ABSTRACT

Leaders incorporate emotional intelligence in building a successful organization.

Emotions are very important aspect of the organizations success or failure. Negative emotions
among employees can hinder the growth of the organization. It is crucial for the organization to
find ways in minimizing negative emotions and promote positive, productive behavior.
Many research and case studies have been made regarding the relationship of emotional
intelligence and organization. Individuals emotional intelligence in workplace have great
impacts on their effectiveness in their job and positive relationship between management and
employees can increase the organizations productivity. Emotionally intelligent organizations can
take full advantage of their human resources to achieve success in the competitive business
world because member of these organization shares strong bonds committed to the success of the
business.
This study examines emotional intelligence and its importance in a business organization.
Using the review of literature, I identify the four competencies of emotional intelligence: selfawareness, self- management, social awareness and relationship management in perspective of
organizational settings. Each component affects the performance of the organization and its
employee. Literature highlights the role of emotional competencies in organizational
environments having huge impact on the business success.
INTRODUCTION

In our fast changing society, the term emotional intelligence plays an important role in
every aspects of our life; how it can affects one's decision in personal or work-related issues.
Some people would say that if you cannot handle your emotions then you have high risk in
failing your goals. Managing one's emotion is a difficult task; there are times that our judgments
are overpowered by our emotions that we make mistakes in our choice. Emotions are very high
in workplace especially in stressful situations, how we choose our reaction in bad situations can
demonstrate how we handle our negative emotions. Thus, it is imperative for an individual have
a better understanding on why Emotional Intelligence matter in organization.
Emotional Intelligence can be abbreviated to EI, and can also be referred to as Emotional
Quotient (EQ).

Daniel Goleman formally popularized it in 1995 in his book Emotional

Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Goleman (1998) defined emotional intelligence
(EI) as the humans ability to understand his emotion and employ it to make an effective decision
within his life. While Bar-on (2000) rearticulated it to being concerned with effectively
understanding oneself and others, relating well to people, and adapting to and coping with the
immediate surroundings to be more successful in dealing with environmental demands.
In the business world, we often see that emotions are disadvantages, that it can be a
hindrance in our success. However, contrary to that emotions can be our assets in the
organization. Employees who have high emotional intelligence can be an exemplary employee
and have better chances to advance their career.
The importance of emotions in a workplace has established by many scholars. Emotional
intelligence in organization is very significant in order to survive business world. With fierce
competition in workplace and stressful situation, employees must be able to regulate his feelings,
4

emotions and mood state. If he can control them, then he will be able to handle his struggles
easier.
Many organizations today would consider the EI of the employees before hiring them. EI
enhances the success of organizations. Individuals with high emotional intelligence perform
better and have high motivation. Bradzil & Slaski (2003) pointed out that people with high EQ
are more grounded, more resilient and are more satisfied at work; they display empathy, are
adaptable and able to cope with pressure and generally experience less stress and better health
and well-being than low scorers. Emotionally intelligent workforces create a positive work
atmosphere hence resulting to productive and effective organization.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AT WORK
Employees who have high competencies in emotional intelligence can deliver more
quality work in organization. The following will outline the four competencies of emotional
intelligence that is proven to contribute in workplace achievements. This is base on the various
literatures concerning emotional intelligence in organizational settings. Much of the material is
base from Daniel Goleman's book Working with Emotional Intelligence (1998). The researcher
will integrate situations wherein the four components of emotional intelligence have become
deciding factors in accomplishing or failing of duties outcomes.
SELF-AWARENESS

Goleman (1998) defined self- awareness as the ability to read ones emotions and identify
their effect to make decisions. Having awareness on our actions and behavior would help us
consider all the possible solutions in solving problems and conflict in organizations. A person
with high self-awareness can utilize his strengths and improve his weaknesses, he can understand
and relate better with his surroundings and have healthy working relationship with his coworkers. He has self-confidence in performing his task and knows how to make use of his
capabilities and skills in seeking higher position in organization.
Self-awareness can influence job performance in workplace. For instance, Jane's
experience in manufacturing company, one of her responsibilities is to prepare a plan in
transferring the inspection process of raw materials of printers to the local supplier. One problem
that she encountered was that she received vague instructions on the factors that should be
included in the plan. She did not clearly voice out her concerns in the situation because she have
an impression that her supervisor expect her to complete that task successfully on her own. In the
process of completing the task, her confidence is faltering due to stress and self-doubt. Jane was
anxious that the result expected would not be realized because her plan is not effective. In the
end Jane and her supervisor have different views, the plan did not push through because it has
many flaws. One of the reasons why they did not realize their goals successfully is the lack of
assertiveness on Janes part. She was indecisive on what to do. Her ability to execute the job
properly suffered due to low confidence. As an employee, she should have properly assessed her
strong and weak points. Accurate self-assessment enables us to identify our abilities and
limitations. Self-assessment was the competence found in virtually every star performer in a
study of several hundred knowledge workerscomputer scientists, auditors and the likeat
companies such as AT&T and 3M (Kelley, 1998).
6

