RADICACIONES Menores

Social-awareness

Social-awareness is the ability to understand your own emotions and it is the most essential of the four emotional intelligence competencies (Dubrin, 2010, p.45). Accorrding to Sarfania et al. (2011) the domain of self-awareness has to do with a deep understanding of one’s emotions, as well as one’s strengths and limitations, and one’s values and motives.

People who have strong self-awareness are normally not overly self-critical or naively hopeful; rather they are honest with themselves about themselves, as well as honest about themselves with others, even to the point of being able to laugh at their own imperfections (Sarfania et al., 2011, p.230).

Self-management

Self-management is an individual’s ability to control emotions and act with honesty and integrity in a consistent and adaptable manner (Dubrin, 2010, p.45). According to Sarfania et al. (2011, p.228) the self-management ability has its associated competencies as: “self-control,” “transparency,” “adaptability,” “achievement,” “initiative,”

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and “optimism”. This ability helps prevent a person from throwing temper tantrums when activities do not go as planned (Dubrin, 2010, p.45).

Persons who possess emotional self-control always endeavor to manage their disturbing emotions and impulses, to their advantage (Sarfania et al., 2011, p.230). The “transparency” competence connotes integrity and has to do with authentic openness to others about one’s feelings, belief and actions (Sarfania et al., 2011, p.230). Persons who are transparent live their values, openly admit their mistakes and have courage to confront unethical behaviours in others rather than turn a blind eye (Sarfania et al., 2011, p.230). Similarly, the competence of “adaptability” enables one to juggle multiple demands without losing one’s focus or energy (Sarfania et al., 2011, p.230).

Persons who have the “achievement orientation” competence have high-personal standards that drive them to constantly and seek performance improvements for themselves and those they lead (Sarfania et al., 2011, p.230). These individuals seize opportunities or create them rather than simply waiting for opportunities (Sarfania et al., 2011, p.230). The “optimism” competence is the ability of an individual to roll with the punches and to see opportunities rather than a threat in a setback (Sarfania et al., 2011, p.231).

Social awareness

Social awareness ability includes having empathy for others and intuition about organisational problems (Dubrin, 2010, p.45). Socially aware individuals go beyond sensing the emotions of others by showing they care (Dubrin, 2010, p.45). The empathy competence enables a leader to attune to a wide range of emotional signals, letting them sense the felt, but unspoken, emotions in a person or group (Sarfania et al., 2011, p.231). These leader exercise patience to listen attentively and grasp other person’s perspective on issues and makes it possible for a leader to get along with people of diverse backgrounds (Sarfania et al., 2011, p.231).

50 Relationship management

According to Sarfania (2011) relationship management has six competencies namely: “inspiration”, influence, developing others, change catalyst, conflict management, and teamwork and collaboration”. It includes the interpersonal skills of being able to communicate clearly and convincingly disarm conflicts and build strong personal bonds (Dubrin, 2010, p.45). Leaders which display the “inspiration” competence create resonance and move people with a compelling vision or shared mission. These leaders embody what they ask of others and are able to articulate a shared mission in a way that inspires others to follow (Sarfania et al., 2011, p.231).

“Influence” is a very important competence for a leader. The “influence” competent leaders are adept at influencing, are persuading and engaging their audience (Sarfania et al., 2011, p.231). In a similar way, leaders who are good at cultivating people’s abilities show a genuine interest in those they are helping along and understand their goals, strengths, and weaknesses. Such leaders are natural mentors to staff at the workplace (Sarfania et al., 2011, p.231).

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Table 3.1: The Four Branch Model of Emotional Intelligence

Personal competence

Self-awareness  Emotional self-awareness: the ability to read and understand your emotions as well as recognise their impact on work performance, relationships and the like.

 Accurate self-assessment: a realistic evaluation of your strengths and limitations.

 Self-confidence: a strong and positive sense of self-worth.

Self-management  Self-control: to keep disruptive emotions and impulses under control.

 Trustworthiness: a consistent display of honesty and integrity.

 Conscientiousness: the ability to manage yourself and your responsibilities.

 Adaptability: skill at adjusting to changing situations and overcoming obstacles.

 Achievement orientation: the drive to meet an internal standard of excellence.

52 Social

competence

Social awareness  Empathy: skill at sensing other people’s emotions, understanding their perspective, and taking and active interest in their concerns.

