Emotional Intelligence Paper

George (2000) identified that there was four aspects emotional intelligence. These aspects allow leaders to transform and motivate team members. These aspects are a) awareness of own and others’ emotion, b) emotional facilitation, c) emotional understanding and d) management of own and others’ emotions (Jordan & Lawrence, 2009). This first ability allows a person to accurately appraise others’ emotions along with portraying personal emotion. While this ability is related to individual level self-awareness, having the awareness of one and other’s emotion states allows for the establishment and maintenance of supportive relationships with others (Prati, Douglas, Ferris, Ammeter, & Buckley, 2003). The second aspect is the thorough knowledge about emotions. This allows the leader the ability to predict emotional reactions based on various scenarios. The knowledge would aide leaders in emotional regulation and the management of team
members (Prati, Douglas, Ferris, Ammeter, & Buckley, 2003). The third aspect is useful in the influence of the behavior and cognition of others.
To maintain social roles, the regulation of is useful. Positive effects on performance and general interactions can also be achieved with effective emotional regulation (Prati, Douglas, Ferris, Ammeter, & Buckley, 2003). The management of emotions is the fourth and final aspect in the emotional intelligence concept. This last aspect ties the other three aspects together by allowing leaders to create more effective teams through the management of emotions by directing one’s own emotions as well as others emotional responses and interaction processes. (Prati, Douglas, Ferris, Ammeter, & Buckley, 2003). These four abilities allow the creation of friendly relationships within the team. These relationships determine the integrity of the team, improve its consistency, attractiveness and facilitate communication in the team, which in turn contribute to team effectiveness (Golonka & Mojsa-Laja, 2013).
Emotional Intelligence on Team
Effectiveness Effective team management is a most challenging task due to it involving complex processes. Druskat and Wolff (2001) asserted that teams “must be mindful of the emotions of its members, its own group emotions or moods, and the emotions of other groups and the individuals outside its boundaries” when it comes to developing effective teams. Emotional Intelligence enables teams to establish norms for maintenance behaviors in the group, which involves building group efficacy, trust, and group identity (Othman, Abdullah, & Ahmad, 2009). However, in order to be most effective, the team needs to build these emotional intelligent norms to the point that these attitudes and behaviors eventually become habits (Druskat & Wolff, 2001). The chief characteristic of emotional intelligence is that a person is aware of emotions and able to regulate them, both inward and outward. However, a group needs to look at another level of awareness and regulation such as the group’s emotions or moods, the emotions of other groups as well as individuals outside its boundaries. Incompetence at either the personal or the group level could cause dysfunction within the group (Druskat & Wolff, 2001).
How does emotional intelligence effect the stages of team process development? A team as described by Kezsbom (1995, p. 480) is a group of individuals who “work together under a unity of purpose, as a united front.” Teams progress through certain stages of social and behavioral development as individuals and teams. Self-identity characteristics that team members bring to the team help shape these stages. Having been developed within the family unit as well through life, these characteristics makes each of the team members unique. These characteristics are projected in both verbal and nonverbal mannerisms and communications to shape the structure and behavioral personality of team when team members interact with other individuals in a team setting (Adams & Anantatmula, 2010).