Having self-confidence and adapting well in work environment can alleviate stress and
increase drive to execute goals and objectives. Various studies had shown that self-confidence
has positive impacts in job performance. Among supervisors, managers, and executives, a high
degree of self-confidence distinguishes the best from the average performers (Boyatzis, 1982).
Among 112 entry-level accountants, those with the highest sense of self-efficacy, a form of selfconfidence, were rated by their supervisors ten months later as having superior job performance.
In a sixty-year study of more than one thousand high-IQ men and women tracked from early
childhood to retirement, those who possessed self-confidence during their early years were most
successful in their careers (Holahan & Sears, 1995). The level of self- confidence was in fact a
stronger predictor of performance than the level of skill or previous training (Saks, 1995).
Lack of self- awareness is detrimental in maximizing our full potential in our career.
Ignoring emotions in our workplace can cause us to make irrational decisions. Being aware on
our actions can give us advantage to choose the best options in our decisions and can make us
perform better in our organizations. The study of McCarthy and Garavan (1999) in the Journal of
European Industrial Training reports considerable research suggesting that the enhancement of
self-awareness leads to more managers that are effective. Improving self-awareness will help us
harness our inner strengths and have self-confidence in dealing with bad situations in our
organization.
SELF-MANAGEMENT
In our work place, we cannot avoid that there are times that we get angry over our boss,
co-workers or our workloads. Sometimes if a person cannot control his emotions, he can say and

do things that he will regret later when his already clear -headed. Addressing negative emotions
can be difficult; we need self-management to master our emotions.
According to Goleman (1998) self-management is the ability to regulate ones emotions
and instincts and adjusting to the changing scenarios. Self-management means that once you are
aware of your own emotions, you apply that knowledge to manage your own behavior, or to use
old-fashioned but still effective terms, self-discipline or self-control. Mastery of self-control
enables us to channel both positive and negative emotions in a productive way and enables us to
learn and gain from our emotions rather than be burdened by them. Self-management or selfregulation entails us to express our emotions appropriately.
As example, consider the situation of John, a Quality Engineer, in handling his emotions
when face with strenuous situation. John is known to be calm and patient when it comes to
dealing with the local supplier. He is easy to talk with when there are issues in work and
considerate even though the supplier sometimes do not follow protocols. One time when all are
busy doing their weekly reports, John was talking to the phone with one of the local supplier
asking them why they did not yet forwarded their action report regarding the defects they
encountered in the raw materials. John has given the local supplier enough time to prepare it. He
repeatedly reminded them that he needed the report for this particular week, during the flow of
conversation he suddenly shouted and hang up without finishing the conversation. Colleagues
who witness the incident where surprise with his actions. Most of them even his supervisor was
cautious to ask him what really happen. Later on that same day, John explained to his co-workers
that he lost his composure during the conversation. He knows that what he did is improper and
should have handled the situation more professionally. He even joke that they should learn from

his mistakes and always keep a cool head in workplace. This situation shows that sometimes
emotions control us, that our anger clouded how we response to situations. Being angry in
critical or stressed situations has negative effects in organization. Self-control simply means
finding ways to express emotions appropriately; it is about selecting the words, appropriate time,
and demeanor that will give you the results you seek .
The way we express and control emotion can affect the performance of organization.
Consider an experiment that was done at Yale University by Sigdal Barsade (1998). He had a
group of volunteers play the role of managers who come together in a group to allocate bonuses
to their subordinates. A trained actor was planted among them. The actor always spoke first. In
some groups the actor projected cheerful enthusiasm, in others relaxed warmth, in others
depressed sluggishness, and in still others hostile irritability. The results indicated that the actor
was able to infect the group with his emotion, and good feelings led to improved cooperation,
fairness, and overall group performance. In fact, objective measures indicated that the cheerful
groups were better able to distribute the money fairly and in a way that helped the organization.
Likewise, in another study conducted by Bachman (1988) he found that the most effective
leaders in the US Navy were warmer, more outgoing, emotionally expressive, dramatic, and
sociable. In addition, among managers and executives, top performers are able to balance their
drive and ambition with Emotional Self-Control, harnessing their personal needs in the service of
the organizations goals (Boyatzis, 1982).
SOCIAL AWARENESS
Social awareness or empathy helps you create resonance or a positive reaction to you
from other people; it is being aware of how others feel, of what is seen as appropriate behavior in
9

