Emotional Intelligence

According to McShane and Von Glinow, Emotional Intelligence "is the ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in oneself and others. In other words, EI represents a set of competencies that allow us to perceive, understand, and regulate emotions in ourselves and in others. These emotional competencies are learned capabilities based on emotional intelligence that lead to superior performance." (Organizational Behavior, 2004, Chapter 4, p. 119).

These competencies include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management, and they are all related to recognizing and regulating emotions in ourselves (personal competence) and in others (social competence). EI is related to several character traits including sociability, conscientiousness, kindness, emotional stability, and low neuroticism. (McShane & Von Glinow). The good news is that EI can be learned to some extent, and it tends to increase with age as part of the maturity process.

The ability to excel these emotional competencies mentioned by the authors is crucial to be successful in professional life. Great part of our life in business is spent communicating with others, and as managers, making decisions. Emotion can get in the way of both good communication and good decision making; therefore it is critical that the high performer manager is able to develop these competencies. Business life today is very intense and demands a skillful ability to manage time and priorities in order to achieve (and exceed) the goals set. Using the emotional intelligence competencies and developing them further are not only learning objectives but also actions that will make the learning journey easier and more enjoyable.

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References:

McShane, Steve L., & Von Glinow, Mary Ann (2004). Organizational Behavior: Emerging Realities for the Workplace Revolution. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.