By: Shurlly Tiwari, HR faculty, ISME

Emotional Intelligence(EI) is the ability to be aware of one’s own emotions and the emotions of others, and to use that information to manage our relationships and ourselves. Recent research indicates EI accounts for a whopping 80 percent of success in the workplace and in life, while IQ accounts for just 20 percent.

One of the reasons for the increase in the rate of suicides committed by the students in the country is due to excessive pressure of performance during their exams. Based on this research discovered that strong EI was required by the students for not only handling the failures but also to bounce back in the academic excellence.

In simple words, emotional intelligence can be understood if an individual fits into dimensions like ,Strong self- regard where he or she can accurately perceive, understand and accept oneself, interpersonal relationships where a person is able to establish mutually satisfying relationships and relate well with others. A person who can control impulses, solve problems of personal or interpersonal nature, is aware of his or her relations and emotions. is flexible enough to adapt and adjust one’s feelings and thinking of solutions and new situations, can introspect, can manage stress and is assertive in effectively and constructively expressing one’s emotions.

Apart from education industry in Business world ,  leadership and varying styles adopted by leaders have also been studied widely by researchers. And it’s been found that successful managers are more emotionally intelligent then the non-successful ones.

In a research undertaken in Stanford University on 500 most successful people across USA, it was discovered that, for achieving great only 12.3 % domain knowledge is required, whereas 87.7% of soft skills or emotional intelligence is required.

But so far its importance is not realized in higher education, College education is a phase in a student’s life which shapes up the personality and it is important for us to understand the psychological development of the students during this age. The current indicator of intelligence for any student is measured by the academic performance but then it becomes critical to know, if the performance of the student in academics is driven by any other factor or not.

Academic achievement means when a student acquires the knowledge, skills and proficiencies that are taught to them.

A small survey is done to understand the relationship between EI and variables includes, Popularity due to inter personal skills, leadership trait and academic excellence of the student at PG management level, this study will help to understand the relationship between EI and different success traits of the student.

 Business world study tells  that  “EQ may be essential to differentiating world-class organizations in an increasingly complex and competitive marketplace.”( Freedman and Everett )  One of the most popular EQ assessment tools today with both individuals and Fortune 500 companies is the Emotional Intelligence (EI) Profile, developed by Laura Belsten, Ph.D. Dr. Belsten, recognized internationally as a leading authority on EQ, is a faculty member at the University of Denver where she teaches the graduate course “Coaching Emotional Intelligence.”

The EI Profile is also one of the most comprehensive assessment tools, measuring 24 leadership competencies tied to EQ, such as integrity, resilience and empathy. It consists of 24 sections that fall within the four EQ quadrants of:

1. Self-Awareness—the ability to recognize one’s emotions, internal states, preferences, resources and intuition
2. Self-Management—the ability to manage one’s emotions and impulses, and adapt to changing circumstances
3. Social Awareness—the ability to sense, understand and react to others’ feelings, needs and concerns while comprehending social networks
4. Relationship Management—the ability to inspire, influence and develop others while managing conflict.

Based on the above mentioned criteria, many organisations have incorporated EQ tools in the recruitment process, after a close inspection of results a sudden increase in the productivity and efficiency was observed for e.g.:

• MetLife selected their sales force based on high levels of the EQ competency of optimism. These salespeople outsold others within MetLife by 37 percent. 
• Each member of the L’Oréal sales force selected on the basis of EQ competencies sold $91,370 more than others did who were not selected based on these competencies. 
• Sheraton Hotels increased market share by 24 percent as a result of an EQ initiative that involved short training sessions focused on enhancing EQ skills. Specifically, leaders created a positive culture based on trust, a key EQ competency. The initiative also resulted in a significant increase in guest satisfaction and reduction in staff turnover

Real-world examples like these make it easy to see why enlightened organizations are turning to EQ assessments as a benchmark for measuring the success of employee development initiatives designed to improve the EQ proficiencies of their workforce. As Jack Welsh, retired CEO of GE and one of the most highly regarded CEOs of all time, said about the value of EQ, “No doubt emotional intelligence is rarer than book smarts, but my experience says it is actually more important in the making of a leader. You just can’t ignore it.”

This data also gives an insight into the increasing demand of EQ among corporate, highlightling the importance of EQ for the management students to become successful.

• In education Industry students with average IQ secure better positions in their placement seasons. This raises questions on the credentials of the students and their approach towards success. If we rely on the research which is taking place in the world, then EQ should be spoken about in Academic field also and it should be made an important part of education industry.

Conclusion:

EQ is essential for success and which remains untouched in education industry. There should to be a system which should be incorporated by all the management institutes (either in the form of course or seminar) which can help students to develop their EQ and can help them grow.

A quick study of 25 students in ISME, Bangalore shows that Academic excellence was not at par with that of EQ, students who are academic achievers are not necessarily good  with their Emotional intelligence scores, in fact the students with better EQ are more popular and loved in the entire batch. If we keep popularity due to interpersonal skills and leadership as a variable to judge success for these students while they are in campus, then the survey shows that the students with high EQ scores are high on their popularity than the Academic achievers……this survey can continue and their placement results as well as success in their corporate career can be tracked and a concrete conclusion can be drawn in near future.

Thus it also proves that EQ should be developed and nurtured among the students, so that their ability to handle the failures and also probability to succeed in life increases.

Eventually this will also help the students to grow into mature and responsible professional and citizens of the country.

Bibliography:

• Times of India – (15^th of July 2017).
• EI Consortium.
• Emotional Intelligence- Daniel Goleman
• Role of Emotional Intelligence- Daniel Goleman