Study on Emotional Intelligence in Employee Ethics Performance

Exploring the Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Employee Ethical Performance

by D. Mahesh*,

- Published in Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education, E-ISSN: 2230-7540

Volume 16, Issue No. 6.1, May 2019, Pages 414 - 422 (9)

Published by: Ignited Minds Journals


ABSTRACT

It has become very relevant in today's competitive environment to figure out what defines an employee's professional performance in an organization. An significant aspect that can help in assessing employee performance is emotional intelligence (EI). Numerous studies have shown empirically that EI has a profound influence on an employee's organizational existence. Emotional intelligence can be the key for human resource managers and organizations, especially in service organizations, as organizations strive to find different ways to achieve competitive advantage by promoting employee innovation, getting best results from their workers, retaining talented employees and ultimately organizational effectiveness. There is not much research related to the role of emotional intelligence in the workplace, especially in the North-East area. This study seeks to determine whether emotional intelligence has a role to play in employee's success at workplace, organizational engagement and ethical understanding of employees.

KEYWORD

emotional intelligence, employee ethics performance, professional performance, organizational existence, human resource management, service organizations, competitive advantage, employee innovation, organizational effectiveness, workplace, North-East area, employee success, organizational engagement, ethical understanding

INTRODUCTION

Today's organizations, by investing productively in their human capital, work hard to achieve a competitive edge. Today's organizational set up is dominated by job pressure, time constraints, multinational competition, stress caused by jobs, etc. The term called Emotional Intelligence is gaining significance in this sense. Numerous studies have shown empirically that EI has a profound influence on an employee's organizational existence. The word has become very popular after the publication of a bestseller by Daniel Goleman (2012) on emotional intelligence. Although the idea of emotional intelligence is not recent, its implementation in the workplace has begun at a very frenzied rate over the past decade as a predictor of job-related variables intended to improve individual efficiency and organizational productivity. With comprehensive surveys undertaken by the United States Office of Personnel Management and with the groundbreaking work of David McClelland (2013) at Harvard University focusing on the importance of emotionally and socially intelligent behavior among managers, the precursors of

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these efforts date back to the post-World War II period. Nowadays, we remember that some businesses are successful and others are not. One of the factors can be attributed to the skill of the employees of the company. The important aspect that plays an important role in an employee's performance is emotion. To different individuals, the word emotion connotes various meanings. Emotion is defined as any agitation or disturbance of emotion, enthusiasm, mind and any extreme or mental state that is excited, as per the Oxford Dictionary. In accordance with the combinations, modifications and mutations of the mental state, emotions differ. Emotions are an essential part of any person's life which seriously affects all aspects of life. Each emotion has a motivational trait, a personal sense, and an expression that is expressed in actions. The term 'emovere' derived from the Latin word 'emovere,' which means to stir, shift, excite or agitate. Emotions can be traced to most of the things a person experiences in everyday life, such as pleasure, agony, rage, sadness, sorrow, etc. The word emotion requires an aspect of emotional intelligence (EI). Emotional Intelligence (EI) is also measured as an Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ), and the term EQ can be traced back to early research in the 1920s (Bar-On & Parker, 2000). Thorndike (1920), who described it as the ability to understand and handle individuals to behave wisely in human relations, introduced the idea of 'social intelligence'. The concept of EI developed out of this basic meaning, which shaped how EI was interpreted and conceptualized. Scholars systematically conceptualized the idea of emotional intelligence in the early 1980s. Notably, a Harvard University psychologist, initiated the theory of multiple intelligences and suggested that intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence is as important as the type of intelligence typically measured by Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and related tests, and Salovey & Mayer (2013) introduced the term EI and defined it as the ability to deal with emotions. Then Goleman made the definition of EI popular with his famous book 'Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Import More Than IQ'. As per Daniel Goleman, IQ describes about 20 percent of the variables that determine the performance of life, and he argues that the remaining actors can be accounted for by EI. The role of emotional intelligence is stressed because emotional factors impact human relations in organizations rather than logical factors (Jung & Yoon, 2012).

