Emotional intelligence of MBA students

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Emotional intelligence

of

MBA

students

by

JOHAN PETRUS FLEISCHMANN

B.A. U.D.K. Th.B.

MINI-DISSERTATION

submitted

in

partial fulf

il

ment of the requirements for the degree

MASTERS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

in the facu

l

ty of

ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

at the

POTCHEFSTROOM UNIVERSITY FOR CHRISTIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

Study leader: Prof

.

L.D.

Coetsee

POTCH EFSTROOM

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To

Mad eli

1 9 December 1 992 - 1 8 October 1 999

who taught us to

live

today

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Acknowledgements

A special word of gratitude to:

• My promotor, Prof. Leon Coetsee, for his professional guidance and personal care.

• The personnel of the Ferdinand Postma Library of the PU for CHE, and especially Erika Roodt, and the personnel of the Sasol Library of the University of the Orange Free State for their willingness to help.

• Facilitators and MBA students of the

Telematic (study

centre)

delivery platform for their participation in the empirical study.

• Lienkie Viljoen of the Statistiese Konsultasiediens of the PU for CHE for her advice.

• Julia van den Berg for efficiently proof reading the manuscript and simultaneously being genuinely interested in the contents.

• My fellow Bloemfontein study centre MBA students who became my friends for the richness they brought into our lives.

• My wife, Elmo, who continuously encourages me to actualise my potential.

• Our children, Anneen, Madeli and Rinus, for bringing joy and grace into our lives.

• All who touched me and our family with the love of Christ.

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Abstract

Although recent research underlined the importance

of

emotional intelligence for managers, the perception exists that educational institutions do not focus enough on the fostering of emotional intelligence. Subsequently the following objectives were set for this study: (1) To give a concise overview of literature on emotional intelligence, (2) to investigate the theory of fostering emotional intelligence, (3) to design, conduct and interpret the results of an empirical study to test the hypothesis that the Potchefstroom Business School MBA does not foster significant growth in emotional awareness as part of the emotional intelligence of their students by way of the

Telematic (study centre)

delivery platform, and (4) to make recommendations towards the fostering of emotional intelligence by the Potchefstroom Business School MBA via the

Telematic (study centre)

delivery platform.

From a cognitive perspective emotional intelligence was found to be the potential to habitually create contextually true outcomes through the interaction of emotional awareness, -assessment and -expression in personal and social experiences. This potential surfaces in a number of personal and social emotional competencies, of which the primary competency is emotional awareness. Emotional intelligence impacts on the character of an individual.

The ontologie-contextual approach to learning focusses on the creation of situated and constructive learning environments. In these environments the interplay between tacit and explicit knowledge of emotional intelligence fosters growth in and the creation of emotional intelligence.

With regard to the response group it was found that the MBA delivered by Potchefstroom Business School does not foster practically significant growth in emotional awareness by way of the T elematic (study centre) platform.

Recommendations are made to initiate a process by which the Potchefstroom Business School could take the opportunity to produce graduates who not only command technical managerial expertise, but also excel in the manner in which they apply these skills.

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Opsomming

Ten spyte daarvan dat onlangse navorsmg die belangrikheid van emosionele intelligensie vir bestuurders onderstreep, bestaan die persepsie dat opvoedingsinstellings nie genoeg doen om emosionele intelligensie te bevorder nie. Daarom is die volgende doelstellings vir hierdie studie gestel:

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Om 'n kort oorsig van die literatuur oor emosionele intelligensie te gee, (2) om die teorie oor hoe emosionele intelligensie bevorder kan word, te ondersoek, (3) om 'n empiriese studie te antwerp, uit te voer en te interpreteer sodat die hipotese dat die Potchefstroomse Besigheid Skool MBA nie betekenisvolle groei in emosionele bewustheid as 'n onderdeel van die emosionele intelligensie van sy studente deur die

Telematiese

(studie

sentrum)

afleweringsplatform bevorder nie, en (4) om aanbevelings te maak hoe die Potchefstroomse Besigheid Skool emosionele intelligensie deur die

Telematiese

(studie

sentrum)

afleweringsplatform kan bevorder.

Vanuit 'n kognitiewe perspektief is emosionele intelligensie omskryf as die potensiaal om uit gewoonte kontekstueel juiste uitkomste te skep deur die interaksie van emosionele bewustheid, -waardering en -uitdrukking in persoonlike en sosiale ondervindinge. Die potensiaal word sigbaar in persoonlike- en sosiale emosionele vaardighede, waarvan emosionele bewustheid die mees basiese is. Emosionele intelligensie hou verband met karakter.

Die ontologies-kontekstuele benadering tot leer fokus op die skep van situasionele en konstruktiewe leeromgewings. In sulke omgewings bevorder die wisselwerking tussen onuitgesproke en uitgesproke kennis groei in en die skep van emosionele intelligensie.

Daar is bevind dat die Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir Christelike Hoer Onderwys MBA nie praktiese betekenisvolle groei in emosionele intelligensie deur die

Telematiese

(studie

sentrum)

afleweringsplatform in die responsgroep bevorder het nie.

