Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Human Resource Management - Essay Example

The concept of personnel management has evolved to human resource management (HRM) over the years and different perspectives have emerged in tacklingissues like performance appraisal, skills analysis, training and development, and merit pay. It may be the same principles and practices with certain changes or alterations to integrate with the changed business environment. HRM is often described as a new perspective on personnel management. The context in which people have to be managed has changed due to global competition, new technology, new methods of working and organizing work (Armstrong, 2000). ‘Emotional intelligence’ (EI) is considered to be a new concept pointing towards a new means of controlling workers. This paper will discuss the how effective is concept of ‘emotional intelligence’ which is increasingly being applied in all the aspects of HRM. Sparrow (1999) describes two schools of thoughts on how managers should deal with issues. One group of people opine that issues should be dealt rationally not allowing emotions to interfere with strategic decisions while another group acknowledges emotionality by considering the role of stress, levels of satisfaction and trust. Of late however, constructs like EI are gaining legitimacy. Research suggests that managers cannot avoid dealing with emotionality in today’s turbulent environment. As the information load is increasing, managers need to develop EI to be able to handle the situation effectively. The concept of EI was conceived by Mayer, DiPaolo and Salovey in 1990 and since then many theorists have discussed of the benefits to the organization by individual who possess high levels of EI. There are broad claims that EI can be used as a driver of competitive advantage and enhanced profitability (Brown, 2005). EI has been defined as the intelligent use of emotions to help guide an individual’s behavior and thinking towards enhanced results. According to Armstrong, EI postulates that to be effective it is not enough to have a high IQ but also the capacity to recognize one’s own feelings and that of others, capacity to motivate one’s self and the capacity to manage emotions in one’s self and in all relationships. It is the ability to perceive, access and generate emotions to assist thoughts, to understand emotions and effectively regulate them to promote emotional and intellectual growth. This is nutshell amounts to knowing your self. EI has a deep history as links between affectivity and intelligence, and between emotion and cognition have been explored by different authors. Emotion was considered to be an unwanted spontaneous distraction to an individual’s contribution towards organizational ends although these were mostly associated with unpleasant emotions like anger, disgust and anxiety (Brown). EI is considered a predictor of behavior in connection with leadership, team performance, conflict resolution and organizational complexities. EI is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide range of individual skills and dispositions usually known as soft skills. EI is essential to be a well adjusted, fully functional member of the society (Kierstead, 1999). Goleman (cited by Kierstead) argues that an emotionally intelligent worker is skilled in two areas – personal competence (how one manages one’s self) and social competence (how one manages relationships). Brown states that earlier intelligence was sufficient to gain entry to an organization but today success is attributed to 90% EI but Kierstead counters that such a claim is an overstatement of the potential power of EI. This is being used by the HR practitioners to find a construct other than intelligence to understand and predict performance at work. While most theorists agree that IQ is the key to success it only predicts about 20% of personal variation. Psychologists have not been able to determine what constitutes the rest 80% of success. EI is known to be one of the attributes to success but to what extent or how important it is, is not yet known (Kierstead) although EQ is a better indicator of life success according to Goleman (Hoek, Chatham & Wilding, 2002). Measuring EI was thought to be useful as they provide a feedback on an individual’s strengths and weakness. It also provides a feedback on the gap between the individual’s self perception and how he is perceived are rated by others. Research suggests that such feedback enhances self knowledge and consequently improves managerial behavior (Sala, 2001). Studies have demonstrated that higher level employees have an inflated view of their EI competencies than do the lower level employees. This could be because there are very few above them to give a feedback and those below them would be hesitant to give a negative or low rating. Organizations today operate across national boundaries and trade in different parts of the globe. The effectiveness of cross-cultural online communication is critical to business today. Online communication can foster information and knowledge based culture but it can also destroy individual or group performance if it is poorly planned, developed, and implemented by an organization (Fujimoto et al., 2007). EI in the individuals can give them the right perception and guidance. Hoek et al., suggest that to respond to the turbulent environment the managers in the supply chain would have to become proactive. The supply chain managers are likely to have a higher IQ than average but action research also suggests that those who have highly developed cognitive capabilities have neglected the emotional intelligence. Thus the supply