Emotional Intelligence (EI) as an integral part in
management:
Host of benefits accrue from application of EI in management - S.
Chandrasiri,HR Specialist
By Indeewara THILAKARATHNE
indeewara@sundayobserver.lk
Here S. Chandrasiri, a Senior Management
personality in an exclusive interview with Sunday Observer emphasises
the importance of Emotional Intelligence in the multi-faceted field of
management and host of benefits that organisations can derive from the
application of EI (Emotional Intelligence) in management culture of an
organisation.
Q: How the concept of EI came into being?
A: Emotional Intelligence is not a recently developed concept.
It has been a very old concept existed even during Buddha’s time. Buddha
emphasised Emotional Intelligence in a different way. It has helped not
only in Buddha’s preaching but also other leader’s preaching in solving
problems in social interactions.
Recently it was re-discovered by management experts like Daniel
Goleman, Stephen R Coovey, and Fred Luthons who introduced
Organisational Behaviour subjects in management. They are the pioneers
who brought EI subject to the Management. In fact, in Sri Lankan, this
subject came into management arena only few years ago.and This subject
is still at its infancy stage . So the people in the top echelons of
Management especially in the Government Sector are not even aware of
concept of Emotional Intelligence in the Management.

Former Assitant General Manager of Human Resources, National
Water Supply and Drainage Board |
But persons who are well read and conversant in Human Resource
Management in the private sector are practising the concept of EI and
applying it in their day-to-day management activities. Only About ten
years ago, the concepts and practises of human resource Development
started developing in Sri Lanka and this was confined mainly to private
sector and rarely it has emerged in public sector. We have only three
persons with PhDs in Human Resource Management and its related subjects
in our country they are prof Gunapala Nanayakkara, Dr. Travis Perera and
Dr Ajantha Dharmasiri from PIM (Post Graduate Institute of Management),
and Dr. Opatha from University of Sri Jayawardenapura.
The absence of Managerial people equipped with emotional intelligence
and other concepts and practises in Human Resource management and the
people who are managing the country without the knowledge of emotional
intelligence are the main causes for many problems in our society
whether it is in public sector or private sector. The absence of problem
solving by our managers both in the area of internal and external
customers may result in dissatisfaction of both customers and perhaps
the stakeholders and this greatly affects the productivity in
organisations in not achieving organisational objectives.
Q: when you look at the Government Sector, Mismanagement has
been cited as the biggest culprit in its gross inefficiency and
unproductive nature precipitated by hostile working environment. Don’t
you perceive that the entire management practices and culture in
Government Sector need an overhaul?
A: yes absolutely, we have to change the system upside down.
We have to gradually train almost all employees from top to bottom how
to change their attitudes and acquire required knowledge in the areas of
emotional intelligence, empathy, interpersonal relations, Interpersonal
skills, PR skills and other competencies and skills. The absence of
training and development in the areas of Human Resource Development,
strategic Human Resource Management is another barrier and a stumbling
block in acquiring knowledge on those areas.

When start to put into practice those concepts in management,
automatically the self-awareness, self-consciousness would create among
the employees thereby creating self-motivation. You can motivate people
for the money and for love but not for work. In order to motivate
employees for work, you have to make them aware of what they are
engaging in. The self-awareness is one of the principle ingredients of
EI. now in Europe mainly UK, Germany, Italy and France adopt not only
above practices and concepts in management but also new concepts like
Work-life-balance has come in to the management. They do many research
on this new concept of work life Balance. Work-life-balance means that
we have to balance the employee’s work life and private life in
accordance with the work environment, the work load he or she has to do.
That is a burden of the Managers. There is a lot of demand for research
in this area in European countries.
The work-life-balance will make each and every worker content with
improving services and creating conducive atmosphere to work.
Q: Emotional management is an important component of Emotional
Intelligence and includes wide range of emotions. Should Managers be
able to control emotions within the context of overall organisation?
