

References

Jaeger, A. J., & Eagan, M. K. (2007). Exploring the Value of Emotional Intelligence: A Means to Improve Academic Performance. Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 44(3). doi:10.2202/1949-6605.1834

Srivastava, K. (2013). Emotional intelligence and organizational effectiveness. Industrial Psychiatry Journal, 22(2), 97. doi:10.4103/0972-6748.132912

Jaeger, A.J. (2004). The Place for Emotional Growth in Professional Education. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 10(1), 43-65. Retrieved from Education Full Text database

Taylor, R. D., Oberle, E., Durlak, J. A., & Weissberg, R. P. (2017). Promoting Positive Youth Development Through School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Interventions: A Meta-Analysis of Follow-Up Effects. Child Development, 88(4), 1156-1171. doi:10.1111/cdev.12864

Should emotions be taught in schools? [Web log interview]. (2017, February 24). Retrieved from https://blog.ed.ted.com/2017/02/24/should-emotions-be-taught-in-schools/

Sung, H. Y. (2015). Emotional Intelligence and Socio-cognitive Skills in Collaborative Teaching and Learning. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2015(143), 61-77. doi:10.1002/tl.20136

Defao, J. (2016). Teaching Emotional Intelligence. Bay Area Parent, 1. Retrieved from https://www.bayareaparent.com/Article/Teaching-Emotional-Intelligence/

Batool, B. F. (2013). Emotional Intelligence and Effective Leadership. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 4(3). Retrieved from http://jbsq.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/03/March_2013_8.pdf

Benjamin, B. (2010). Change these Six Behaviors and Increase your Emotional Intelligence. Institute for Health and Human Potential. doi:https://www.ihhp.com/6-behaviors-to-increase-EI

Madanchian, M., Hussein, N., Noordin, F., & Taherdoost, H. (2017). Leadership Effectiveness Measurement and Its Effect on Organization Outcomes. Procedia Engineering, 181, 1043-1048. doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2017.02.505

Higgs, M., & Dulewicz, V. (2016). Measuring Emotional Intelligence. Leading with Emotional Intelligence, 43-50. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-32637-5_4

Issah, M. (2018). Change Leadership: The Role of Emotional Intelligence. SAGE Open, 8(3). doi:10.1177/2158244018800910

University’s Site: Emotional Intelligence and Cultural Competency. (2015, May 30). Retrieved from https://www.usfca.edu/catalog/course/613-emotional-intelligence-and-culturalcompetency