Aanbevelings word gemaak om 'n proses te inisieer waarin die Potchefstroomse Besigheid Skool die geleentheid om gegradueerdes te lewer wat n1e net oor tegniese bestuurskundigheid beskik n1e, maar wat ook uitblink in die manier waarop hulle hierdie

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List of Figures and Tables

Tables

2.1 Models of emotional competencies 11

2.2 A framework for learning environments 30

3.1 Population of MBA students at the Potchefstroom Business School 40

3.2 Rate of response 50

3.3 Mean and standard deviation of response group's emotional awareness 52

3.4 Analysis-of-variance for levels of emotional awareness 59 3.5 Practical significance of differences (d) between year-groups 60

Figures

2.1 Emotional awareness scale 13

2.2 Relationship between emotional intelligence, -literacy and -competency 16

2.3 Sternberg's model for intelligence 20

2.4 Stimuli, emotion and cognition, behaviour and effect 23

2.5 An ontlogic-contextual model for education 29

2.6 Creating knowledge through the knowledge spiral 37

3.1 Emotional awareness profile 45

3.2 Low emotional awareness profile 46

3.3 Average emotional awareness profile 46

3.4 High emotional awareness profile 47

3.5 Emotional awareness profile of total response group 52

1.6

Overview of content

4

Chapter 2

Theoretical study of emotional intelligence and the fostering thereof 6

2 .

1

Literature overview of "emotional intelligence" 7

2 .

1.1

Historical perspective on the emergence of emotional intelligence 8

2.1 .

2

Emotional intelligence 8

2.1.3

Emotional competencies

An illustrative example of the processes involved 1n a cognitive v1ew of

emotional intelligence

23

2.2.5

Focus points for the development of emotional intelligence

25

2.2 .

6

Conclusion : a cognitive definition of emotional intelligence

26

2.3

Fostering emotional intelligence

27

2 .

3.1

An ontologie-contextual approach to development

28

2.3 .

2

A framework for creating a learning environment

29

2 .

3 .

3

"Knowledge creation" as a method for learning emotional intelligence

34

2.3.4

Conclusion

37

2.4 Conclusion of literature study

38

Chapter 3 Empirical study of emotional awareness of MBA students

39

3 .

1

Background of the

Telematic

(Study

centre)

MBA presented by the

Potchefstroom Business School 40

3 .

2

Description of the empirical study 42

3.2.1

Can emotional intelligence be measured?

42

3.2.2

Goals

42

3.2 .

3

Demarcation

43

3 .

2.4

Formal aspects of the Emotional Awareness Questionnaire

43

3.2.5

Material aspects of the Emotional Awareness Questionnaire

44

3.2 .

6

Interpreting the Emotional Awareness Questionnaire

45

3 .

2.7

Population

48

3 .

2.8

Procedure

49

3 .2

.

9

Problems encountered

49

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3 .

3 Results

and

interpretation

51

3.3.1

Emotional awareness profile of the population

52

3.3.2

Emotional awareness profile of the year-groups

54

3.3 .3

Comparing frequencies of emotional awareness levels of the year-groups

56

3.3.4

Testing for differences in the means of the emotional awareness profiles of

different year-groups 58

3 .

5

Practical significance of differences between emotional awareness profiles of

different year-groups 59

3 .

6

Conclusion

61

3 .

4 Conclusion of empirical study

61

Chapter 4

Conclusions and recommendations

63

4 .

1 Objectives and hypothesis

63

4.2 Summary of conclusions

64

4.3 Recommendations

65

4.4 Issues in

need of

further study

67

4 .

5 Final word

67

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Chapter 1. Introduction

1 .1 The research opportunity

Two findings in recent research on emotional intelligence open the opportunity addressed

in this study, namely the importance of emotional intelligence for managers and the lack of

focus on the development

of

soft skills by educational institutions.

7 .

7 The importance

of

emotional intelligence for

managers

today

Goleman (1 998d:319-321) refers to vanous studies that identified the type of skills

managers need most and that have the greatest effect on excellent managerial

_performance. He concludes (1998d:31) that "emotional competencies were found to be

_!

wice

(sic) as important in contributing to excellence as pure intellect and expertise".

This statement of the importance of emotional intelligence does not imply that emotional

intelligence alone is responsible for excellent managerial performance. A study by Dulewic:z:

and Higgs (1998:44-45) stresses that emotional intelligence and cognitive intelligence

should not be pitted against each other. Rather, the combined effect or interactivity of

emotional- and cognitive intelligence resulted in what they call"managerial intelligence".

_!_n future it can be expected that emotionally intelligent management will become even more

_important. New management styles are needed to cope with new challenges (Abell,

1995:13- 16; Ashforth and Humphrey, 1995:1 03; Coetsee, 1996:67 -83; Kull, 1999;

Goleman, 1998c:93-95; Moritz and Havenga, 1996; Timmons, 1999:220-225). At the

foundation of these new trends in management styles - such as open communication,

continuous learning, trustworthiness and trust, empowerment, being open to change, group

dynamics, importance of leadership - lies emotional intelligence. After the excessive

reliance on scientific and technical approaches during the twentieth century, the balance is

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1. 1.2 Managerial educational programmes tend to neglect "soft skills"

Concern is expressed that the importance of emotional intelligence for managers is not

sufficiently reflected in the formal training of managers (Goleman, 1998d:244-248; 1999;

Kull, 1999:6).

A brief inspection of the Potchefstroom Business School MBA curriculum and methods of

delivery discloses that no co-ordinated or focused attention is given to the development of

emotional intelligence in MBA students.

Ad hoc

attempts (such as compulsory study groups, dealing with multiple workloads, pressure to balance personal and social priorities) exist,

but they are neither structured nor focused.

1 .2

Objectives

The primary objective of this study is to determine if the Potchefstroom Business School MBA

fosters significant growth in the emotional intelligence of its students by way of the

Telematic

(study centre)

delivery platform.

In order to reach this primary objective, several secondary objectives are pursued:

• To give a concise overview of literature on emotional intelligence.

• To investigate the theory of fostering emotional intelligence.

• To design, conduct and interpret the results of an empirical study to test the hypothesis

stated in 1 .3, that the Potchefstroom Business School MBA does not foster significant

growth in emotional awareness as part of the emotional intelligence of its students by

way of the

T elematic (study centre)

delivery platform.