your environment or role. It is the ability to sense, comprehend and respond to emotions of other
while understanding social networks (Goleman, 1998). Empathy in organization is essential in
order to perceive and identify to our peers, customers and competitor. The sensitivity to
understand others can lead us to analyze their needs and concerns, thus increasing job
performance. For instance, the ability to read others needs well comes naturally to the best
managers of product development teams (Spencer & Spencer, 1993). Moreover, skill in Empathy
correlates with effective sales, as was found in a study among large and small retailers (Pilling &
Eroglu, 1994). In diversified workforce, the empathy competence allows us to read people
accurately and avoid resorting to the stereotyping that can lead to performance deficits by
creating anxiety in the stereotyped individuals (Steele, 1997).
As example, take the case Rey, his first job is a staff engineer in manufacturing company.
As new hire, he is in probationary period for six months, during which the supervisor carefully
considers whether the employee is able to meet the standards and expectations of the job and if
the employee should be retain as a regular employee. For the first two months, he was very
enthusiastic and motivated to perform his duties. However, along the way his co-worker notices
that he started to be indifferent. His co-worker is concern, they ask him why the change of
attitude, he answered that his chance to be a regular employee is nil. They were surprise since his
actually doing a good job, but according to him, he did not meet the expectation of his
supervisor. His supervisor always point out his faults and even labeled him as "NG" (no good
labeled for defect products). The supervisor never listens to his concerns, resulting to Reys low
morale in working. Rey's performance for the rest of four months decline and he left the
company to pursue a new employment. The supervisor's insensitivity cause poor employee
performance. It triggers the employee to lose his motivation and work haphazardly. Empathy is
10

essential to our interaction to employees, customers and in our society. In any profession, being
emphatic is a factor to be triumphant. In hospital emergency rooms, doctors who are more
empathic and take time to listen to their patients are less likely to be sued for malpractice than
doctors who do not demonstrate signs of empathy, regardless of the medical care given (Henry,
2000). Similarly, salespeople who lack empathy lag behind their counterparts who demonstrate a
higher level of competence in this area of emotional intelligence (Gerstner and Day, 1997).
Lack of empathy is one source of conflicts, the 'I don't care attitude' of co- workers and
leaders can lower organizations productivity and morale. Social awareness in organization is a
key for good relationship with our peers, understanding the perception of others make us see the
bigger picture in choosing options that is beneficial to the whole organizations. Having a welldeveloped sense of empathy is essential if one is to deal successfully with ones peers,
subordinates, managers, customers, and competitors (Waldroop and Butler, 2001)..
RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Working in any organization, they always emphasize that being a team player is
necessary. You should have the ability to collaborate with others, to contribute positive input to
group decisions. The way we interact and relate within the organization can affect its
effectiveness. Leaders with exemplary communication and social skills can influence their
subordinates to work better and provide higher output. They create resonance within organization
and give importance to collaboration and teamwork.
Goleman (1998) suggests that relationship management involves actively seeking to
cultivate healthy relationships with those around us through clear communication, trust, conflict

11

resolution, warmth, kindness, and appropriate humor. Relationship management is the end result
of being self-aware, self-managed and socially aware. Relationship management is a give and
take relationship, if you help others towards their goal and intentions you can expect them to
return the same favors to you. It is a win-win situation for the organization if each member
values good relationship toward each other.
Let us consider Joyce experience, a quality engineer in manufacturing company, one of
her responsibilities is to handle the work force for inspecting the raw materials use in assembling
the printer. Most of the inspectors are older than she is by ten years and have been working in the
company for at least five years. Due to age gap and seniority in the department, she needs to
exert effort to get their trust and cooperation. She always solicits their opinions when there are
issues in quality and listen to their suggestions and concerns. When giving orders she makes sure
not to sound bossy but always encourage them to do their best in achieving the best outcomes.
She respects them and gives importance to their contribution in the department, in such way they
will respect her authority and trust me. By giving importance to her subordinates, she was able to
get their full cooperation in solving quality issues concerning product. They were able to work
harmoniously and effectively. The ability to establish and maintain strong relationship in
organization will prevent and resolve conflicts. Her experience illustrates that higher levels of
emotional intelligence can result to more cooperative behavior, better interpersonal relationships
and more relationship satisfaction (Lopes et al., 2004).
In a survey of 209 top selling professionals cited in Sales and Marketing Management by
Erika Rasmusson presented traits that were identified as essential to be successful in sales. Of
these respondents, 72 percent said that the ability to build relationships is key for being

