READING COURSE: INTRODUCTION TO EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE<\/p>\n
Understanding your levels of emotional intelligence and improving on them can be a valuable way to maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.\u00a0Emotional intelligence\u00a0is the ability not only to assess and control your emotions but also to understand the emotions of those around you. As noted by psychologist and author Daniel\u00a0Goleman,1\u00a0self-awareness, self-regulation, social skills, and empathy are all aspects of emotional intelligence:<\/p>\n
Self-awareness\u00a0refers to your ability to know your strengths, weaknesses, drives, and motivations.<\/p>\n
Self-regulation\u00a0involves being able to control your emotions in response to outside stimuli.<\/p>\n
Social skills\u00a0gauge your ability to manage relationships.<\/p>\n
Empathy\u00a0refers to your ability to consider others\u2019 feelings and thoughts and to put yourself in their position.<\/p>\n
During his research, Goleman found that effective leaders tend to score high on emotional intelligence. He affirms that skills and technical abilities are important for reaching a management position, but once people move up the ranks into executive positions, emotional intelligence skills become critical.<\/p>\n
MY EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE TEST RESULT:<\/p>\n
Self-Awareness:<\/p>\n
15 out of 15<\/p>\n
Self-Regulation:<\/p>\n
12 out of 15<\/p>\n
Motivation:<\/p>\n
15 out of 15<\/p>\n
Empathy:<\/p>\n
14 out of 15<\/p>\n
Social Skills:<\/p>\n
11 out of 15<\/p>\n
Total Emotional Intelligence Score:<\/p>\n
67 out of 75<\/p>\n
Your score is 67 out of 75.<\/p>\n
Nice! You\u2019re an emotionally intelligent person. You have great relationships, and you probably find that people often approach you for advice.<\/p>\n
Researchers have found that emotionally intelligent people often have great leadership potential. Realize this potential by seeking opportunities to improve even further.<\/p>\n
With such great people skills, though, it\u2019s easy to lose sight of your own needs. Read the tips on this page to find out how you can continue to build your EI.<\/p>\n
Develop Self-Awareness<\/p>\n
People with high self-awareness can accurately perceive their feelings and moods in the moment. They also understand their strengths, weaknesses, and values. Develop self-awareness by:<\/p>\n
Asking for feedback.\u00a0Friends, family, and trusted coworkers can help you spot times when you overreact or avoid an emotional situation. They can also help you identify your strengths and values. Be open to their feedback and use it to identify skills and behaviors you can work on.<\/p>\n
Keeping a daily journal.\u00a0Use a journal to reflect on the emotions you experienced throughout the day. Note how those emotions were reactions to the situation at hand but also how they may have been influenced by previous experiences. Question what beliefs or assumptions may have affected your feelings.<\/p>\n
Practicing mindfulness.\u00a0Whether you are eating, working, or just relaxing, pay close attention to what you are doing and what emotions you feel. Allow yourself to experience uncomfortable emotions as they arise without reacting to them, avoiding them, or trying to change them.<\/p>\n
Improve Motivation<\/p>\n
It is important to use your emotions effectively to stay motivated to achieve your goals rather than be distracted or derailed by them. Improve motivation by:<\/p>\n
Identifying what motivates you.\u00a0What do you value? What tasks make you excited or give you a sense of achievement or purpose? The answers to these questions can help you align your goals, thoughts, and behaviors. Adjust any behaviors that are out of balance with your values and goals. Confront negative and unhelpful thoughts that prevent you from leading a well balanced life.<\/p>\n
Identifying which emotions are most likely to distract you from your goals.\u00a0Fear, anxiety, and boredom can easily push you off track. You might respond by procrastinating or abandoning your goals. Keep these emotions from overwhelming you by anticipating them. You might break up your goal into smaller tasks and reward yourself for accomplishing each one or schedule breaks to follow especially challenging tasks.<\/p>\n
Breathing.\u00a0Use breathing exercises to calm yourself down in emotionally challenging situations. Simply counting to four as you inhale and exhale can help move your attention away from emotions that feel overwhelming.<\/p>\n
Enhance Empathy<\/p>\n
Practicing perspective-taking.\u00a0Consider how you would feel if you were \u201cin the other person\u2019s shoes.\u201d It can help to think of similar experiences you may have had and how you felt.<\/p>\n
Paying attention to emotions and body language during conversations.\u00a0Try to identify what the other person is feeling and incorporate that into your response, \u201cI can tell you are frustrated. How can we work together to make you more comfortable?\u201d<\/p>\n
Withhold judgment.\u00a0When listening to other people\u2019s stories or ideas, withhold judgement as you seek to understand their point of view. Ask respectful questions so you can learn more about their emotions or their perspectives. Listen to the whole story before you decide how\u00a0you\u00a0feel about it.<\/p>\n
Practice Social Skills<\/p>\n