• To make recommendations towards the fostering of emotional intelligence by the

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1 .3 Hypothesis

In view of the opportunities discussed in 1.1 above, namely (1) the importance of emotional intelligence for managers, and (2) the apparent lack of creating environments by the Potchefstroom Business School MBA towards fostering emotional intelligence in managers, the following hypothesis is stated:

The Potchefstroom Business School MBA does not foster significant growth in

emotional awareness as part of the emotional intelligence of its students by way of the

Telematic (study centre)

delivery platform.

1 .4

Central theoretical argument and method of investigation

This investigation comprises of three parts:

• The first part is a literature study and aims to satisfy the first two objectives set in 1.2, namely to give an overview of the literature on emotional intelligence and to investigate

the theory of fostering emotional intelligence.

• The second part consists of an empirical study and aims to fulfil the third objective in 1.2, namely to test the hypothesis that the Potchefstroom Business School MBA does not foster significant growth in emotional awareness as part of the emotional intelligence of its

students by way of the

Telematic (study centre)

delivery platform. The empirical study is designed to measure and compare the emotional awareness of the different MBA year-groups. As emotional awareness encompasses the primary group of competencies

of which emotional intelligence consists, the results are generalised from emotional awareness to emotional intelligence.

• In the third part recommendations are made on how the Potchefstroom Business School could adapt the MBA

Telematic (study centre)

delivery platform in order to foster emotional intelligence in addition to technical and domain-specific managerial expertise.

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1 .5 Terminology

Where applicable terminology is defined in the text. It is however necessary to clarify the

use of two terms already used in the introduction:

"Emotional intelligence" is understood to be the potential to habitually create contextually

true outcomes through the interaction of emotional awareness, -assessment and -expression

in personal and social experiences. Refer to

2.2 .

6

for a discussion of this definition. Other

definitions of emotional intelligence can be found in

2.1.2 .

Throughout this dissertation three terms are used to describe "the consc1ous, purposeful

stimulation of growth in emotional intelligence", namely "to foster", "to learn" and "to

develop" emotional intelligence. These terms bring different nuances to the fore: "To

foster" emotional intelligence is preferred where the accent is on the continuous nurturing of

skills that should end up as part of the character of an individual. "To learn" is used to

indicate the role of the learner in growing in emotional intelligence. "To develop" refers to

the deliberate, systematic stimulation of growth in emotional intelligence.

1 .6

Overview of

content

The literature study, presented in chapter two, consists of three sections. The first section

presents an overview of recent literature on emotional intelligence. From a historical

perspective on the emergence of emotional intelligence the discussion moves to a

companson of different views of what emotional intelligence is and how it consists of

competencies and groups of competencies. Emotional awareness is identified as the

primary emotional competency and is discussed in more detail. Subsequently confusion between the terms "emotional intelligence" and "emotional literacy" is clarified. The section concludes with comments on how emotional intelligence impacts on character and habits.

The second section provides the link between the theory of emotional intelligence and the

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cognitive psychology. After defining "emotion" and "intelligence" a model is presented to illustrate the cognitive processes involved in emotionally intelligent behaviour. This model is

explained by a hypothetical example. From this model five focus points for the

development of emotional intelligence are identified. This subsection concludes with a

definition of emotional intelligence

The third section investigates the development of emotional intelligence. The

ontologie-contextual educational paradigm focusses on the creation of an environment

conducive to learning. In such an environment knowledge - in this instance emotional

intelligence - is "created" by the interplay between tacit and explicit knowledge.

Chapter three presents the empirical study. In the first section of this chapter background of the MBA presented at the Potchefstroom Business School is given.

The second section describes the empirical study. Comments on the measurability of

emotional intelligence are made, the goals of the empirical study are explained and limits

of the project are set. Formal and material aspects of the

Emotional Awareness

Questionnaire

are discussed. The proposed interpretation of the

Emotional Awareness

Questionnaire

is explained. The population of the empirical study is discussed and the procedure of the project explained.

Section three presents the results and interpretation of the results by way of emotional awareness profiles of the population and of the respective year-groups, comparative frequency histograms of the emotional awareness levels of the year-groups, applying the ANOVE f-test to identify differences in the means of the emotional awareness profiles of the different year-groups and testing for practical significance of differences between emotional

awareness profiles of different year groups. A conclusion is made with regard to the

hypothesis stated in 1.3.

Chapter four summonses the conclusions reached in the literature and empirical study. Recommendations are made to satisfy the fourth objective set in 1.2. Identified issues in need of further study are listed before a final word concludes the chapter and dissertation.

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Chapter 2. Theoretical study of emotional intelligence and the

fostering thereof

Emotional com etencies hav~ been found to be twice as important~contributing to

~anagerial excellence as pure intellect and expertise (Goleman, 1998d:31 ). More and more organisations are starting to recognise this fact. This growing awareness of the importance of these 11

soft skills11

is underlined by the increasing amount of popular articles, j_nternet sites and books on the topic of emotional intelligence. The danger is, though, that

attention to these 11 soft11

aspects of management could dissolve in unscientific residue. It is therefore of the utmost importance that any study on the issue of emotional intelligence should be rooted in sound theory and research.

This chapter strives to lay a sound theoretical foundation for emotional intelligence on which the empirical research of the next chapter can build. The ultimate aim of this study is to measure how successfully the current MBA programme at the Potchefstroom Business School fosters emotional awareness as part of emotional intelligence of its students by way of the

Telematic (study centre)

delivery platform. Therefore this chapter starts with an overview on what emotional intelligence is and works its way to a learning theory for emotional intelligence. This background of sound theories of emotional intelligence and learning will make it possible to interpret the empirical data presented in the next chapter.

