Role of Emotional Intelligence in Job Performance

Emotional intelligence and job performance

Emotional Intelligence and the Important Role it Plays in Job Performance

Emotions significantly affect an organization or individual’s intelligence, and work culture has been substantially impacted. The concept of emotional intelligence gathered a lot of popularity, though it remains one of the ignorant topics. Emotional intelligence plays a critical role in new “affective revolution” perspectives in organizational and social psychology. According to Goleman 1998, emotional intelligence can evaluate one’s emotional status and regulate them appropriately. Multiple researchers have severally tried to define the nature of the relationship between work performance and emotional intelligence. According to Semadar et al. (2006), the performance of employees is best predicted by emotional intelligence as it can preempt their productivity by managing and understanding their emotions in the best manner accordingly. Emotional intelligence can empower a person to motivate oneself, regulate one’s mood, control impulses, boost persistence level, and thus, manage an individual’s ability to empathize, hope, and think (Çekmecelio?lu et al. 2012). Also, an emotionally intelligent person can be proficient in two critical areas: social competence, which is the ability to manage relationships, and personal competence, which is the ability to manage self.

Similarly, Emotional intelligence has been an essential predictor of multiple organizational outcomes like job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job performance, and organizational citizenship behavior (Allen & Meyer, 1990). Emotional intelligence includes regulating feelings to express rightfully, allowing the employees to work together to realize shared goals in a transparent and constructive environment. Whenever the management prioritizes feelings, so will be the workforce. Therefore, the workforce will copy such feelings if the manager feels creative, respectful, optimistic, confident, compassionate, tolerant, and flexible. Organizational commitment is considered a critical influencer of an organization’s effectiveness (Kassim et al., 2016). Multiple studies have indicated that organizational commitment can project various organizational outcomes, like reduced turnover, lower absenteeism, improved organizational citizenship behavior, withdrawal cognitions, and increased job performance.

Moreover, a highly motivated workforce committed to contributing their energy and time to pursue its goals is increasingly acknowledged as the fundamental asset available to an organization. Management researchers argued that emotional intelligence influences productivity and performance (Kassim et al., 2016). High emotional intelligence impacts all aspects of management as well.

Currently, a lot of attention is given to emotional intelligence on job functions by the workforce. Activities determine employee performance to realize a goal founded on a particular standard (Allen & Meyer, 1990). They may include behavior or actions of all mental processing that are non-observable such as decision making, problem-solving, reasoning, and program planning. Emotion is a firm psychological action that can impact performance and behavior in a critical manner. Besides, performance is a function of skills, knowledge, motivations, and capabilities. Therefore, any organization searching for performance enhancement and desire to conduct economic activities with high efficiency opt to enhance their employees’ performance as the first step (Baksh Baloch et al. 2014). Emotional intelligence is a strong potential in the current organizational structures with changing motivations and behaviors (Çekmecelio?lu et al., 2012). While research has demonstrated a substantial relationship between organizational commitment, employee performance, and emotional intelligence, literature has failed to guide how parameters of emotional intelligence directly impact the relationship between employee performance and organizational commitment.

Besides, emotions can be considered one of the strong competencies besides knowledge, beliefs, routines; agility is used to show inner feelings of hate, love, aversion, desire, sadness, and expressive communication. Subsequently, Cote and Miners (2006) argue that a person’s intelligence is linked to one’s emotions (Allen & Meyer, 1990). The concept of emotional intelligence has its origin from the late 1930s, during which the processes of non-intellective intelligence came to be known. The roots of emotional intelligence are traced from the concept of social intelligence that was defined as the ability to manage, comprehend, and behave prudently in human relations (Kassim et al. 2016). According to Goleman (1998, 2001), emotional intelligence is one’s ability to realize their feelings and manage them accordingly. Goleman (1998, 2001) also argues that dynamic intelligence assists in managing and understanding other people’s emotions to accomplish the organization’s needs appropriately.

Moreover, with emotional intelligence, one can determine and understand oneself and others’ emotions, thus, taking favorable measures accordingly (Baksh Baloch et al., 2014). Within the current dynamic and uncertain work environment, the employee’s emotional health significantly contributes to job satisfaction, employee performance, organizational commitment, and leadership. Emotiogoodligence is also elaborated as the proficiency of understanding others and oneself emotions then adopting favorable measures accordingly. As a result, emotional intelligence acts as the major tool for managing employees’ social skills and emotions. Through self-consciousness, that inbuilt strength to perceive emotions, strengths, capabilities, and good is made possible (Romanelli et al. 2006). Mayer and Salovey (1997) refer to emotional intelligence as expressing, appraising, regulating, and perceiving emotions.

On the other hand, work performance has an imperative role in developing and advancing an organization. Organizational success and effectiveness are achieved through an individual’s work performance enhancement. Governments, societies, businesses, and educators use work performance as the best dependable parameter that indicates the employee’s behavior that significantly contributes to the achievement of the goals of an organization (Allen & Meyer, 1990). Also, it has been established that employees’ motivation can improve their work performance by adopting measures such as increasing responsibility level, building capacity, introducing incentives, and initiating a positive attitude. Researchers have worked to evaluate variables that ascertain employees’ level of work performance within an organization (Kassim et al., 2016). According to Baytos and Kleiner (1995), punctuality, quality of work, productivity, and performance are some variables to measure work performance accurately. Also, practical training, human resource judgment, and productivity are critical aspects to measure, according to Gatewood and Field (1998). However, according to Robbins (2001), job outcomes, personal traits, and actions are significant parameters to measure work performance holistically.