Implementing active listening.\u00a0Identify the feelings the person is trying to convey. Don\u2019t interrupt, but do ask for clarification when confused. Rephrase or repeat back important information to reassure your conversation partner that it was heard. Offer positive feedback and frequent affirmations.<\/p>\n
Showing interest in others.\u00a0Ask questions about others\u2019 backgrounds and experiences. Show an interest in their culture or experiences by asking respectful questions.<\/p>\n
During negotiations or conflict, state your needs confidently but respectfully.\u00a0Be willing to compromise in a way that upholds your core values. Understand that negotiation is not about getting everything you want but coming to an agreement that helps\u00a0everyone get closer\u00a0to what they want than when they started.<\/p>\n
Emotions and Emotional Intelligence at Work<\/p>\n
Emotions are typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body. Emotions shape an individual\u2019s belief about the value of a job, a company, or a team. Emotions also affect behaviors at work. Research shows that individuals within your own inner circle are better able to recognize and understand your\u00a0emotions<\/p>\n
Emotions at Work<\/p>\n
So, what is the connection between emotions, attitudes, and behaviors in the workplace? This connection may be explained using a theory named\u00a0Affective Events Theory (AET). Researchers Howard Weiss and Russell Cropanzano studied the effects of six major emotions in the workplace: anger, fear, joy, love, sadness, and\u00a0surprise.4\u00a0Their theory argues that specific events on the job cause different kinds of people to feel different emotions. These emotions, and related emotions such as envy, in turn, may inspire actions that may serve to benefit or impede others at\u00a0work.<\/p>\n
Over time, experiencing these emotions at work can influence a person\u2019s job satisfaction and performance. Although company perks and promotions can contribute to a person\u2019s happiness at work, satisfaction is not simply a result of this kind of \u201coutside-in\u201d reward system. Job satisfaction in the AET model comes from the \u201cinside-in\u201d\u2014the combination of an individual\u2019s personality, small emotional experiences at work overtime, beliefs, and affect-driven behaviors.<\/p>\n
Emotional Labor<\/p>\n
Negative emotions are common among workers in service industries. Part of a service employee\u2019s job is projecting a certain image in the eyes of the public. Individuals in service industries are professional helpers. As such, they are expected to be upbeat, friendly, and polite at all times, which can be exhausting to accomplish in the long run. Even when they are having a bad day, they are expected to provide \u201cservice with a smile.\u201d The result is a\u00a0persona\u2014a professional role that requires acting out feelings that may not be real as part of their job.<\/p>\n
Emotional labor\u00a0refers to the regulation of feelings and expressions for organizational\u00a0purposes.7\u00a0Three major levels of emotional labor have been identified and are unique but\u00a0interrelated:<\/p>\n
Surface acting\u00a0requires an individual to exhibit physical signs, such as smiling, that reflect emotions customers want to experience. A children\u2019s hairdresser cutting the hair of a crying toddler may smile and act sympathetic without actually feeling so. In this case, the person is engaged in surface acting.<\/p>\n
Deep acting\u00a0takes surface acting one step further. This time, instead of faking an emotion that a customer may want to see, an employee will actively try to experience the emotion they are displaying. This genuine attempt at empathy helps align the emotions one is experiencing with the emotions one is displaying. The children\u2019s hairdresser may empathize with the toddler by imagining how stressful it must be for a child to be constrained in an unfamiliar environment\u2014as a result, the hairdresser may genuinely begin to feel sad for the child.<\/p>\n
Genuine acting\u00a0occurs when individuals are asked to display emotions that are aligned with their own. If a job requires genuine acting, less emotional labor is required because the actions are consistent with true feelings.<\/p>\n
Emotional laborers are required to display specific emotions as part of their jobs. Sometimes, these are emotions that the worker already feels. In that case, the strain of the emotional labor is minimal. For example, a funeral home director is generally expected to display sympathy for a family\u2019s loss, and it is likely that this emotion will be genuine. But for people whose jobs require them to be professionally polite and cheerful, such as flight attendants, or to be serious and authoritative, such as police officers, the work of wearing one\u2019s \u201cgame face\u201d can have effects that outlast the working day. To combat this, taking breaks can help surface actors to cope more\u00a0effectively.11\u00a0In one study, researchers also found that greater autonomy was related to less strain for service workers in France as well as the United Sates. Research even shows that for some, meetings are a source of emotional labor, especially when higher status individuals are in\u00a0attendance.12\u00a0For people who have a strong desire to be authentic (being true to themselves) in their interactions, faking one\u2019s emotions was related to worse\u00a0well-being.<\/p>\n