The theoretical description of emotional intelligence and the fostering thereof is presented in three sections. The first section of this chapter gives an overview of recent literature on emotional intelligence. The description commences with a short history of the origin of the term

emotional intelligence

and then leads to a review of definitions of emotional intelligence. A cursory overview of the competencies in which emotional intelligence realise, follows. These competencies illustrate the practical implications of emotional intelligence. The primary competency of emotional intelligence, namely emotional awareness, is then explored, to introduce the theory on which the

Emotional Awareness Questionnaire,

presented in chapter 3, is based. Confusion between the terms

emotional intelligenc

e

and

emotional literacy

is clarified and suggestions are made on distinctive definitions. Finally the implications of emotional intelligence on character are explored.

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The second section deals with cognition as an approach to explore emotional intelligence.

Firstly the concept of

emotion

is defined. A general perspective on intelligence is then presented by way of Sternbergs triarchic theory of the human mind. A cognitive model of emotionally intelligent behaviour is presented and illustrated by means of a hypothetical example. Five focus points for fostering emotional intelligence are identified. Finally the

chapter concludes with the formulation of a cognitive definition of emotional intelligence.

The third section deals with the topic of creating a learning environment to effectively stimulate emotional intelligence. The ontologie-contextual approach to development is presented as the most appropriate way to foster emotional intelligence. The elements which

contribute towards the creation of a learning environment conducive to learning, are discussed. Finally it is proposed that the interplay between emotional intelligence as tacit

and explicit knowledge should be the basic activity within this learning environment.

2 .

1 literature overview of .. emotional intelligence ..

Amongst an avalanche of literature on emotional intelligence in the workplace (Coetzee, 1998a-c; Dulewicz and Higgs, 1998; FEEL, 1998a; 1998b; Harrison, 1997; Kull, 1 999; McGarvey, 1997; Salopek, 1998), six sources stand out as primary sources of information:

• Salovey and Mayer (1990), Mayer and Salovey (1995, 1997), Salovey

eta/

(1995) were

the first to coin the term

emotional

intelligence,

based on sound theory and research.

• Goleman (1995; 1998:a-d) provided a synthesis of literature on emotional intelligence and popularised the concept.

• Cooper (1997; 1998), Cooper and Sawaf (1997; 1998) contributed to a more emotional accent on emotional intelligence.

• Epstein {1998) argued for the recognition of constructive cognitive thinking as part of emotional intelligence.

• Steiner {1998; 1999a-b), Steiner and Perry (1997), documented forty years of research

on emotional literacy within the framework of transactional analysis.

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2. 1. 1 Historical perspective on the

emergence

of emotional intelligence

Salovey and Mayer (1990) first used the term

emotional intelligence.

In 1995 Time

_magazine made the essence of Goleman's (1995) book,

Emotional

intelligence,

their cover story (Birnbaum, 1995:66; Gibbs, 1995:60-67). This led to the vulgarisation of the term

emotional intelligence.

On the positive side it must be said that these articles brought the _importance of emotional intelligence to the attention of the world

-=-To substantiate the use of the term

emotional

intelligence

most authors appeal to the concept of multiple-intelligence (Coetzee, 1998a:26; Goleman, 1995:38-39,42; Mayer and Salovey, 1997:3-6; Young, 1996). The classic argument is: Alongside the traditionally accepted verbal and numerical intelligence (Intelligence Quotient or in short IQ), a varying number of other intelligencies exist, such as spatial capacity, kinaesthetic ability, musical gifts and personal intelligence. Emotional intelligence (sometimes referred to as EQ) is rooted in the inter- and intrapersonal dimensions of

personal-,

also called

social- intelligence.

2. 1.2 Emotional intelligence

Three of the most widely used definitions of emotional intelligence are those of Mayer and Salovey, Goleman, and Cooper and Sawaf:

"Emotional intelligence involves the ability to perce1ve accurately, appra1se, and express emotion; the ability to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and the ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth" (Mayer and Salovey, 1997:10).

Emotional intelligence

is "the capacity for recognising our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships" (Goleman, 1998d:317).

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"Emotional intelligence is the ability to sense, understand, and effectively apply

the power and acumen of emotions as a source of human energy,

information, connection, and influence" (Cooper and Sawaf, 1997:xiii).

The following characteristics are common in these definitions:

• Emotional intelligence refers to capacity or potential. As far as potential is concerned, it

has to be kept in mind that:

•!• An individual has many different

potentialities.

•!• Individuals differ in the variety of potentialities they possess, the limit of those

potentialities, the level to which potentialities are realised, and the amount of unused

potential (Coetsee, 1996:135- 139).

• Emotional intelligence potentialities materialise 1n abilities, also known as

emotional

competencies.

• Emotional intelligence has inward (also called

intrapersonal)

and outward (also called

interpersonal)

dimensions.

The cognitive approach to emotional intelligence explored in section 2.2, culminates in an

own - and in this study preferred - definition of emotional intelligence. For easy

companson with the definitions quoted above, the literature overview of emotional

intelligence is interrupted by a window on the definition presented in 2.2.6. In terms of this

definition emotional intelligence can be described in popular terms as the ability to

interactively manage one's own and others' emotional experiences to good effect. Stated

formally:

Emotional intelligence

is the potential to habitually create contextually true outcomes through the interaction of emotional awareness, -assessment and

-expression in personal- and social experiences.

For a discussion of this definition, please refer to section 2.2 in general and specifically to

2.2.6.

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2. 1.3 Emotional competencies

_

Emotional competencies are the

areas

in which the different potentialities within emotional

intelligence realise and grow.

Different researchers identified and proposed numerous emotional competencies and

frameworks to group these competencies. Table 2.1 provides an overview of these

frameworks presented by Mayer and Salovey (1997: 11 ), Goleman (1998d:26-27, 50-231 ),

and Cooper and Sawaf (1997:xxvi, 1-292).

