Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence motivates a person to pursue their unique potential and

purpose, and activates innermost potential values and aspirations, transforming
them from things they think about, to what they do. Emotional intelligence enables
one to learn to acknowledge and understand feelings in ourselves and in others and
that we appropriately respond to them, effectively applying the information and
energy of emotions in our daily life and work. Cooper and Sawaf (1997) define
emotional intelligence as the ability to sense, understand and effectively apply the
power and acumen of emotions as a source of human energy, information,
connection and influence. Mayer and Salovey (1993) define emotional intelligence
as the ability to monitor ones own and others feelings and emotions to
discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide ones thinking and
action. Enotional intelligence involves the ability to perceive accurately, appraise,
and express emotions; the ability to access and/or generate feelings when they
facilitate thoughts; the ability to understand emotions and emotional knowledge
and intellectual growth.
Emotional quotient vs. intelligent quotient
Intelligence refers to abilities to adjust with the situations. It is a concept that refers
to individual differences in the ability to acquire knowledge to think and reason
effectively, and to deal adaptively with the environment. Earlier, it was thought
that performance is the outcome of certain abilities, collectively known as
intelligence. However, increasingly it has been realized that in addition to
intelligence, emotions are equally or even more responsible for performance.
Hence, the concept of EQ has become popular particularly in management
sciences. Emotions are powerful organizers of thought and action and
paradoxically indispensable for reasoning and rationally. EQ comes to the aid of
IQ when there is a need to solve important problems or to make a key decision. It
emables to accomplish this in a superior fashion and in a fraction of the time a
few minutes or even moments, for example, instead of the entire day or more of the
exhausting non-stop linear, sequential thinking that might be required to reach the
same decision without the aid of EQ. moreover, emotions awaken intuition and
curiosity, which assist in anticipating an uncertain future and planning our actions
accordingly.
In fact, emotional intelligence is an indispensable activator and enhancer of IQ. IQ
and EQ inerre;ate with each other and this creates a dynamic tension from one to
the other, stabilizing their respective energies. For people with identical IQs, some
outperform others. This suggests something beyond, which IQ is at work. That
something or a large part of it, is EQ. when emotions are acknowledged and guided
constructively, they enhance performance. Unlike IQ, EQ can be developed and
nurtured even in adulthood and can prove beneficial to ones health, relationship
and performance. Over the years, vigorous debate has surrounded the issue of
whether nature (genetic endowment) or nature (environment influences) primarily
determine personality or not? Personality is defined as the combination of stable
physical and mental characteristics that give the individual his or her identity.
Emotional intelligence can be learned and gradually developed unlike IQ which
after a particular age cannot be developed EI is developed unlike IQ which after a
particular age cannot be developed. EI is developed through experiences.
Competencies keep on growing through experiences; people get better and better in
handling emotions, influencing others and in social adroitness. In fact, studies that
have tracked peoples level of EI through the years, show that people get better and
better in those capabilities as they grow handling their own emotions and impulses.
Emotional Intelligence and Organizations
It is unrealistic to set aside our emotions and feelings in workplace Organizational
life requires that we work together side by side for eight to twelve hours a day. We
spend more time with our coworkers than we do with our friends, spouse or
children. Feelings and opinions just do not go away because we walk into
workplace. At work, we can put on work clothes, but we cannot take off our
emotions, so what happens to our emotions at work? They go underground and
become a powerful invisible force. The term Emotional Intelligence encompasses
the following five characteristics and abilities as discussed by Goleman (1995).
(1) Self-awareness - Knowing you emotions, recognizing feelings as they occur
and discriminating between them is being emotionally literate. Being able to
identify and label specific feelings in yourself and others; being able to
discuss emotions and communicate clearly and directly. The ability to
empathize with, feel compassion for, validate, motivate, inspire, encourage
and soothe others. The ability to make intelligent decisions using a healthy
balance of emotions and reason. Being neither too emotional nor too
rational. The ability to manage and take responsibility for ones own
emotions, especially the responsibility for self-motivation and personal
happiness. Recognizing and naming ones own emotions, knowledge of the
causes of emotions, recognizing the difference between feelings and actions.
(2) Mood Management Handling feelings so that they are relevant to the
current situation and you react appropriately. Frustration tolerance and anger