Cognitive dissonance\u00a0is a term that refers to a mismatch among emotions, attitudes, beliefs, and behavior. For example, you might believe that you should always be polite to customers regardless of personal feelings even though you were just rude to one. You\u2019ll experience discomfort or stress unless you find a way to alleviate the dissonance. You can reduce the personal conflict by changing your behavior (trying harder to act polite), changing your belief (maybe it\u2019s okay to be a little less polite sometimes), or by adding a new fact that changes the importance of the previous facts (if you\u2019re impolite again, you\u2019ll lose your job). Although acting positive can make a person feel positive, emotional labor that involves a large degree of emotional or cognitive dissonance can be grueling and sometimes lead to negative health\u00a0effects.<\/p>\n
Emotional Intelligence at Work<\/p>\n
One way to manage the effects of emotional labor is by increasing your awareness of the gaps between real emotions and emotions that are required by your professional persona. Ask yourself, \u201cWhat am I feeling? And what do others feel?\u201d These questions form the heart of\u00a0emotional intelligence. The term was coined by psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer and was popularized by psychologist Daniel Goleman in a book of the same name. Emotional intelligence looks at how people can understand each other more completely by developing an increased awareness of their own and others\u2019\u00a0emotions.<\/p>\n
There are four building blocks involved in developing a high level of emotional intelligence.\u00a0Self-awareness\u00a0exists when you are able to accurately perceive, evaluate, and display appropriate emotions.\u00a0Self-management, or self-regulation, exists when you are able to direct your emotions in a positive way when needed.\u00a0Social awareness\u2014empathy\u2014exists when you are able to understand how others feel.\u00a0Relationship management, or social skills, exists when you are able to help other people manage their own emotions and truly establish supportive relationships with\u00a0others.16\u00a0Note that while the terms are slightly different, the building blocks mentioned here are the same four aspects of emotional intelligence described earlier in this chapter.<\/p>\n
Levels of Ethics: An Organizational Framework<\/p>\n
While there may appear to be a difference in the ethics of leaders and those of an organization, often leaders\u2019 ethics are expressed through their organization, since leaders are the ones who set the ethics to begin\u00a0with.19\u00a0In other words, while we can discuss organizational ethics, remember that leaders are the ones who determine organizational ethics, which ties the conversation of organizational ethics into personal ethics as well. If leaders can create an ethically oriented\u00a0culture,20\u00a0then they are more likely to hire people who behave ethically and do so throughout their tenure at the organization.<\/p>\n
Societal.\u00a0At this level, ethical concerns focus on top-level issues affecting the world as a whole, such as the morality of child labor. Deeper-level societal issues might include the role (if any) of capitalism in poverty. Most companies do not operate at this level of ethics, although some do. The Body Shop, for example, focuses on societal issues by standing against animal cruelty.<\/p>\n
Internal policy.\u00a0At this level, the focus is on internal relationships between a company and its employees. Fairness in management, pay, and employee participation would all be considered issues at the internal policy level. It is in leaders\u2019 best interest to create internal policies that benefit both the company and the individuals working for it. A lawsuit filed by a former Disney Parks employee claiming wrongful\u00a0termination,22\u00a0for example, would be at the internal policy level of ethics.<\/p>\n
Stakeholder.\u00a0A stakeholder is anyone affected by a company\u2019s actions. At this level, businesses must deal with policies that affect their customers, employees, suppliers, and community members, such as fair wages or notification of a product\u2019s potential dangers. One example of a company facing stakeholder issues is Scottrade, which continues to face class action lawsuits claiming it didn\u2019t do enough to keep customer information private following a major data\u00a0breach.23<\/p>\n
Personal.\u00a0Concerns at this level deal with how we treat others\u2014our employees and colleagues alike\u2014within our organization. For example, gossiping at work or taking credit for another\u2019s efforts would be considered personal issues. Showing favoritism toward one employee over another would be another example. Acting ethically at the personal level affects our credibility as organizational leaders in that our employees and colleagues alike are more likely to respect us if we show ourselves to be trustworthy when making decisions.<\/p>\n
Sources of Company Ethics<\/p>\n
