EMOTIONAL

INTELLIGENCE
EI

The Greek philosopher Aristotle

believed he knew how to handle
relationships correctly. He claimed you
had to be angry with the right person,
to the right degree, at the right time, for
the right purpose, and in the right way.
Salovey and Mayer call this formula for
handling relationships with others
Emotional Intelligence.
Gardner has argued for a new view of non-hierarchically
arrayed mental abilities which he calls “multiple
intelligence”. He contends there are many ways to be
intelligent: verbal, mathematical, spatial, musical,
interpersonal, and intrapersonal. The interpersonal and
intrapersonal types of intelligence blend in with EI as a
type of intelligence.
EI
What seems to set apart those at the very top of
competitive pursuits from others of roughly
equal ability is the degree to which, beginning
early in life, they can pursue an arduous
routine, for years. And it depends on emotional
traits – enthusiasm and persistence in the face
of setbacks.

Emotions are not extraneous - they are critical

to our very survival as they are linked to action.
EI
The main challenge is to manage
emotional life with intelligence. Our
passions when well exercised, have
wisdom; they guide our thinking, our
values, our survival. But they can easily
go awry and do so all too often. The
problem is not with emotionality; but with
the appropriateness of emotions and its
expressions.
Academic Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence
It has been found that academic
intelligence has little to do with emotional
life. The brightest of 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. So there are certainly some other
characteristics involved.
Unlike IQ, with it’s nearly one hundred year of history, with
hundreds of thousands of people, EI is a new concept. No
one can yet say exactly how much of the variability, from
person to person, in life’s course it accounts for. But what
data exists, suggests it can be as powerful and at times
more powerful than IQ.
And, while IQ cannot be changed much by experience or
education, the crucial emotional competencies can indeed
be learned and improved upon.
Academic Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence
Academic intelligence offers virtually no preparation for
the turmoil or opportunity life’s vicissitudes bring. Yet
even a high IQ is no guarantee of prosperity, prestige or
happiness in life, our culture fixates on academic
abilities, ignoring EI.

Emotional life is a domain that requires its unique set of

competencies. And how adept a person is at those, is
crucial to understanding why one thrives in life while
another of equal intellect does not: EI determines how
well we can use whatever other skills we have. When
emotions are acknowledged and guided constructively,
they enhance intellectual performance.
Emergence of E I
An eminent psychologist, E.L. Thorndike, who was also
influential in popularizing the notion of IQ in the 1920s
and the 1930s, proposed that one aspect of E I, “social
intelligence” – the ability to understand others and “act
wisely in human relations” – was itself an aspect of a
person’s IQ.

The merging of emotion and intelligence as a cognitive

ability under the caption of E I was proposed by Peter
Salovey and John Mayer (1990). It was defined as
“ability to monitor ones own and others’ feelings and
emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this
information to guide one’s thinking and actions”.
Emergence of E I
At this point we can say that although others like
Thorndike’s (1920s) and Gardner’s (1980s) research
into social intelligence hinted at the importance of
emotions to intellectual functioning, the term E I was
not brought into mainstream psychology until 1990
(Salovey and Mayer) who first coined the term
“emotional intelligence”..

The publication of Daniel Goleman’s best-selling book,

“Emotional Intelligence”, popularized the notion that
emotions are a domain of intelligence. In the
organizational community, Goleman’s book created an
interest in learning about emotions, the role they play at
work, and how managers said or debated regarding E I.
Goleman’s theory of Emotional Intelligence
Goleman argues that we have two different kinds of
intelligence: rational and emotional. How we do in life is
determined by both. His thesis is that the balance and
management of emotions determines how intelligently a
person acts and how successful s/he will be life.

Goleman in his book, Emotional Intelligence (1995),

defines E I as “the capacity in recognizing our own
feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves
managing emotions well in ourselves and in our
relationship”. In his second book, Working with EI, he
goes much further on the role of learning and the
development of EI in maturing adults.
Goleman’s theory of Emotional Intelligence
According to Goleman (1995), E I consists of “abilities
such as being able to motivate oneself and persist in the
face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay
gratification; to regulate one’s mood and keep distress
from swamping the ability to think to empathize and to
hope”.