These frameworks of competencies exhibit the following characteristics:

• Some correlation exists between the groups of competencies listed by different authors.

• Competencies are typically grouped into four to five categories, but little agreement exists

on what the categories should be.

• The competencies are both independent and interdependent. They can function as

autonomous abilities but have positive relations also with other competencies.

• "Higher" or more complex competencies build on "lower" or less complex competencies.

The "lower" competencies are listed at the top of the table and the "higher" competencies

at the bottom.

Critique has been levelled at Goleman that he clouded the concept of emotional

intelligence by presenting competencies that have little to do with emotionality, for example

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2. 7

.

4 Emotional awareness: primary competency of emotional intelligence

The lists of competencies in Table 2.1 indicate that emotional awareness is the first and most basic of all emotional competencies. Emotional awareness underpins all other competencies. An element of this truth is captured by the words: "We are as sick, as we are secret" (Coetzee, 1998b: 12).

For the purpose of introducing Steiner and Perry's (1997:30-35)

Emotional Awareness

Questionnaire

in Chapter 3, the focus here is on their view of emotional awareness.

~teiner and Perry (1997:30), similar to the authors mentioned in 2.1.3 above, acknowledge emotional awareness as the foundation of all other competencies when they describe emotional awareness as

• "knowing what we feel, • knowing what others feel,

• finding the cause of these feelings,

• knowing the likely effect of our feelings on others."

This definition of emotional awareness corresponds with the verbal levels of emotional awareness of Steiner and Perry (1997:36), illustrated in Figure 2.1 (see the next page): differentiation, empathy, causality and interactivity.

The following is a brief description of each level of emotional awareness (Steiner and Perry, 1997:36-49):

• Numbness:

• Physical sensations:

• Primal experience:

Emotions are in deep freeze, unavailable to awareness.

Physical sensations that accompany emotions are experienced, but the emotions themselves are not felt.

Being conscious of emotions which are experienced as heightened levels of disturbing energy but are not understood or cannot be described.

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Figure 2.1

Emotional awareness scale (Steiner and Perry, 1997:36}

• Verbal barrier: • Differentiation: • Causality: • Empathy: • I nteractivity:

I

nteractivity

Empathy

Causality

Differentiation

Verbal barrier

Primal expenence

Physical sensations

Numbness

100%

(/) (/) Q)

c

Q) !.... 0

~

0%

To be able to begin to talk about emotions requ1res an

environment that is friendly towards emotional information.

Recognising different emotions and their intensity, learning to

talk about them.

Understanding the causes of feelings and the events that

triggered the response. Understanding the "why" of emotions.

Perceive and intuit texture and subtlety of emotions of other

people, have to verify intuition through confirmation.

Knowing how people will respond to each other's emotions, when emotions might escalate for better or for worse, moulding creative ends.

In addition to presenting a higher level of awareness, the levels of awareness above the

verbal barrier build on one another. For example, in order to show empathy an individual

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not only has to perceive the emotions of other people, but also has to differentiate between emotions and understand their causes.

The identification

of

these levels of emotional awareness not only serves to explain what emotional awareness is, it also provides the framework by which emotional awareness profiles can be constructed in chapter 3.

2. 1.5 Emotional literacy and emotional intelligence

Steiner and Perry (1997:219) define emotional literacy as ...

11

a skill that involves understanding our own and other people's emotions as well as knowing how our emotions are best expressed for the maximum enhancement of ethical, personal power.11

The similarities between this definition of emotional literacy and Goleman's (1998d:317) definition of emotional intelligence (see 2.1.2 above) are obvious. Consequently confusion reigns on the distinction - if any - between emotional literacy and emotional intelligence. For example, Goleman (1995:268-269) himself initially used the terms interchangeably, but later (Goleman, 1998d) refrained from using the term emotional literacy altogether. Steiner and Perry (1997:219) also initially said emotional intelligence is essentially the same as emotional literacy, but Steiner later differentiated emotional literacy as a love-motivated (Steiner, 1998), heart-centered (Steiner, 1999b) approach to and practice of emotional intelligence. It is in this 11

heart-centered11

sense that Cooper and Sawaf (1997:2) speak of emotional literacy as the first step towards emotional intelligence:

11

Emotional literacy emerges not from the musings of rarified (sic) intellect but from the workings of the human heart, from which comes the energy that makes us real and that motivates us to identify and pursue our un1que potential and purpose ... (it) centres on learning the alphabet, grammar and vocabulary of (emotional intelligence) and recognising, respecting and valuing the inherent wisdom of feelings11

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In order to be clear on terminology, the following distinction between emotional intelligence, emotional competencies and emotional literacy is proposed:

• Emotional intelligence refers to potential (see 2.1.2).

• Emotional competencies refer to the

areas

where the potential of emotional intelligence realise in practical skills (see 2.1.3).

• Emotional literacy, attested above to be a love-motivated, heart-centred approach to emotional intelligence, should be understood as the

manner

in which emotional intelligence is practised.

Figure 2.2 (see next page) depicts the relationship and distinctions between emotional literacy, emotional intelligence and emotional competencies. Emotional literacy is the prism through which the white light of emotional intelligence can be viewed in the colourful variety of emotional competencies.

An individual's beliefs, values and attitudes largely dictate the manner in which emotional intelligence is realised. In this study the words of Jesus Christ are taken as a point of departure for the manner in which emotional intelligence is practised: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men shall know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35).

This theological content of "love" will not be discussed here, other than to say that the concept of love encompasses more of the total concept of emotional intelligence than one's first impressions might be. It is significant that Steiner and Perry (1997:205-208) express the same need to clarify their love-centred approach to emotional literacy in religious and philosophical terms.