Since we know that everyone\u2019s upbringing is different, and people have different role models, religious beliefs, attitudes, and experiences, as company leaders we must create policies and standards to ensure employees and managers understand our organization\u2019s ethics. The sources of these ethics can be based on the levels of ethics we discussed earlier.<\/p>\n
Because people often look up to them, leaders are held to a higher standard for ethical behavior than anyone else in an organization. Consider David Petraeus, the former CIA director and general who resigned from his post after an affair he\u2019d had was made public. Many people felt the resignation was the right course of action because, as a leader, he should be held to a higher standard of ethics. He had used a private Gmail account to send explicit messages to his girlfriend, an action that many believed recklessly imperiled the safety of the\u00a0country.27\u00a0However, had one of his followers done something similar, they might not have been held to the same standard as Petraeus nor been expected to resign.<\/p>\n
Social Responsibility<\/p>\n
Both people and companies may engage in\u00a0social responsibility. As we saw in our discussion of ethical company standards, it can be hard to distinguish corporate from individual ethics and social responsibility because corporate policies are, at their core, made by people. In this section, we will discuss social responsibility first at the corporate level, then at the individual level.<\/p>\n
Ever since the term \u201csocial responsibility\u201d entered public discourse in the 1960s, companies have felt pressure from society to behave in a more socially responsible manner. \u201cSocial responsibility\u201d is the notion that companies should be concerned about the welfare of society and mindful of how their actions could affect society as a whole.<\/p>\n
We know that companies have been known to shirk social responsibility despite claiming to uphold it. To take one notable example, BP (formerly British Petroleum) was charged with gross negligence for violating safety protocols and knowingly failing to maintain the Deepwater Horizon oil rig after the rig exploded in 2010, causing the deaths of 11 workers and precipitating a massive leak of oil into the Gulf of Mexico that lasted 87\u00a0days.39\u00a0The financial toll of this case totaled nearly $62 billion in stakeholders\u2019 settlement\u00a0costs,40\u00a0not to mention untold damages to the company\u2019s reputation, the marine environment, and the lives and livelihoods of the people living along the Gulf Coast. Cases like this lead people to question large corporations\u2019 commitment to fulfilling their responsibilities to society.<\/p>\n
Four Areas of Social Responsibility<\/p>\n
Economic:\u00a0Companies and leaders need to maintain strong economic interests so they can stay in business. Being profitable and providing value to shareholders are actually part of a company\u2019s commitment to social responsibility.<\/p>\n
Legal:\u00a0A company and its leaders have an obligation to follow the law. Car companies, for example, are required to meet certain emissions standards in car production.<\/p>\n
Ethical:\u00a0Acting ethically means going beyond mere legal requirements and meeting the expectations of society. For instance, Apple\u2019s policies were called into question when investigations revealed a high suicide rate among workers producing iPhones in a Chinese Foxconn factory. As a result of this newfound awareness, Foxconn raised the salary for workers from \u00a5900 ($132) to \u00a51,800\u00a0($265).42\u00a0This example shows how the ethical expectations (and outrage) of society can pressure companies to behave in a more ethical manner.<\/p>\n
Philanthropic:\u00a0This is the expectation that companies should give back to society in the form of charitable donations of time, money, and\/or goods. For example, REI, a Seattle-based company, donates 3 percent of its profit and thousands of volunteer hours to nonprofit community groups each\u00a0year.<\/p>\n
Individual Social Responsibility<\/p>\n
Performing charitable acts.\u00a0This can include philanthropy, such as donating money to nonprofit organizations.<\/p>\n
Working for the community.\u00a0This can include volunteering at a food bank or animal shelter, or donating blood.<\/p>\n
Supporting issues that affect society.\u00a0This can include advocating political or social initiatives that help others as well as company policies in support of such issues (e.g., lobbying for stronger child labor laws, purchasing fair trade products, recycling).<\/p>\n
Observing individual ethics.\u00a0These can include integrity, honesty, and the \u201cgolden rule\u201d\u2014treat others how you wish to be treated. This often entails treating colleagues and subordinates alike with empathy and a sense of fairness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
READING COURSE: INTRODUCTION TO EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Understanding your levels of emotional intelligence and improving on them can be a valuable way to maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses.\u00a0Emotional intelligence\u00a0is the ability not only to assess and control your emotions but also to understand the emotions of those around you. As noted by psychologist and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-106056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-paper-writing","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}