Goleman et al (2000) suggested four components of

EI:
o Awareness of Emotions in Self
o Awareness of Emotions in Others
o Management of Emotions in Self
o Management of emotions in Others.
Dimensions of EI

The major dimensions of EI that

Goleman has determined to have the

most relevant and biggest impact on

understanding behavior in the

workplace.
Dimensions of EI
A) Developing Personal Competence
I) SELF-AWARENESS

Self-understanding; knowledge of true feelings at the

moment (eg., John recognizes that he is angry so he
will wait to cool down and gather more information
before making an important personnel decision).

a) Emotional Awareness – Recognizing one’s

emotions and their effects.
b) Accurate self-assessment – Knowing one’s
strengths and limits.
c) Self-confidence – Sureness about one’s self-
worth and capabilities.
Dimensions of EI
II) SELF-REGULATION
Handle one’s emotions to facilitate rather than hinder
the task at hand; shake off negative emotions and get
back on constructive track for problem solution (e.g.,
She hold back her impulse to become visibly upset
and raise her voice at the customer’s unfair complaint
and tries to get more facts of what happened).

a) Self-control – Managing disruptive emotions

and impulses.
b) Trustworthiness – Maintaining standards of
honesty and integrity.
c) Conscientiousness – Taking responsibility for
personal performance.
Dimensions of EI
III) SELF-MOTIVATION
Stay the course toward a desired goal; overcome
negative emotional impulses and delay gratification to
attain the desired outcome (e.g., He persisted to
successful project completion in spite of the many
frustrations from the lack of resources and top
management support).
a) Achievement drive – Striving to improve or
meet a standard of excellence.
b) Commitment – Aligning with the goals of the
group or organization.
c) Initiative – Readiness to act on opportunities.
d) Optimism – Persistence in pursuing goals
despite obstacles and setbacks.
Dimensions of EI
B) Developing Social Competence
IV) SOCIAL AWARENESS
Understand and be sensitive to the
feelings of others; being able to sense
what others feel and want (e.g. Because
the head of the team knew her members,
were mentally if not physically exhausted,
she took everyone bowling during an
afternoon and bought refreshments).
o Empathy – Sensing others’ feelings and
perspective, and taking an active interest
in their concerns.
o Service orientation – Anticipating,
recognizing, and meeting customers’
needs. Developing others – Sensing what
others need in order to develop, and
bolstering their abilities.
o Leveraging diversity – Cultivating
opportunities through diverse people.
o Political awareness – Reading a group’s
emotional currents and power
relationships.
Dimensions of EI
V) SOCIAL SKILLS
The ability to read social situations; smooth in
interacting with others and forming networks;
able to guide others’ emotions and the way
they act (He could tell from the nonverbal
cues from his staff members that they were
not buying into the new policy being
presented, so after the meeting he visited
each of them to explain how they will benefit).
a) Influence – Wielding effective tactics for
persuasion.
b) Communication – Sending clear and
convincing messages
c) Leadership – Inspiring and guiding groups
and people.
Dimensions of EI
V) SOCIAL SKILLS

d) Change catalyst – Initiating or managing

change
e) Conflict management – Negotiating and
resolving disagreements.
f) Building bonds – Nurturing instrumental
relationships
g) Collaboration and cooperation – Working with
others towards shared goals.
h) Team capabilities – Creating group synergy in
pursuing collective goals.
E I and Success in Careers

A major reason why EI continues to be popular is that it has

been proposed as being important for career success. Salovey
and Mayer temper any claims about the link between EI and
career success.

Even if EI is important for career success, it works in

conjunction with other factors such as integrity, persistence,
passion and general intelligence. Over the course of a career,
EI seems to be improved.
Learning about emotional skills and how to apply them
is an exciting thought. This view proposes that a person
starting a career with moderate or poor EI can learn to
improve his/her emotional management. Over time,
better EI can possibly mean more career success.
Daniel Goleman argues that we have two kinds of

intelligence: rational and emotional. How we do in life is

determined by both.
Even if EI is important for career success, it works in
conjunction with other factors: integrity, persistence,
passion, general intelligence.
Over the course of a career, EI seems to increase. Learning
about emotional skills and how to apply them is an exciting
idea. It suggests a maturation process: A person starting a
career with moderate or poor EI can learn to improve
his/her emotional management skills.
Over time, better EI may indeed mean more career
success.
There is a caution regarding EI and career progression.
While increasing EI has been associated with increasing
rank through middle management, EI has also been shown
to decrease as one moves from middle to senior
management. The drop does not mean EI is less important
to senior management but may indicate that the stress and
prestige of senior positions has led some executives to
forget its importance.