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Figure 2.2

Relationship between emotional intelligence, -literacy and -competency

Potential Manner of practice Emotional intelligence .. --··· : ', ~

_~

~ Areas of 1111111111111 11111111111 1111111 realisation

Emotional competencies

2 .

1.6 Character and emotional intelligence

Character,

according to Goleman (1995:285), IS "the body of skills that emotional

intelligence represents."

The connection between character and emotional intelligence is important for two reasons:

• Character is what

a

person is, not what he or she pretends to be. Covey (1989: 18-21)

classifies motives for behaviour as originating either from "character ethics" or

"personality ethics". The former refers to what a person is deep within himself or herself.

It

is being true to oneself. The latter refers to trends in behaviour that strive to present a

face of oneself that differs from what he or she really is - it is presenting a mask of oneself. This masquerading as not what I really am, but what you want me to be, is

frequently used in modern society to manipulate others. The problem with personality

ethics is that short term goals are pursued while the building of integrity and trust over

the long term is sacrificed. Emotional intelligence can - and certainly will - be misused

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referred to in the sense of character ethics.

It

is the deep-felt, true, genume, principle-centered and value-driven emotional self (Coetzee, 1998a:28; Cooper and Sawaf, 1998).

• Secondly, character can be developed. The existent character of an individual comprises

of emotional competencies that have become second nature - the spontaneous way in

which a person acts. These competencies have become

habits.

Habits are dynamic;

they can be learned (and de-learned) by consciously focusing on and striving to act

repeatedly in the area of certain emotional competencies. Levels of emotional

intelligence can be raised by being continuously aware of and by repeatedly acting in the domains of emotional competencies (Goleman, 1998d:239-241 ).

2. 7.

7 Conclusion

The popularisation of the concept of emotional intelligence had a positive and a negative

effect. On the positive side the importance of "soft skills" for organisations and

management has widely been accepted. The down side of this popularisation is that sound theory is being overrun by and buried beneath an avalanche of popular writing, consulting and seminars. Amidst all the articles (electronic and hard copy) and books on emotional intelligence a body of scientifically sound theory can be found.

Emotional intelligence refers to personal and interpersonal emotional potentialities and realises in emotional competencies. These competencies are usually grouped together in categories that range from being aware of own and other's emotions, to the ability to

creatively manage complex personal and interpersonal emotional situations. There is

consensus that emotional awareness is the foundation of emotional intelligence.

It is important that emotional intelligence is not misused to manipulate people. It may have short-term results, but in the long run not only will the concept of emotional intelligence be contaminated, but the people possessing these competencies will be distrusted. Therefore it is important that an emotionally intelligent person would be of deep-felt, true, genuine, principle-centred and value driven character.

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In order to go deeper into the theoretical understanding of emotional intelligence and to work towards the development thereof, emotional intelligence is viewed from a cognitive

angle in the next section.

2.2 A cognitive view of emotional intelligence

In 2.1 it was concluded that current approaches strive to explain emotional intelligence

mainly in terms of its effects - emotional competencies. For three reasons it could be beneficial to explore emotional intelligence from another angle, namely that of the theory of cognitive psychology.

• Not only the effects of emotional intelligence should be explored, but the actual working

thereof as well.

• There is current interest in the role cognition plays in emotions. After extensive investigation of the effect of physiology, cognition, behaviour and social environment on emotion, Strongman (1987:245) concludes: "Having swept aside almost every aspect of psychological functioning as being not necessary to emotion, even though they might be

important, only one remains- cognition".

• A cognitive view of emotional intelligence could prepare the ground for an understanding of how emotional intelligence can be developed.

This section then views emotional intelligence from a cognitive perspective.

After defining the concept of emotion, intelligence is viewed in terms of Sternberg's (1985,

1988) holistic, rather than categorical, terms. This holistic view of intelligence is applied to emotion through a description of the process in which emotion and cognition interact to create behaviour. This process is placed in a real-life context by means of a hypothetical example. Finally the discussion culminates in a cognitive definition of emotional intelligence.

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2.2. 1 Emotion

Emotions

are described in Latin as

motus anima,

"the spirit that moves us" (Cooper and Sawaf, 1997:xii). Emotions are "inborn, generated automatically in the most primitive, reptilian, limbic portion of our brain" (Steiner and Perry, 1997:29). A comprehensive definition is given by Kleinginna and Kleinginna (1981 as quoted by Strongman, 1989:3):

"Emotion is a complex set of interactions among subjective and objective factors, mediated by neural/hormonal systems which can (a) give rise to affective experiences ... ; (b) generate cognitive processes ... ; (c) activate widespread physiological adjustments to arousing conditions; and (d) lead to behaviour that is often, but not always, expressive, goal-directed and adaptive."

After exploring emotion through the different avenues of physiology, behaviour and social environment, Strongman (1987:240-241) concludes and Epstein (1998:3) insists that emotions can best be understood through the study of cognition. The term

emotional

intelligence

implies such a cognitive approach to emotion.

2.2.2 Intelligence

Intelligence

"is purposrve adaptation to and selection and shaping of real-world environments relevant to one's life ... , it is mental self-management" (Sternberg, 1988: 72). Apart from this working definition, Sternberg (1985: 128) also provides us with a more comprehensive definition of intelligence:

"Intelligence is the mental capability of emitting contextually appropriate behavior at those regions in the experiential continuum that involve response to novelty or automatization of information processing as a function of metacomponents, performance components, and knowledge-acquisition components."

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This definition offers a general theory of human intelligence and is labelled by Sternberg

(1998) as a

triarchic

model of the human mind. Intelligence then is viewed through componental, experiential and contextual aspects. Figure 2.3 is taken from Sternberg

(1988:68) to illustrate his triarchic understanding of human intelligence.

