Emotional Intelligence In The Workplace

Most companies focus on the skills, knowledge and working experience of a job applicant. Although those are very important elements that might define a good employee, they aren’t the only strengths someone might have. In recent years, human resource practices have been effectively conducting IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional quotient) tests into their recruitment processes. As I will tell you in this essay, these tests have been effective in measuring the effectiveness of a person in the workplace.

There have been many past attempts to accurately measure intelligence. A very common method is the IQ test, which defines a person’s logic, abstract thought, understanding, self-awareness, communication, learning, memory, planning, problem

A good definition is provided by Steven J. Stein, PhD and Howard E. Book, M.D in their book called “The EQ Edge”: “Emotional Quotient is the set of skills that enable us to make our way in a complex world — the personal, social and survival aspects of overall intelligence, the elusive common sense and sensitivity that are essential to effective daily functioning. It has to do with the ability to read the political and social environment, and landscape them; to intuitively grasp what others want and need, what strengths and weaknesses are; to remain unruffled by stress; and to be engaging. The kind of person others want to be around and will follow.”

Emotional intelligence was not widely used until Daniel Goleman, a psychologist studying EI, published a book on his studies back in 1995. According to his work, EQ consists of five segments that study emotions such as, self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. So in short, EQ could potentially measure and standardize all human elements that IQ cannot measure. “How a person responds to certain feelings, expresses emotions and connects to others empathetically?” are all situations that a person might encounter and face in the

Within an organization, emotional quotient (EQ) refers to an employee’s understanding of his or her emotions along with his or her colleagues’ emotions at the workplace to create better work coordination and environment. Psychologists generally agree that among the factors for success, IQ counts for roughly 10% (at best 25%), and the rest depends on everything else – including EQ. (Bressert,