chain managers would need to be driven by results and commit themselves to solve the problem. They may even end up challenging the boss instead of being waiting to be directed. The supply chain management requires the key personnel to be sensitive to the needs and wants to the customer which is part of the EI that Goleman states. Job of organizing is the job of supporting constant change for progress Goleman (1998) developed a framework of emotional intelligence based on his research of over hundreds of firms. He defines emotional competence as a learned capability based on EI that results in outstanding performance at work. Sociologist Arlie Hochschild introduced the term emotional labour which meant reading the boss’ moods and responding accordingly (Guy & Newman, 2004). Softer emotions are required in relational tasks such as caring and nurturing and mostly required in jobs of assistants, receptionists etc. These acts keep the wheels greased so that people cooperate, stay on job and they are rewarded by a pat on the back rather than by money. This requires great skills at managing their own feelings and requires high level of emotional intelligence. The employability scenario has undergone a change which requires development of the nature of the self and personal attributes for success. This implies translating intelligence into on-the-job capabilities for management and leadership (Johnston & Watson, 2004). Thus performance management has gained importance for organizational effectiveness. Critical reflection and belief in one’s capabilities are gaining importance, which requires emotional intelligence. It is often argued that managers successful in the domestic operations are not successful in the international arena as the competencies required differ. These competencies include personality traits, behaviors, skills, values and knowledge. Such global leaders should posses global emotional intelligence according to Kets de Vries and Florent-Treacy (2002) although according to Goleman emotional intelligence is observed when a person demonstrates the competencies that constitute self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and social skills at appropriate times and ways in sufficient frequency to be effective in the situation (cited by Jokinen, 2006). Thus global leadership competency necessitates a high degree of emotional intelligence. Such personal attributes help the global manager to determine how and when the knowledge and skills should be applied. Apart from the cognitive skills, a global leader must have the emotional resilience or the ability to maintain confidence and objectivity under difficult circumstances. HRM policies and practices used for controlling and directing behavior and performance are basically the result of managerial beliefs. In EI two distinct mental processes work together – thinking and feeling. People’s cognitive capabilities are informed by emotions and the emotions are cognitively managed. Kerr, Garvin, Heaton & Boyle (2006) contend that leadership is an emotional process where the leaders recognize followers’ emotional states and seek to manage these emotional states also. It is believed that by creating shared emotional experiences the leaders increase group solidarity and morale. Such leaders can promote effectiveness at all levels in an organization. Employees with high levels of EI have smoother interactions with team members. Studies reveal that the employee perceptions of supervisor effectiveness are strongly related to the EI of the supervisor. This implies that the manager’s level of EI should be included and considered within the recruitment and selection process and also the training and development process for managerial personnel. Watkin (2000) state while IQ is an innate quality, EI can be learnt. Evidence suggests that use of IE for recruitment decisions leads to 90 percentile success. A global consumer products firm which did not use EI for recruitment found that 50% of all division presidents left within two years of hiring. This resulted in a total search cost of $4 million. These are the hidden costs that are not apparent. When this firm used emotional competence for evaluation, only 6% of the new division presidents left within two years. EI leads to superior performance at every level from entry-level jobs to top executive positions. EI is a means to develop employees to lead to superior performance. Whitbread Pub’s Restaurant Division was in the transition stage and needed people who were oriented to and believed in people and teams. It was felt that EI could contribute to developing those skills and abilities (Orme & Longhorn, 2003). Various managers and leaders were already aware of EI and expressed their opinions. Their opinions included that EI is beneficial both for the employee and the organization. Employees use it to develop themselves while the organization uses it to enhance performance through recruitment and development. As far as learning and development is concerned, EI enables the firm to assess the strength of its employees and utilize their talents accordingly. In the service industry 60 to 80% of interaction with guests is based on emotion. Since EI drives the behavior, it is essential to recruit good quality and then train on the technical issues. EI hence is a tool to recruit good quality. Such deep reflection by the managers made it easier to create a successful intervention at Whitbread. In the call centre industry attrition rate is very high and research suggests that using EI as criteria for recruitment has greatly reduced the attrition rates (Rankin, 2003). If there is a good match between the applicant and the job, the