Organisation behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Organisation behavior - Essay Example They, consequently, should perform as well as possible in order for the company to succeed in the market. Therefore, an idea that employee performance is better if those employees are emotionally intelligent is becoming more and more popular among businesses that will to be more adaptive to the ever changing market conditions and more competitive marketplace (Cherniss and Goleman 2001, 159). Since emotional intelligence has become such a popular concept among HR specialists, it is worth finding out whether this term is really related to employee performance. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to critically analyze some of the most recent works on the relation between emotional intelligence and employee performance with the purpose of determining whether there exists a strong dependence. The given work will try to determine whether it is really important for modern businesses to invest their resources in emotional intelligence and whether such investments will bring any profit. For this purpose, of course, the term itself should be defined in the first place. Definition A scientific study of emotional intelligence began, according to Ciarrochi, Forgas and Mayer (2001, 4), in 1900s. However, up until 1970, when intelligence and emotion were integrated in the field of ‘cognition and affect†, the studies of intelligence and emotions were separate. Finally, only in 1990s emotional intelligence became a subject of more profound research. The concept got popularized between 1994 and 1997 (Ciarrochi, Forgas and Mayer 2001, 4). However, several definitions of emotional intelligence have emerged in the process of the studies. Goleman (1998, 317), for instance, defines emotional intelligence as a â€Å"capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those in others, for motivating ourselves, for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships." As such, emotional intelligence, according to this author, involves a person to have the following comp etencies: self- awareness, self- regulation, self-motivation, social awareness, and social skills. Self- awareness, self- regulation, self-motivation are, in this case, person’s ability to understand and manage own feelings and emotions. Social awareness and social skills, consequently, refer to the individual’s ability to understand emotions of the other and respond correctly. Another definition is given by Mayer and Solloway (1997, 3), who state that emotional intelligence is an ability â€Å" to perceive emotions in the self and in others, use emotions to facilitate performance, understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and regulate emotions in the self and in others.† So, it can be said that emotional intelligence refers to a person’s ability to understand the feelings of oneself and the others, as well as react and respond to those emotions in the most proper for a particular situation way. The next issue to find out is whether this ability really has a significant impact on job performance. Literature Review The opinion that emotional intelligence is related to job performance is supported by Nikolaou and Tsaousis (2002). These scientists conducted a research with the purpose of determining the relation between emotional intelligence, occupational stress and organizational commitment. The results showed that the higher emotional intelligence of an individual is, the lower is one’