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To study the role of emotional intelligence at the workplace 2. To study whether demographic factors affect emotional intelligence, organization commitment and ethical orientation of employees.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AT THE WORKPLACE

Many researches on emotional intelligence and the role that it can play in the workplace have been performed over the last two decades. Scholars and practitioners have propagated multiple models and definitions to explain the idea of emotional intelligence and its effect on the lives and work of employees. Although many credit the emergence of El to were actually the first to suggest a formal description of El's construct. They described El in a recent article as the ability to reason about emotions and use emotions to improve thought. It involves the ability to correctly interpret access and produce emotions in order to help reasoning and reflectively control

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emotions in order to facilitate intellectual and emotional development These emotional abilities contribute to positive life outcomes for Mayer, Salovey and their colleagues, as was book, which stated that El mattered more than IQ in forecasting workplace performance. This is important, since it must be adaptive in some way if emotional behavior is to be 'intelligent'. Different studies performed by international and Indian organizations have shown that different jobs require different EQ levels. The abilities and skills needed to excel in some types of employment have been studied by researchers. Jobs that can be performed individually or in an organized way by working with others do not need much EI, but jobs that include working with others, requiring active contact with others, working with informal teams, empathizing with others, and understanding others are the ones that need EI. Particularly in the service sector, when workers are in constant contact with clients, there is a great need to communicate emotions, recognize and manage and control impulses. Today, the service sectors, especially insurance, telecommunication, etc., are becoming increasingly competitive. EI will also play a significant role in assessing the willingness of workers to cope successfully with their emotions as well as other emotions, which in the long run will yield beneficial results. It will be helpful for businesses to strive to improve the EI knowledge and skills of their workforce in the workplace. put forward four key reasons why the workplace will be a good environment for evaluating and developing emotional intelligence competencies: (a) EI skills and competencies are important for success in most occupations, (b) Many people enter organizations without having the skills required for their job to succeed. (c) Employers already have the proven means and means EI encourages an atmosphere in the workplace in which workers display an equal amount of respect for their interpersonal relationships. Those people who are self-aware would be impacted by their emotions, motivations, and actions to learn how others they interact with. An emotionally intelligent worker operates with a realistic view that helps them to build a stronger relationship with co-workers and others and to produce greater output from others as well. They are able to calculate their job performance accurately and complete their tasks accordingly. In several ways, EI impacts one's work life, such as reducing stress, enhancing communication, and improving decision making. The numerous work-related results, such as the achievement of tasks or goals, efficient communication, interpersonal operation, teamwork and conflict management, contribute to team success. For several of these components, EI is central and can help to achieve good results. Individuals with well-developed emotional intelligence will be able to recognize and regulate their own emotions and those of others, less likely to be paralyzed by fear, hijacked by negative emotions, and strangled by anxiety; both of which have detrimental effects on the success of both individuals and teams (Seipp, 1991). One factor of EI, i.e., empathy, has been discovered to contribute to job performance. Rosenthal (1977) found that both their work and their social lives were more effective for individuals who were best at detecting other emotions. As the concepts of EI offer a new way to interpret and analyse the habits, management styles, attitudes, interpersonal skills and ability of people, EI is becoming increasingly important to the growth of work organizations and the development of people. In human resources planning, EI is an important consideration: job profiling, recruiting, interviewing and selection, advancement of management, customer relations and services, and

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more. There are several factors in the phase and effects of Emotional Intelligence growth that are known to decrease stress for individuals and organizations by decreasing conflicts and enhancing relationships. Based on different studies, a few advantages of EI at the workplace are - it brings improved team and individual efficiency, improves stress management, improves relationships with co-workers, improves decision-making, communicates more efficiently with supervisors and sub-ordinates, and improves employee productivity and employee loyalty to the organization. In organizational growth and making an organization more productive and successful, emotional intelligence may play an important role.

JOB PERFORMANCE

Human Resources are considered to be the most important asset for any organization and the success of an organization depends on their effective performance on their job. And individual performance of employees can enhance the organizational performance and lead to organizational effectiveness. Hence, organizations are trying to analyze what are the predictors of employees‘ job performance as they have understood that low job performance can lead to low productivity and profit. Job performance has been defined as the aggregated value of the discrete behavioral episodes to the organization that an individual performs over a standard interval of time. It is generally divided into two dimensions - task performance and contextual performance. Task performance refers to behaviors that are directly linked with completion of the job and consists of execution of technical processes and maintenance and servicing of technical requirements. Contextual performance refers to interpersonal behaviors or actions that benefit the organization. It includes activities like helping and co-operating with others, following organizational rules and procedures, and volunteering to carry out task activities. Job performance is the most widely studied criterion in organizational behavior and human resource management literatures .The factor that explains organizational performance is job performance, which indicates how well an employee performs. An organization where employees perform poorly, cannot survive in the long run.

