The theory of emotional intelligence implies that there are several benefits to the organization that employ it in the management of that institution. One such benefit is that this will lead to organizational effectiveness. This emotional intelligence should initially be an established ingredient in the organizational leadership which eventually spreads to its rank and file. The emotional health of the leadership will be a strong component of its organizational culture and climate. The following are among notable benefits as suggested by various proponents of emotional intelligence, though the list is not exhaustive.
1. Enhancement of organisational learning. Topping (2002:74) is of the view that individuals with high emotional intelligence may be more effective in managing
47 change than their colleagues with low emotional intelligence. Emotional Intelligence has been seen to enhance organizational learning. Organisational learning is a systematic method of successfully dealing with continuous change and this could bring about competitive advantage to a company employing it.
2. Improved leadership is another benefit that a company will get from employment of emotional intelligence. To scientifically link emotional intelligence to leadership, Goleman (1998; 33) cites the work undertaken by Robert Worden where a hundred companies were studied. The data clearly suggest that as the importance of emotional intelligence increases, the higher the person rises on the organization hierarchy.
3. Individual performance is affected by emotional intelligence. Workers with high emotional intelligence contribute significantly to the performance of the organisation through effective communications with other workers. Van Rooy and Viswesvaran (2004:88) suggest that highly conscientious employees who lack social and emotional intelligence perform less effectively than those with high emotional intelligence and conscientiousness. This is evident with emotional intelligence in the leadership. If an organization has people in leadership who display emotional intelligence, it is most likely that they will have significant influence in the work place. This influence will affect everything from employee morale to productivity. It must be categorically stated that emotional intelligence starts at the top and flows down to rank and file in the organization.
4. Change management is yet another benefit. Change in life is inevitable and is a factor in many organizations. Emotional intelligence evaluation would predict how employees will handle and adapt to change in their environments. Goleman (1998:64) states that people in high positions often view their need to change as a sign of failure or weakness. It is important that leaders put in high positions in organizations should understand that change is and can be positive. Employees need someone they can look to for inspiration. They need a leader who can
48 motivate and help them understand that moving forward includes change (Topping 2002:75). Motivation and willingness to adapt to change would be something that could be learnt through emotional intelligence evaluations.
5. Stress management is being able to react appropriately in work situations involving other people. People need to be able to know how to express their emotions and understand when and why they are subject to particular types of emotion. According to Goleman (1998:88) “the principle of remaining calm despite provocation applies to anyone who routinely faces agitated people on the job”. This skill is helpful for people when they get frustrated or stressed and could help prevent explosions of tempers when a miscommunication occurs. The person would be able to understand - why they are frustrated and know that yelling and arguing will not be beneficial in that type of situation.
6. Effective decision making is a requirement of a good and effective leader and manager. It is required of managers to be analytical given the amount of information they have to work with in so much uncertainty. Consider the argument by Cherniss (2001):
“There comes a point when organizational leaders must rely on their intuition or gut feeling. Such feelings will sometimes point in the right direction and sometimes point in a wrong direction. The leaders who are most likely to have feelings that point in the right direction are the ones who have good sense of why they are reacting as they are. They have learned to discriminate between feelings that are irrelevant and misleading and feelings that are on target. In other words, emotional intelligence enables leaders to tune into gut feelings that are most accurate and helpful in making difficult decisions.”
This argument concerning the use of emotional intelligence in decisional making holds true to a large extent. A leader who is well equipped will be in a better
49 position to understand himself or herself and know where decisions made that are based on gut feelings may lead him or her. Mayer and Salovey (1997:12) in their writings also advocate and agree with the notion that emotional intelligence helps in the thought pattern and process.
7. Employee commitment and motivation is another way in which emotional intelligence can contribute to the organization. The task of motivating employees lies in the hands of managers. If we consider the expectancy theory of motivation, a person’s motivation depends on how sure that person is that some favourable outcome will result from his or her work. Van Fleet (1991) suggests that leaders can motivate subordinates by influencing expectations. Leaders are only able to determine expectations of employees if these leaders possess a high degree of emotional intelligence.
8. Negotiations, Grievances and Conflict Resolution are a common feature in an organization’s industrial relations life. These may affect the smooth running of the organization depending on whether or not labour issues are handled with appropriate tactics. Grievances and conflicts are inevitably bound to happen in any organization. Conflict will often arise between management and its employees and may lead to strikes. Strikes lead to poor organizational performance as the period of inactivity is one of little or no productivity in any way and much time is lost. Managers must possess the right negotiation skills to deal with any conflicts that may arise between management and the workers union which represents employees. Lewickiet al. (2003:290), while agreeing with this, state that “to the extent that the concept of emotional intelligence captures stable and measurable tendencies involving the perception, comprehension, and regulation of emotions, it may be an important individual difference for the study of negotiation.”
50 A manager with a well-vested degree of emotional intelligence is also able to negotiate better contracts for the organization with suppliers or other business partners as they understand the emotions and reactions of other people in the negotiation exercise.