employee will enjoy the job. Job mismatch can lead to lower performance and consequent resignation. Five emotional competencies namely self-awareness, emotional resilience, motivation, interpersonal sensitivity and conscientiousness were found to be linked to productivity. On the basis of such tests, once people have been recruited, firms should provide opportunities to develop these competencies still further. Theissen (2004) asserts that people with high levels of EI are able to communicate authentically and assertively. They are able to accept others and use their talent for the good of the organization. They are able to sense and respond positively to wide range of circumstances in an organization. EI also helps to manage diversity. It is also generally accepted that people fail in their job because of lack of interpersonal skills rather than due to lack of technical expertise. Poor working relations, conflicts, being too authoritarian and ambitious are considered emotional failures. EI can be learned through training but initial competency has to be there in an individual. This makes it essential for an organization to select people who have the basic levels of emotional competency. EI helps to manage diverse relationships efficiently. The role HR personnel is challenging because people from diverse background, values, culture and beliefs converge in an organization. HRM needs a holistic approach. All core functions like recruitment, selection, training and development, induction are ideally suited for enhancing the importance of values. Values are a combination of emotional and cognitive factors and it is difficult to understand the values of others because each individual would try to judge from his own perspective. This requires leadership with high competencies. Leadership requires much more than strategic thinking, intelligence and power. Accordingly, Mussig (2003) suggests the following value-driven leadership model: Source: Mussig (2003). Diggings (2004) asserts that EI plays a greater role than traditional intelligence in determining the organizational success. The decisions have to be based on self-management and relationship skills. The leader has to be conscious of how his decision affects others in the organization and the organization itself. EI helps them to develop the ability to judge social dynamics in the workplace. Suliman and Al-Shaikh (2007) agree that workplace is richer in terms of conflict seeds like diversity, complexity and hostility. This requires EI and to enrich EI self-reflection, empathy, desire to change and emotional control is required. Research confirms that employees with higher levels of EI have lower levels of conflict and higher levels of inclination to create and innovate. Managers must accept that employees’ work outcomes can be influenced by EI. Evidence suggests that EI is associated with service provision. EI should be incorporated into staff selection, training, and performance management. If employees are emotionally self-aware and understand others, it would lead to excellent service (Bardzil & Slaski, 2003). Increased levels of EI do reduce the negative aspects like stress, low morale and poor mental health. EI has also been found to be useful tool for revealing management development opportunities and to increase the promotion readiness of middle managers (Langley, 2000). This conforms to the research of Longhorn (2004) which suggests that the performance of managers depend upon their ability to be aware of and understand their own emotions. This ability is a critical point in developing the skills of EI. Research further confirms that those leaders who had the capability to motivate and inspire subordinates reported that they could manage and monitor emotions both within themselves and others (Palmer, Walls, Burgess & Stough, 2000). Hochschild (1979) expresses concern that over a period of time emotional laborers become alienated from their true selves that can lead to high stress levels, burnouts, emotional numbness and loss of personal identity. Hughes (2003) argues that emotions and EI should not be commercialized or merely considered as exchange value. Emotions should be expressed at the right time, in front of the right people, and in the right manner. It is the responsibility of HRM to ensure that individuals possess abilities, competencies and traits to recognize, mobilize and manage emotions. Strong evidence demonstrates how EI is linked to all functions of HR. It should start from the recruitment stage itself. If the selection of staff uses the emotional quotient for initial screening, if individuals have a basic level of EI, developing it is easier. EI unlike intelligence can be developed through training. It requires training in being conscious of the self and others, being sensitive of others’ needs, being able to monitor and manage emotions. In the changed workplace, stress, turbulence and competition have heightened which requires taking care of the emotions. It is not possible to develop an individual in isolation or ignore the emotional trauma that the employee undergoes. With EI, organizations have found it is easier to control and manage workforce which enhances productivity, performance, improves interpersonal relationships. Control need not be through force but comes through the right direction and guidance, empathy and understanding their problems. This is the concept of emotional intelligence which is definitely a new means of controlling workers. References: Armstrong, M., (2000), The name has changed but has the game remained the same? Employee Relations, Vol. 22 No. 6, 2000, pp. 576-593. 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