Figure 2.3 :

Sternberg•s

(1988:68)

triarchic

model

for

intelligence

0 ::::>

1j

-

c 0

u

0 ·.;::: c Q)

Task highly unfamiliar

\

Automatisation' Task highly

i

familiar! Performance components

1

Metacomponents

I

<

E

8 I Knowledge-acquisition components

I

The

componental

aspect of intelligence refers to the inner world of the individual. Three interdependent components are identified:

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• Performance components are the "blue collar" processes of encoding, memonsmg and retrieving memory, comparing and responding by implementing the commands of the metacomponents.

• Knowledge-acquisition components are the processes used to learn how to solve

problems. These processes include the acquirement, retrieval and transferral of information.

These inner-world components are applied to different outer-world expenences. Experiences are placed on a scale of familiarity. Human intelligence has to cope with novelty and has the ability to automate new experiences over time.

When these components are applied to experiences, the individual has to behave in the context of his or her real-world environment. An individual normally first tries to adapt to existing environments, and when this strategy fails, then either selects new environments or shapes existing environments into new environments.

This holistic view of intelligence offers valuable insights into emotional intelligence:

• Emotional intelligence has to be an interactive process between the meta-, knowledge-acquisition, and performance components of intelligence.

• Emotionally intelligent behaviour has to deal both with new and well-known situations, and demonstrates the ability to automate behaviour through repetition.

• Emotional intelligence harmonises the contexts in which an individual lives and emotions he or she experiences.

2.2.3 Emotion, cognition and behaviour

The preCise relationship between emotion and cognition is hotly debated amongst psychologists (Ellsworth, 1991: 156): Does emotion take primacy over cognition or v1ce versa? This debate also surfaced in literature on emotional intelligence. Epstein (1998: 1 0-12) for example challenges Goleman's (1995:5-12) position that emotion precedes cognition.

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The best answer is probably that cognition and emotion both

interact

(mainly through appraisal) and function

independently;

emotion probably takes

precedence

(Strongman, 1987:11 0-111 ). It is fair to accept that the interaction between emotion and cognition would be

dialectic

(Ellsworth, 1991: 157) and

differential

depending on the situation and previous experiences (Goleman, 1995:9).

With Sternberg's triarchic view of intelligence in mind a survey of literature on emotion and cognition yielded five observations summarising the interaction between cognition and emotion. Please note that although the different authors may have used different terminologies, their fundamental arguments are presented here in the terminology created by Sternberg (1985; 1988):

• Automated behaviour results from emotional reactions drawn from emotional

memory

banks. The process producing automated behaviour generally functions subconsciously on tacit knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995:8-1 0) and may bypass conscious cognition to a large extent (Stongman, 1987:87-111 ). This process constitutes habits.

• In responding to events not sufficiently covered by emotional memory banks, conscious cognition plays a bigger part (Bower and Hilgard, 1981:421-424, 467-468). These events have to be assessed against a value and belief system in order to generate appropriate responses (Ellsworth, 1991:141-161 ), called controlled behaviour.

• In order to grow in emotionally literate responses, the value and belief system - as part of extensive memory- has to be updated (Ortony eta/, 1988:34-58).

• Feedback on the effect of both automated and controlled behaviour IS consciously assessed against a value and belief system. The result of this assessment will be stored in the memory bank. Future behaviour will either tend towards automatisation or alternatively controlled behaviour, depending on the assessed value stored in the memory bank (Ortony eta/, 1988:34-58; Wilk, 1998:27).

• The persistent replacement of emotionally illiterate automated or controlled behaviour with literate controlled - and eventually automated - behaviour (Epstein, 1998:3-99, 1 95- 199) would result in the formation of emotionally intelligent habits and character (Wilk, 1998:27).

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In Figure 2.4 the five observations above are presented 1n a diagram. This diagram illustrates the different elements of a cognitive view on emotions and the interaction between these elements.

Figure 2

.4

:

Stimuli, emotion and cognition, behaviour and effect

Componential Experiential Contextual

It is interesting to note that in an earlier book,

Vital lies,

simple truths,

Goleman (1985:57-90) described the working of the mind in much the same terminology and with almost the same flowcharts as presented in Figure 2.4.

2.2.4 An

illustrative

example of the processes involved in

a

cognitive view of

emotional intelligence

Sternberg's (1988) triarchic view of intelligence places intelligent behaviour squarely in real-life situations. In order to do justice to the contextualisation of the dialectic and differential interaction between emotion and cognition explained above, Figure 2.4 is subsequently explained by means of a hypothetical example:

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Mr. Johnson, MD of a large company, was brought up by authoritarian

parents. His value and belief system constitutes that it is good for people in

positions of authority to be domineering.

One of the side effects of Mr. Johnson being brought up in an overbearing

environment is low self-esteem. All those rebukes from his parents welled up

in his emotional memory as "I'm not OK".

Through the years he found he could protect himself from feelings of

insignificance by being bad-tempered. After all, it is good to be

authoritarian. His irritability seemed to work well for him - it made him feel

powerful and kept others at bay. "Be irritable" became the

automated

behaviour

whenever some event stirred those ugly feelings of insignificance in his memory. One day the following event occurred: Mrs. Smith, his new

secretary (the previous secretary resigned after four months) came into his

office: "Mr. Johnson, you must not forget the report for that meeting

tomorrow." Subconsciously the memory of feeling insignificant flooded

through Mr. Johnson. Automatically he reacted irritably: "Yes, I know, Mrs.

Smith. You don't think I would forget, do you?"

