Building blocks of emotional intelligence

Running Head: ASSIGNMENT 2

ASSIGNMENT 2 8

BUS 520

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EI and Motivation

Emotional Intelligence refers to that ability of managing one’s emotions and also handling the emotions of other people. Within organizations, leaders and managers ought to have this trait as it ensures they not only take care of the employees but also ensure they can perform to their best even at their worst moments.

EI is composed of a number of building blocks; to mention some, they include emotional self-awareness, self-perception and leadership, self-regard, self-actualization, ability to accept one’s strengths and weaknesses, ability to understand feelings and finally the ability to improve as an individual (Cote & Miners, 2006). Some of these EI building blocks have significant impacts on the ability of management to improve the performance of employees as well as job satisfaction. For instance, ability to understand, respect and accept the strengths and weaknesses of employees would be very important in enhancing employee performance. With managers having a deep understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each employee, they will always assign them tasks in accordance to their abilities. For example, there are employees who work best while in teams; others find strength while working all alone. Knowing such differences in terms of strengths and weaknesses will thus be a benefit to managers as they will ensure workers can be placed in job environments which satisfy their needs and ultimately enhance their job performance.

Emotional self-awareness is another important EI building block which can impact the ability of the managers in enhancing job satisfaction and employee performance. Emotions and especially negative emotions may create conflicts within workplaces. If a manager cannot effectively manage their own emotions, it becomes disastrous to the rest of employees. This may lead into employees holding grudges and also affecting their motivation which in the end will result into poor performance. Through emotional self-awareness, managers have the ability to understand their own emotions and manage them in a way that would not affect the employees. In this way, the employees’ motivation would not be affected in any way thus ensuring they retain their performance levels within the organization. Emotional self-awareness also goes hand in hand with the ability of understanding the feelings of other people. An excellent manager must know that employees are also faced with several issues which may affect their feeling and emotions, hence negatively impacting their performances. A manager who can understand the feelings of his employees every moment will always create an enabling working environment for employees, thus, positively impacting employee performance and job satisfaction (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013).

Based on the research carried out, the task force identified Hertzberg’s two factor theory as the main motivational theory for solving the issue at hand. According to this theory, two major factors contribute to employee motivation and they include motivator factors and hygiene factors. Under motivator factors elements such as career progression, feeling recognized and enjoying one’s work were identified as the major motivational elements. Under hygiene factors, elements such as poor salaries, company policies and negative relationship with managers and leaders can lead to lack of motivation and dissatisfaction among employees.

With respect to this motivational theory, the task force decided to use positive reinforcement to influence the employees of this organization and also offer a solution to the issue. Positive reinforcement works by presenting a motivating stimulus after a certain behavior has been exhibited. In this way, therefore, the company will use Hertzberg’s two factor motivational theory and emphasize more on motivator factors such as being recognized and career progression as the main motivation stimuli which will positively influence employee performance. For example, those employees who will perform in an exemplary manner will be recognized before others and awarded a token for their outstanding works. Career progression in terms of holding higher offices will be guaranteed to such employees only when they exhibit excellent performances within the organization. The solution will work as all employees desire to progress and also be given a pat on the back for their hard work.

EI and Social Skills and Decision Making

EI is composed of five major core concepts; they include self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. Self-awareness involves understanding one’s feelings in real time. Our feelings and emotions do change over time and it is important for a manager to know how they feel as it directly affects the process of decision making. Self-regulation is that ability to manage one’s emotions so that they do not interfere with the capability to make rational decisions. Motivation is perceived as the ability to persevere while facing challenges and setbacks; it involves the strife to constantly improve despite of previous failures. Empathy is that ability to understand what other people feel. Such a leader or manager is capable of showing kindness to employees who are experiencing a difficult moment. Lastly, social skills are viewed as the ability to handle the emotions of others and one’s own emotions in a productive manner (Mayer, Salovey & Caruso, 2008).

The above described core concepts play an important role in making effective decisions. Emotions may negatively impact the decision making process and it only takes the above described EI core concepts in the management of one’s emotions in a way that it won’t negatively affect decision making. Each member of the management team must be fully aware of the state of their emotions. If they are not okay, they should apply self-regulations skills to ensure their emotions do not affect the process of making rational decisions. Through motivation, the management team can still make rational decisions even after a long period of failure. Empathy and social skills are important while making decisions directly affecting employees. Before making a judgment on employee’s behavior, the management team must be lenient enough to empathize with the employees. Through social skills, they will be able to make rational decisions that will be fair to the employees and the organization generally.