Consequently, several studies have been conducted to establish the relationship between work performance and emotional intelligence (Allen & Meyer, 1990). According to some findings, emotionally intelligent employees master effective interaction with colleagues, management, and customers through response and antecedent-focused emotions. Subsequently, Ashforth and Humphrey (1995) state that emotionally intelligent employees are emotionally competent, sensitive, and mature because they direct, control, manage their emotions, and deal harmoniously with a team.

Additionally, emotional intelligence augments work commitment and leadership qualities to enrich work culture and minimize employee turnover. Leaders that magnify a higher level of emotional intelligence can reveal, direct, and influence the overall emotional intelligence of their followers, hence, impacting the organization’s performance positively (Baksh Baloch et al. 2014). Emotional intelligence is one of the key motivators to promote good leadership qualities such as clear vision, foresightedness, emotional stability, and adaptability within the workforce. Thus, enabling regulation and understanding the emotions of others (Çekmecelio?lu et al. 2012). As a result, leaders who hold virtues of understanding, receptiveness, supportiveness, and empathy enhance team naturing.

Furthermore, emotional intelligence acts as the transforming tool that guides and regulates team emotions, helping manage conflicts to improve acceptance, flexibility to change, and good work culture. According to Abraham (2000, 2003, 2004), Gardner (2003), Nikolaou and Tsaousis (2002), a constructive relationship between organizational commitment and emotional intelligence is the key to organizational success. Also, employees with a higher Emotional Quotient view themselves as part and parcel of the company, thus increasing their commitment and fidelity (Allen & Meyer, 1990). Moreover, according to Slaski and Cartwright (2003); Nikolaou and Tsaousis (2002), emotionally intelligent people are more diversified, adaptive, devoted, and unswerving due to managing anxiety impulses, emotions, well-being, and burnout in diverse circumstances. This results in improved work performance and reduced workforce turnover (Çekmecelio?lu et al., 2012). Hence, an emotionally competent employee accepts challenging tasks with a willingness to learn new things, improving personal development and work performance.

Accordingly, most interpersonal interactions are administered by the organization’s performance relating to dealing with customers, reporting to superiors, maintaining relationships, and obtaining instruction with peers within an organization (Baksh Baloch et al., 2014). Emotional intelligence, therefore, acts as a critical driver for directing, controlling, and regulating the employees’ personal, social, and emotional competencies (Allen & Meyer, 1990). In addition, emotional intelligence substantially affects work performance; for instance, effective team harmony, work culture, and team learning are usually results of practical, emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1995). Also, dynamic contributes a significant role in building inquisitive team leaders to manage employees by understanding the employees’ emotions during decision making (Çekmecelio?lu et al., 2012). Additionally, emotionally intelligent leaders promote employees’ morale therapy, positively influencing work performance. According to a research study by Kassim et al. (2016) examining the relationship between job satisfaction and emotional intelligence, the findings established a substantial connection between work satisfaction and emotional regulation. However, there was no relationship between work performance and emotional appraisal. Equally, according to a study by Vratskikh et al. (2016), job satisfaction is mediatory in the relationship between work performance and emotional intelligence. Further, the analyses of Ashkanasy, Hooper (1999) suggested that higher emotional intelligence results in higher organizational commitment, higher job satisfaction, low workforce turnover, and more constructive emotional management.

Subsequently, emotional intelligence builds innovational creativity in the workforce, thus enabling employee performance enhancement. Further, a great value in the work performance process is facilitating communication, another role of emotional intelligence (Baksh Baloch et al. 2014). Emotional intelligence can explain employees’ performance at their stations of work better. Its purpose is to change attempts, training, the performance of the organization, and management effectiveness within the organization. Also, it is critical to research emotional intelligence, its effects, and the influence in the enhancement of performance to understand the domain of Human Resource Development better; and the role it plays in enhancing the capability of the organization strategically (Allen & Meyer, 1990). However, on the choice of profession, emotional intelligence helps individuals correctly choose their work to enable them to succeed within the company by augmenting their work performance. According to Mayer et al. (2000a), results that relate to job-like work performance can be impacted by emotional intelligence.

On the other hand, according to Goleman (1995, 1998), an individual’s prediction of emotional intelligence is successful work and life. As a result of emotional intelligence in every aspect of employees’ work life, the workforce considered to possess’ high-level emotional intelligence is always star performers (Dulewicz & Higgs, 2002). Therefore, there exists a positive relationship between work performance and emotional intelligence.

On the other hand, while psychology once assumed emotions of the human being as disorganized, characteristic of poor adjustment, and disruptive, upcoming theories indicate that emotions play a critical role in motivating, organizing, and directing human activity. This is according to a tested correlation of appraisal to emotional intelligence outcomes and coping of workplace demands (Baksh Baloch et al. 2014). Emotional intelligence was determined to compose three factors: understanding other people’s emotions, using emotions while making decisions, and emotional self-management.

Furthermore, achieving the most feasible performance is believed to be the most substantial target of every organization. Companies are expected to focus on emotional intelligence as a challenging parameter for attaining high development and performance of the competitive advantage. Based on the earlier findings, emotional intelligence plays a critical role in enhancing performance (Allen & Meyer, 1990). Different research studies have demonstrated that employees with a high level of emotional intelligence have excellent work performance (Naderi Anari, 2012). At the same time, individuals who advance emotional intelligence have career success because there is a correlation between emotional intelligence and success, influencing each other (Baksh Baloch et al., 2014). Attaining emotional intelligence skills by the managers is critical in augmentation of work performance and efficiency, especially of most need for the bank managers (Boon et al. 2012). This is because there is a correlation between the bank manager’s nature of work and attitude, personnel knowledge level, motivations, and knowledge of clients’ views; efficiency is closely linked with emotional intelligence.