The effect of Mr. Johnson's behaviour was quite dramatic: Mrs. Smith burst

into tears, stormed out of the office, was back in three minutes with her

resignation. She could not handle his grumpiness any longer. This really

stunned Mr. Johnson. Maybe it was not that good to be domineering and

authoritarian after all. As Mrs. Smith really was competent and he did not

want to lose her, he decided to talk to her. With nothing to lose she told him

that she was going through a difficult time at home, she thought he was very

competent but she felt he didn't like her and was unjustly rude to her. And

most of the other personnel would agree. He began to see that being

domineering IS not necessarily "good". They agreed that she would stay

another month and help him to become more "accommodating". A new

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The next day the another event occurred: Mrs. Smith came into the office:

"Mr. Johnson, here is your report." And with a smile on her face she added:

"And don't forget the meeting!" Immediately his memory banks produced "I'm

not OK". But when he saw her teasing smile, he remembered it is good to be

accommodating. After a moment of silence he said, also smiling: "Thank you

for reminding me... No, not of the meeting - I remembered that - but to be

friendly."

During the month that followed this interaction became a little game between

them. And gradually Mr. Johnson became more "accommodating". A new

habit was born.

2 .

2.5 Focus points for the development of emotional intelligence

From the discussion of Sternberg's view of intelligence (described under 2.2.2), and the

cognitive view on emotion and behaviour (2.2.3 and 2.2.4) the following focus points

regarding the development of emotional intelligence can be deducted:

• The componential aspect of intelligence as a whole and in its parts impacts on the

development of emotional intelligence. Sternberg (1985: 127) remarks that "training of

intelligent performance rs most successful when it is (directed) at both the

meta-componential and performance-componential levels." In addition, it is argued in

2.1.4 above that emotional awareness constitutes the foundation of emotional

intelligence. Knowledge-acquisition components should therefore be developed as well.

Emotional information acquired, retrieved and transferred by the knowledge-acquisition

components impacts on the following:

•!•

The decision, selection and co-ordination capabilities of the meta-components correspond with the concept of assessment.

•!•

The encoding, comparing and response functions of performance components

correspond with the value and belief system, and memory.

• The second aspect of intelligence that impacts on the learning of emotional intelligence is

experience. Through repetitive coping with new situations and tasks, automatisation of 25

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the coping processes and behaviour takes place (Sternberg, 1985:73-7 4) and new habits

are formed. Repetitive practise should be key words in the development of emotional

intelligence. Even reactions to "new" emotional situations should become more intelligent

as experience is gained through the continual application of meta-cognitive processes.

• The contextual aspect of intelligence relates especially to the interpersonal and situational

dimensions of emotional intelligence. Valuable feedback is generated through

interpersonal relations about the level of success in adaptation to, selection and/or

shaping of real world environments.

Focusing on emotional awareness, shaping an emotionally literate value and belief system,

practising conscious assessment of the role of emotion in behaviour, forming new habits

through repetitive practise, and generating emotional feedback through social networks

should constitute five focus points of a sound programme to foster emotional intelligence.

The question is how to focus on these five points in order to develop individuals' emotional

intelligence. In section 2.3 an attempt is made to answer this question.

2.2.6 Conclusion

:

a cognitive definition of emotional intelligence

The discussion on cognition and emotion converges in the following definition of emotional

intelligence:

Emotional intelligence

is the potential to habitually create contextually true

outcomes through the interaction of emotional awareness, -assessment and

-expression in personal and social experiences.

The following comments explain key concepts of the definition:

• The interaction of emotional awareness, -assessment and -expression refers to the

knowledge-acquisition, meta- and performance components of human intelligence.

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• Personal and social experiences relate to new and well-known situations, and the ability to automate emotional processing and behaviour. These experiences include intra- and interpersonal situations.

• The words "contextually true" bear not only the ability to adapt to, select or create another context in which to live harmoniously, but to be simultaneously true to the deepest value in life: love.

Left to be explored is the creation of an environment which would be conducive to the fostering of emotional intelligence.

2.3 Fostering emotional

intelligence

According to Covey (1989:46) the maxim goes: "Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny." The question in this subsection is

how to sow

emotional intelligence.

A survey of the literature on emotional intelligence produced unstructured lists of hints and things to do (Cooper and Sawaf, 1997), exercises (Epstein, 1998) and guidelines for best practice (Goleman, 1998a:97; 1998d:258-227) in order to train people to become more emotionally intelligent. These hints, things to do, exercises and guidelines for best practice are usually scattered throughout large volumes of literature. A well structured interpersonal programme to achieve emotional literacy is presented by Steiner and Perry (1997:56-158).

But no theory of

learning

emotional intelligence is offered. In the following paragraphs such a theory of learning emotional intelligence is put forth.

This section is divided into two parts. The first presents an overv1ew of the ontologie-contextual approach to development. It is argued that this approach is the natural choice to foster emotional intelligence. The second part discusses the contribution of different elements of the ontologie-contextual paradigm towards the creation of a learning environment in which emotional intelligence can be developed.

Emotional intelligence of MBA students

Emotional intelligence

of

MBA

students

by

JOHAN PETRUS FLEISCHMANN

MINI-DISSERTATION

submitted

in

partial fulf

il

ment of the requirements for the degree

MASTERS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

in the facu

l

ty of

ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

at the

POTCHEFSTROOM UNIVERSITY FOR CHRISTIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

Study leader: Prof

.

L.D.

Coetsee

POTCH EFSTROOM

To

Mad eli

who taught us to

live

today

Acknowledgements

Telematic (study

centre)

Abstract

of

Telematic (study centre)

Telematic (study centre)

Opsomming

(1)

Telematiese

(studie

sentrum)

Telematiese

(studie

sentrum)

Telematiese

(studie

sentrum)

List of Figures and Tables

Tables

Figures

Table of Contents

I

I

1.1

1.1.1

1

.

1

.

2

2

1.2

2

1

.

4

1

.

5

4

1.6

4

2

.

1

2

.

1.1

2.1