Effective Teams

Group and teamwork within organizations has become very common and this has created the need for companies to come up with strategies which will lead into effective teams. Communication is the first core attribute of an effective team; for a team to be successful the flow of communication between employees and managers and also among the employees must be excellent. Through communication, employees can share ideas and opinions. Through communication the organization can easily track progress of employees. Effective communication between managers and employees must be implemented to be part of the team so as to benefit the organization (Mackin, 2007).

Effective teams also require good leadership. Excellent teams have leaders who are respected and trusted by their followers. A leader acts as the glue which holds all the followers together; he or she is responsible for setting goals and the pace in which the team should move. A good leader will offer motivation and encouragement that will keep the team even stronger. There will be need to ensure there is effective leadership within the organization to develop better team dynamics that will be advantageous to the organization.

Team cooperation is also another core attribute of every effective team. All the players within the team must cooperate by dedicating themselves towards the different tasks which have been assigned to them. With everyone concentrating on their bits the entire team becomes successful. A vision must also be created for any team so that every team member must work with an ambition. A clear vision plays an important role in putting the team together and allowing each member to work towards the success of the group. While developing team dynamics for this company, it would be important to come up with a vision and also encourage team cooperation among the employees.

Reward Systems

The reward system for this organization will include both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. Other than the basic compensation in which all employees are entitled to, the company will be rewarding employees based on how they have worked. Under extrinsic rewards the company will reward employees using money, through promotions and other types of fringe benefits. Under intrinsic benefits, employees will be rewarded with better working conditions such as being given a more flexible working timetable. Job rotations, job enrichment as well as short work weeks will be other major benefits in which the employees will be entitled to (Armstrong & Stephens, 2005).

To motivate the employees, the company will use a number of strategies. Employee communication is one major strategy that has been overlooked by a number of organizations. Through better communications, employees become lively and they will always know what is expected of them each and every moment. The leadership of the company must act as an example of what they expect the workers to become. Living as an example will motivate the employees and make them want to be like their top bosses. If the leadership is hardworking and self-motivated so will be the employees. The management should again motivate employees by empowering them. Employee empowerment is important as it makes the workers to feel they are part of the organization and therefore work towards making it better and better each and every day. It is also advisable for the organization to use various incentives in motivating the employees. This could either be monetary or non-monetary.

Executive Summary

The management field is composed of three major factors which include the management of financial resources, machines and assets and finally people. Employees play a vital role towards the success of an organization. A company may have all financial resources it needs, all assets and key non-monetary resources, but without proper management of employees, the company may be bound to fail. While managing workers within an organization, emotional intelligence is a very significant trait in which leaders and managers ought to possess. Generally, emotional intelligence involves that ability to understand one’s emotions and those of other people. In day to day lives, people are faced by a number of activities which may either positively or negatively affect their emotions. Leaders, managers and workers need to know how to manage emotions so as to avoid the impacts associated with negative emotions. Emotional Intelligence when possessed by leaders and supervisors, it leads into motivation among workers. It positively impact the manner in which decisions are made by managers. It ensures managers make rational decisions all the times.

With emotional intelligence, organizations can have effective teams and work towards achieving goals and objectives. Other than emotional intelligence, there are certain core attributes in which an effective team must have. Good communication, exemplary leadership, team cooperation and presence of a clear vision and core factors in which an effective team must possess. With team becoming effective, rewards must be provided so as to maintain the motivation of the team members. While rewarding employees the rewards could take various forms and for this case, the company would use both intrinsic and extrinsic reward systems. All these play an important role in improving as well as enhancing employee performance which ultimately improves the company’s productivity.

References

Armstrong, M., & Stephens, T. (2005). A handbook of employee reward management and practice. Kogan Page Publishers.

Cote, S., & Miners, C. T. (2006). Emotional intelligence, cognitive intelligence, and job performance. Administrative Science Quarterly, 51(1), 1-28.

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2013). Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press.

Mackin, D. (2007). The team building tool kit: tips and tactics for effective workplace teams. Amacom Books.

Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. (2008). Emotional intelligence: New ability or eclectic traits?. American psychologist, 63(6), 503.