Features of Job Performance

Performance is characterised by Campbell (1990) as actions. It is something that is achieved by the worker. This notion separates success from effects. Outcomes are the product of an individual's success but there are more variables that decide outcomes than just employees' behaviours and behaviour. Output may not be explicitly in terms of an individual's measurable behaviour, it may be composed of mental productions such as responses and decisions. Productivity is also another associated output construct. Another important characteristic of job success is that it must be related to the objective. Performance must be targeted at organisational targets specific to the job and role. Job output is not a single construct that is standardised. There are a large number of workers, each with different standards of success. As a multidimensional construct consisting of more than one type of action, job performance is therefore conceptualized. Campbell (1990) proposed the following eight performance factor model that aims to capture the performance dimensions across all workers.

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1. Task related behaviors that include certain behaviors performed as part of a job by a person. 2. Non-task specific habits, including behaviors that do not apply exclusively to a particular work. 3. Written and oral communication tasks apply not to the substance of the letter, but to the adeptness with which they interact, but to certain behaviors assessed by the incumbent. 4. The performance of a person may also be measured in terms of the effort that represents the degree to which people dedicate themselves to work assignments. 5. Aspects of private fields can also be included in the output domain. 6. There is also a supervisory or leade0rship aspect to many occupations. 7. Managerial or administrative success requires certain elements of a job that serve but require direct oversight for the department or organization. The following output determinants were also suggested by Campbell (1990). (a) Declarative knowledge - knowledge of information, values, objects, etc., presents knowledge of the requirements of a given task. (b) Procedural experience - comprehension of how to do this. It requires, for instance, mental abilities, perceptual abilities, inter-personal skills, etc. (c) Motivation - refers to the cumulative influence of habits of desire, choice to invest effort, etc. The path, strength and persistence of rational behaviors are represented. Different studies have shown that a variety of variables such as motivation, satisfaction with job security, attitude, and EI affect performance in the workplace. EI, however, is responsible for greater output variation than any other factor (Goleman, 1995). The relationship between EI and work performance also seems plausible because during the recruiting and selection process, employers are increasingly considering the EI of the candidates, and employee development initiatives such as training in EI skills and competencies play an important role in organizational human resource practices.

EMPLOYEES ETHICS AT WORKPLACE

Ethics is a collection of rules formed from human reason and experience, or a code, or value system, by which free human acts are determined as essentially right or wrong. It is a study of human nature and philosophy with a focus on the determination of right and wrong. And today's business organisations are faced with the task of ensuring an ethical atmosphere while staying competitive and efficient, and it has become very important to control the ethical actions of employees. Ethical conduct works in ways that are compatible with how moral standards and values are perceived by the business community. Today's markets expect ethics from organisations. There are several cases where unethical employee conduct has had a catastrophic

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impact on an enterprise. Unethical attitudes and actions within the organisation by employees can bring some benefits in the short term, but in the long term it will hurt the organization's interest. With the growth of business issues related to ethics, there has been an increase in attention given to workplace ethics by academics and practitioners. Both researchers and practitioners have stressed that one of the most important business methods that can assist companies in navigating volatile and challenging market conditions is upholding high ethical standards at all levels within the enterprise. Maintaining an ethical workforce can prove to be a difficult challenge for all companies with their varied and complex business practises, but research needs to be done on how to recognise and improve the ethical understanding of workers, or which variable can play a major role in deciding ethical or unethical actions. And here, emotional intelligence may play an important role as a determinant of the ethics of workers at work. Different aspects of emotional intelligence, such as empathy, self-awareness, self-esteem, etc., may help to figure out why some employees can participate in unethical activities or why some employees never deviate from their ethical standards.