 Organisational awareness: the ability to read the currents of the organisational life, build decisions networks, and navigate politics.

 Service orientation: the ability to recognise and meet customers’ needs.

Social skill or relationship

management

 Visionary leadership: the ability to take charge and inspire with a compelling vision.

 Influence: the ability to wield a range of persuasive tactics.

 Developing others: the propensity to bolster the abilities of others through feedback and guidance.

 Communication: skilled at listening and at sending clear, convincing, and well-tuned messages.

 Change catalyst: proficiency in initiating new ideas and leading people in a new direction.

 Conflict management: the ability to de- escalate disagreements and orchestrate resolutions.

 Building bonds: proficiency at cultivating and maintaining a web of relationships.

 Teamwork and collaboration: competence at promoting cooperation and building

53 3.3.2 LEARNING EI SKILLS

According to Turner and Lloyd-Walker (2008) EI skills can be developed and there are several learning programmes which assist individuals to develop emotional awareness and to regulate their emotions.

3.4 CRITICISMS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Emotional intelligence is one of the most intriguing and controversial concepts emerging from psychology in the last few decades (Druskat, & Wolff, 2008). As such some critics maintain that emotional intelligence is merely another term for social intelligence. They argue that emotion does not involve unique abilities and that emotion (which is not a controversial issue in psychology) and intelligence which involves controversial views cannot be connected (Bergh & Theron, 2009). However Druskat and Wolff (2008) argue that the controversy over EI stems from the abrupt speed with which EI entered literature, which was due to its instant popularity. They are of the opinion that additional research will go a long way in resolving the controversy. In this vein Caruso (2004) cited in Doolabh (2007) estimates that the field of EI will show more progress by the year 2055 since scientific disciplines mature over time.

3.5 GROUP-LEVEL EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

According to Clarke (2009), theoretically a relationship between emotional intelligence abilities and team effectiveness has been identified, recognising that many behaviours thought to underpin team processes, such as cooperation and conflict management, possess significant emotional dimensions. Emotions have a prevalent influence in groups and are fundamentally linked to how group members interact and work together (Druskat & Wolff, 2001b). Without the group’s treatment of emotions within it, group members will be unable to commit wholeheartedly to the task at hand and subsequently engage in the level of cooperation essential for performance gains (Hamme, 2003).

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Every group has a set of shared norms, either conscious or unconscious, which dictate how emotion is expressed and processed within it (Hamme, 2003). Over time, team member interactions, actions and reactions cause certain emotional dynamics to become routine and to emerge as a collective emotional structure or a set of rules and resources that influence the experience of emotion in the group (Wolff, Druskat, Koman & Messer, 2006). This emotional structure is displayed in a set of norms labeled group- level emotional intelligence norms (GEI norms). These norms originate from emotionally aware interactions; contribute to the development of an emotionally capable group culture that recognises, monitors, and influences emotion at multiple levels; and have positive emotional consequences through their contribution to group social capital (Druskat & Wolff, 2008).

Group-level emotional intelligence is a set of norms that develop as group members interact with each other (Wolff, 2006). GEI norms are rules and expectations within the group emotional structure that have beneficial emotional consequences through their positive influence on the development of group emotional competence and social capital (Wolff, Koman, Druskat & Messer, 2010). These norms facilitate the development of trust, group identity and group efficacy which subsequently motivate effective task focused processes including cooperation and collaboration (Drusakat & Wolff, 2001b).

According to Druskat and Wolff (2008) the group emotional structure contains norms that influence awareness and response to emotion at individual, group and cross boundary levels. These norms are expectations shared by team members of appropriate behaviour in a specific context, of the value of each member and of free flow of information (Bagraim et al., 2007). Group emotion competence norms are particularly important for teams involved in interdependent, long-term tasks where the quality of member relationships and the capacity to address rather than avoid emotional threat or challenge are likely to influence group effectiveness (Druskat, Wolff, Messer & Koman, 2003).

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The study aimed to test whether the chosen population consisted of teams. Teams need to possess higher levels of group emotional intelligence than groups due to higher volumes of interactions, interdependences and relations in teams (Druskat, Wolff, Messer & Koman, 2003). Teams also tend to be more cohesive than groups, exhibit a high degree of work interdependence and outcome interdependence, have shared leadership roles and team members are mutually accountable. It was in this vein that the team characteristics were tested in this study.