The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace

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Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to perceive, assess and manage one's own
feelings together with that of others as well. It is a psychological mechanism of an individuals
which is directly connected to the personality. According to Dr. Mayer, it is the capacity of a
person to fathom and catch the emotions along with the emotional knowledge with a view to
promote intellectual growth. There are reasons for all the activities carried by the people and one
can resolve the problems only with stability in emotions. Therefore, it is a concept which helps in
being aware about the psychology or emotions for a decision or action (Sadri, 2012).
One should have high emotional intelligence for handling a situation. The underlying
factors may include individual perceptions, opinions, past results etc. These can either increase
or decrease emotional intelligence. In addition to this, it has four different kinds viz. Perceiving
emotion which is about the ability to apprehend the emotions from the face of a person. Usage of
emotion to facilitate thought which helps in providing guidance to then people for showing their
creativity, understanding emotions is connected with decoding emotional messages and actions
and managing emotions in an effective way.
Emotional intelligence is highly connected with professional life therefore, it has been
made a part which the manager should understand in managing the people working in the
organisation. Employees like to work in those entities which provide them high work
satisfaction. It also assists in retaining them for a long time by making them capable and skilled
to perform their individual tasks and achieve the goals of the organisation. However, there are
other factors as well which contribute to the motivation of employees such as good working
conditions, high pay, adequate benefits etc. However, the element of emotional intelligence
cannot be ignored (Batool, 2013).
The market has become competitive and there are many other entities operating in the
same field may attract employees by meeting their expectations. Keeping the workforce happy
and satisfied should be the prime objectives of any organisation irrespective of its size, nature,
business etc. Without sufficient human resource, an entity cannot achieve its objectives and
goals. So when the organisation appoints any candidates, it has an aim of keeping them for a
long time. This can be done by forming an emotional relationship with them by motivating them
to participate in decision making and other activities efficiently (Farh, Seo and Tesluk, 2012).
There is a Goleman model which provides that it is a psychological theory which map for
the general public. This theory can be applied in the organisation for creating better results. With
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its help one can be engaged in having stability in emotional and social intelligence. Workplace is
all about engaging the professionals in the jobs which can be done with the skills and knowledge
possessed by them. In this, emotional intelligence play a huge role wherein its principles are
applied with the organisation for creating healthy relationship with improvement. The same
principles are self-awareness which is about identifying the personal emotions, emotional
triggers and limitations, self-regulation is the capability for managing the emotions in a way that
create positive results. In addition to this, motivation which is an inner feeling that is obtained
with the achievement of individual goals and objectives (Collins and Cooper, 2014). The
empathy is to understand and experience emotions of another person and last being social skills
which helps an individual to interact and make adjustments with other individuals for meeting
the needs of each person.
Emotional intelligence is directly connected with the mental health of people working in
the organisation. It is important to provide the human resource peace so that they can work with
increased productivity. The managers can work to increase emotional intelligence as people with
higher emotional intelligence are better at co-operating with others, manage the work-related
stress and solve conflicts. All of these help in creating goof relationship at workplace. But it can
also create negative impact on them. In other words, it is not always true that people having high
emotional intelligence are at benefit for all the jobs.
Leaders at workplace tend to have emotional intelligence as a quality which makes them
work smartly. This is a way through which a leader can understand the situation of its team
members. For example, HR manager while recruiting employees may ask the applicant who has
appeared for the interview, some questions which may help the manager understand the level of
emotional intelligence (Schneider, Lyons and Khazon, 2013).
A comparison has been conducted which shows that people with higher emotional
intelligence are good at making decisions which help them resolve the issues. Along with this,
they are better at managing the stress and mental pressure, the amount of conflicts get reduced,
element of empathy is greater. Along with this, the situation of criticism are managed in a
positive way. Whereas, people with lower often seek attention and play victim for being
accountable to the responsibility in case any mistakes have been done. Additionally, there is
aggressive nature occur while communicating with other. This can be reflected in the styles
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