12

successful in sales. Building social bonds with the customers are essential component in success
regardless of occupation.
Many finding provide basis that relationship management is essential for organizational
effectiveness. For instance, collaboration is particularly crucial to the success of managers; a
deficit in the ability to work cooperatively with peers was, in one survey, the most common
reason managers were fired (Sweeney, 1999). Team-based activities are often happening in
organization to generate more ideas and creativity in completing projects. Collaboration and
teamwork in organizations are needed in achieving desired goals.
CONCLUSION
Emotional Intelligence plays a vital role in organization. Emotions can affect the
decisions that the organizations are going to create. Like a double-edge-sword, it can be either
favorable or unfavorable to the workplace success. The role of emotional intelligence in
organization is critical and diverse. Emotional intelligence helps others and us to utilize and
regulate our own emotions in an effective manner. Its importance in workplace settings has been
realized for better productivity and success through aspects like communication skills, empathy,
social skills, etc. emotional intelligence become one of the most important factor in achieving
success in organizations.
As organizations today go global, they want their employees to be more emotionally
intelligent because they can perform better in solving complex problem and handling critical
situations. An emotionally intelligent people are a source of competitive advantage in
organization.

13

Employees who can understand (self-awareness) and regulate (self-management) their

own feelings and can also recognize (social awareness) and control (relationship management)
other feelings are assets in organizations. They have the ability to utilize their emotions
positively that benefits the whole organization. Emotionally intelligent employees motivate
others by creating positive and productive environment to work. They can identify with others by
understanding situations from others perspective and maintaining healthy relationship. They can
adapt well to the changing needs, are honest and behave appropriately in critical situations. All
these factors are the reasons why emotionally intelligent employees are competitive advantage in
accomplishing organizational success.

REFERENCES
Bachman, W. (1988). Nice guys finish first: A SYMLOG analysis of U.S. Naval commands. In
e. a. R. B. Polley (Ed.), The SYMLOG practitioner: Applications of small group research.
New York: Praeger.
14

Bardzil, P. and Slaski, M. (2003). Emotional intelligence: Fundamental competencies for

enhanced service provision, Managing Service Quality, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 97-104.
Bar-On, R. (2000). Emotional and social intelligence: Insights from the emotional quotient
inventory. In R. Bar-On & J. D. A. Parker (Eds.), The handbook of emotional intelligence
(pp. 363388). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Boyatzis, R. E. (1982). The competent manager: A model for effective performance. New York:
Wiley.
Gerstner, C.R., and Day, D.V. (1997). Meta-Analytic Review of Leader-Member Exchange
Theory: Correlates and Construct Issues, Journal of Applied Psychology 82: 827844.
Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam.
Henry, Gregory L. (2000). Continuing Medical Education for Emergency Physicians Medical
Practice Risk Assessment Track, Emergency Physicians Annual Conference:
audiocassette.
Holahan, C. K., & Sears, R. R. (1995). The gifted group in later maturity. Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press.
Kelley, Robert E. (1998). How to be a Star at Work. New York: Times Business, Random
House.

15

Lopes, P. N., Brackett, M. A., Nezlek, J. B., Schtz, A., Sellin, I., & Salovey, P. (2004).
Emotional intelligence and social interaction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,
30, 10181034.
McCarthy, Alma M., and Garavan, Thomas N. (1999). Developing Self-Awareness in the
Managerial Career Development Process: The Value of 360-Degree Feedback and the
MBTI. Journal of European Industrial Training 23: 437.
Pilling, B. K., & Eroglu, S. (1994). An empirical examination of the impact of salesperson
empathy and professionalism and merchandise salability on retail buyers evaluations.
Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 14(1), 5558.
Rasmusson, Erika. The 10 Traits of Top Salespeople. Sales and Marketing Management 152
(August): 3437.
Spencer, L. M., & Spencer, S. M. (1993). Competence at work: Models for superior
performance. New York: Wiley.
Steele, C. M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and
performance. American Psychologist, 52, 613629.
Sweeney, P. (1999, February 14). Teaching new hires to feel at home. New York Times, p. C4.
Waldroop, James, and Butler, Timothy. Harvard Business Review on Finding and Keeping the
16

Best PeopleManaging Away Bad Habits. Harvard Business Review, Boston: Harvard
Business School Publishing, 2001.

17