A: Emotional Management is to control range of emotions. Human
Resource Managers or people who manage people should know not only to
control emotions among themselves but also among employees. Generally,
the emotions include Anger, Sadness, Fear, Enjoyment, Love, Surprise,
Disgust and Shame. Management equipped with emotional intelligence has
to be developed in every nook and corner of an organisation and it
should, ultimately, be a culture. Eventually it becomes a practice of
the work ethic.
Q: what are the essential areas in an organisation to be
developed to achieve the required level of emotional Management?
A: Training and Development is very important in this regard.
The HR Managers should have to mentor, guide and coach employees and
also should be in constant touch with all the inner customers circles
who are involved in the operations and the workings of the organisation.
If the good managerial concepts are practised, recognising talents and
due reward would automatically come. Rewards like promotions ia another
step in which one can climb the hierarchy are there always in any
organisation. The promotion should be done not according to the personal
contacts. It should be done considering educational, professional
qualifications and the competencies and the skills that applicable. This
type of rationale promotions will improve the corporate culture and
resulting the achievement of objectives of the corporate body or the
company. Then only a company can achieve its mission but giving
promotions on personnel influence and those who curry favour will result
in organisational collapse in some form.Only few organisations in Sri
Lanka like Blue Diamonds, CINEC Maritime Campus, Mass Holdings Slime
lines some of the companies in Ceylinco Group and Department of Motor
Traffic, Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration (SLIDA) are
in the process of developing the required levels of Human Resource
Management and total quality management in order improve practices in
the management. Employees of these types of organisations work towards
achieving organisations’ objectives.
But many Government Organisations, about 95 percent, do not work for
any kind of objectives. The employees work for their own benefits and
carrying tales to their bosses. It will contribute to the downfall of
the organisations. In government organisations, the workload that can be
done by one person is done by ten persons. But in private organisations,
a person is trained not only to do peon’s job but also to do manager’s
job. So any manager in private sector looks after not only the specific
area but also from top to the bottom. But in Government sector, no
officer would take even a piece of paper from his or her table to
another table without the help of two or three peons. These types of
practices have contributed to some form of collapse of entire public
sector. Some government entities have started training and development
programs but these programs are conducted by the people who are closer
to the government having influential contacts.
Q: How do you describe the process of developing EI?
A: First one has to recognise one’s emotions. Then one can
recognise the feelings of others and then can commence learning to
empathise with others.
When EI is developed to the required level, organisation would
automatically achieve its objectives.
Management Professionals like Dr Travis perera Dr Uditha Liyanage
Deepal Sooriarachchi, Isuru Thilakawardena and Tilakasiri should be
brought into Government sector where they can be entrusted with
considerable responsibilities in introducing new management Concepts and
practises in accordance with organisational development needs. we need
people to change our management culture and practises see the changes in
Sri Lanka Insurance, Union Assurance and in SLIDA and then at Colombo
stock exchange and Securities Exchange Commission.
Ministry of Mass Media and Information, Motor Traffic Department and
Castle Maternity Hospital. These institutions are doing well and we
should be confident that same kind of management culture can be
introduced to other government entities.
Multiple Intelligence
Linguistic Intelligence: Persons who manifest this type of
intelligence are good at writing, reading, telling stories and solving
crossword puzzles.
Logical Intelligence: Mathematical intelligence, people high
on logical intelligence are interested in patterns, categories and
relationships. They are attracted to arithmetic problems, strategy games
and experiments.
Bodily Intelligence: Kinesthetic intelligence, this type of
intelligence includes knowledge through bodily sensations and such
persons are athletics, dancers or good at crafts such as sewing and wood
work.
Spatial Intelligence: People high on spatial intelligence
think in terms of images and pictures. They may be fascinated by magus
or jigsaw puzzles or spend free time in drawing or day dreaming.
Musical Intelligence: Typically such persons are always
singing or humming to themselves. They are usually quite aware of minute
details that others may miss and are discriminating listeners.
Interpersonal Intelligence: These peoples are leaders among
their peers and are good at communication. They seem to understand
others feelings and motivations.
Intrapersonal Intelligence: Although such persons may be shy,
they are aware of their own feelings and they are self-motivated. |