ORGANIZATION COMMITMENT OF EMPLOYEES

Organizational commitment, as defined in the Oxford dictionary, is defined as commitment to a job or duty that restricts independence (Oxford Dictionary, 2008). Organizational commitment was described as the possibility of the loyalty of a person to his/her job and psychological belonging, whether or not it is satisfactory. Organizational engagement can be defined as the strong belief of an employee in and recognition of the goals and values of an organization, actions on behalf of the organization to achieve these goals and objectives, and a strong desire to retain membership in the organization (Hunt and Morgan, 1994). In other words, organizational engagement points to employee attitudes about loyalty to the organizations for which they work (Moorhead and Griffin, 1995). Organizational loyalty, according to is directly linked to the ability to retain membership in the organization, the willingness of workers to make substantial efforts on behalf of the organization, and a deep conviction in and recognition of the aims and values of an organization. From another viewpoint, the term Organizational Commitment can also be seen as the values, emotions and objectives that enhance the incentive to remain a part of an organization. Two primary views have been discussed prominently. The studies of Porter, Steers, Mowday and Boulian (2012) formed one of the perspectives and explained devotion as a behavioral situation. Engagement is explained in this respect as the power of an individual's affiliation and engagement with a certain organization. The second view is that a person focuses on an action with the aid of his early investments and loses his investment if the action stops (Allen and Meyer, 2013). Organizational engagement is a multidimensional framework, according to Mowday et al. (2014), and it is the relative strength of an individual's identification with and participation in a particular organization and is characterized by at least three factors: I willingness to make substantial efforts on behalf of the organization, ii) deep belief in and recognition of the goals and objectives of an organization (Lawson and Syme, 2012). The dedication of employees to the company can take various forms, and the context and implications of each form can be very different (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990, Meyer and Allen, 1991). The model developed by Meyer and Allen (1991) defined and developed measures for three types of organizational engagement: affective engagement (AC), continuing engagement (CC) and normative engagement (NC) (Meyer and

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Allen, 1991). The organizational engagement components appear in the model developed by Meyer and Allen (1991) by stressing the organisational psychological dimension.

Affective Commitment (AC)

Affective Loyalty is an individual's affective relationship with the organization, marked by identification and engagement with the organization as well as the satisfaction of becoming a member of the organization. Affective Dedication has gained the most research attention from the three elements Affective engagement represents an emotional connection to the organisation, affiliation with it, and interest in it.

Continuance Commitment (CC)

Continuance Commitment is the extent to which a person needs to stay with the organization, due to the costs of forgoing benefits associated with an individual‗s investments in the organization. These investments are close relations of an employee with fellow workers, pension benefits, seniority, career and special competencies gained by working in an organization for a long time. Employees have the fear of losing these investments in case of leaving the organization. Continuance commitment is based on the perceived costs associated with discontinuing employment with the organization.

Normative Commitment (NC)

Normative Commitment (NC) is the degree to which an individual is expected to remain with the organization Since its inception, the concept of NC has evolved. NC was originally based on work on the internalization of company loyalty requirements. Normative dedication later became a duty to remain with the organization, without clear regard to social allegiance stresses The duty has slightly changed more recently, relating to reciprocity for a profit Some of the definitive changes were reflected in the NCSS revisions Across these meanings, the core essence of NC is the sense of obligation of the employee; here, Normative Commitment is defined as the bond of the person with the organization due to the individual's obligation. Finally, normative loyalty represents a sense of duty on the part of the employee to retain membership in the association.

NEED FOR THE STUDY

This study seeks to understand the role of emotional intelligence in the workplace and how effective emotional intelligence is as a predictor of job-related variables such as work performance and employee organizational engagement to allow management to frame proper staff policies. The research also focuses on the relationship between employee ethics in the workplace and emotional intelligence. That is, whether emotional intelligence promotes employee ethics or ethical orientation in the workplace. Ethical misconduct that can also be connected to the prevalence of corruption in organizations is a very significant area of study because in the field of science, the role of emotional intelligence in relationships to ethical actions is not much explored. People with low emotional intelligence may have the impression that the performance of their friends and colleagues has resulted in unethical conduct and may behave likewise. This research seeks to determine whether emotional intelligence has a role to play in the ethics of the workplace. As a result of the growing awareness that organizational change and work-related interactions are emotion eliciting activities, interest in the role of

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emotional intelligence in the workplace has gained popularity. And very few empirical studies related to the above factors have been done in the North-East Area. So, there is a need for such research. We have formulated four objectives for this research, given the significance of the topic of emotional intelligence and its role in organizational results, as well as the dearth of studies in this area.

CONCLUSION

It can be concluded from this study that Emotional Intelligence plays a very significant role in organizations and application of Emotional Intelligence in the workplace is very important especially in service sectors to increase employee performance, organizational commitment and ethical perception of employees which can lead to organizational effectiveness.

REFERENCES

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