management, eliminationg verbal puul-downs, fights and group disruptions,
better able to express anger appropriately without resorting to violence,
fewer suspensions or expulsions, less aggressive or self-destructive
behavior, more positive feelings about self, school and family, better at
handling stress.
(3) Self motivation - Gathering up your feelings and directing yourself
towards a goal, despite self-doubt, inertia and impulsiveness. More
responsible better able to focus on task at hand and pay attention, less
impulsive ; more self-controlled and improved scores on achievement tests.
(4) Empathy Recognizing feelings in others and tuning into their verbal and
non-verbal cues. Better able to take another persons perspective, improved
empathy and sensitive to others, better at listening to others. Affiliative
persons are friendly, sociable, helpful and skilful in dealing with people, and
open about their feelings. They make good companions because they are
pleasant and agreeable. Others feel comfortable with them and like them. In
other words, affiliative persons have superior emotional and social skills in
dealing with others, derive gratification and reward from their interpersonal
contacts, and tend to be source of happiness to others.
(5) Managing Relationships Handling interpersonal interaction, conflict
resolution, and negotiations. Increased ability to analyzeand understand
relationships, better at resolving conflicts and negotiating disagreements,
better at solving problems in relationships, more assertive and skilled at
communication. More popular and outgoing; friendly and involved with
peers, more sought out by peers, more concerned and considerate, more
prosocial and harmonious in groups, more sharing, cooperation, and
helpfulness, more democratic I dealing with others.
Measures of Emotional Intelligence
The authors came across two measures of emotional intelligence. EQ in business
and life can be understood by a four-Cornerstone Model explained by Cooper
(1997) . This model assumes emotional intelligence as out of the realm of
psychological analysis and philosophical theories and moves into the realm of
direct knowing, exploration and application. The first cornerstone is emotional
literacy which builds a locus of self-confidence through emotional honesty, energy,
emotional feedback, intuition, responsibility and connection. The cornerstone,
emotional fitness strengthens authenticity, believability and resilience, expending
circle of trust and capacity for listening, managing conflict and making most of
constructive discontent. The third cornerstone is emotional depth that explores
ways to align ones life and work with his or her unique potential and purpose, and
accountability, which in turn, increases influence without authority. The fourth
cornerstone is emotional alchemy, through which one can extend creative
instincts and capacity to flow with problems and pressure and to compete for the
future by building ones capacity to sense more readily. EQ comprises various
related components that strengthen emotional intelligence and give desired
outcomes. There are 21 scales which best explain EQ. The scale are further
grouped under five categories, namely current environment, literacy,
competencies, values and beliefs, and outcome. Cooper and sawaf (1997) have
reported EQ amp in which total score one each scale is graded in one of the four
levels optimal, proficient, vulnerable, and cautionary. Goleman (1995) developed
another scale. The scale has various situations and scores are computed on the
basis of responses to these situations. The authors did not come across any scales
developed for Indian conditions. The present work was undertaken to develop a
suitable self-report measure for Indian milieu.
Reliability
The reliability of the scale was determined by calculating reliability coefficient on
a sample of 200 subjects. The half reliability coefficient was found to be 0.88.
Validity
Besides face validity, as all items were related to the variable under focus, the scale
has high content validity. It is evident from the assessment of judges experts that
items of the scale are directly related to the concept of Emotional Intelligence. In
order to find out the validity from the coefficient reliability (Garrett, 1981) the
reliability index was indicated high validity on account of being 0.93.
Factorwise Items Serial Number
Sr. No. Factors Items Serial
Number
Total
A Self-awareness 6,12,18,29 4
B Empathy 9,10,15,20,25 5
C Self-Motivation 2,4,7,8,31,34 6
D Emotional Stability 14,19,26,28 4
E Managing relations 1,5,11,17 4
F Integrity 16,27,32 3
G Self-development 30,33 2
H Value orientation 21,22 2
I Commitment 23,24 2
J Altruistic behavior 3,13 2
Total Items 34

Norms for interpretation of raw score
N
Mean (M)
200
68
Standard Deviation 16
High
Normal
Low
85 and above
52-84
51 and below

Use of the scale
The scale can be used for research and survey purposes. It can also be used for
individual assessment. It is self-administering and does not require the services of
highly trained tester. It is eminently suitable for group as well as individual testing.
Norms of the Scale
Norms of the scale are available on a sample of 200 subjects. These norms can be
regarded as reference points for interpreting the Emotional Intelligence scores. The
users of this scale are advised to develop their own norms based on their own
samples. Individuals with high score can be considered to have high level of
emotional intelligence and are likely to be high performers.