Free Emotional Intelligence Essay Sample

Misunderstandings are part of daily lives. A fortnight ago I had a misunderstanding with a colleague at the work place. She is a great friend and we even share a lot of issues in our personal life and we are both single. So on this day we are joking about relationships and I happen to ask her "are we serious?" and she's taken a back by this as in her culture between a man and a woman the word serious is deeper in meaning. It means somewhat like commitment and even considering marriage, she was freaked out and replied in blur and it was embarrassing. The misunderstanding was caused by her interpretation of the word serious according to her cultural background. She didn't expect such a question from me and the word also affected her emotionally. The interpretation impacted emotionally on her which was not quite the case with me. It was quite hard for come to un understanding, especially with me understanding her culture and how she interpreted the word and the mood in our conversation. Such a misunderstanding was caused by the language issue of interpretation of words due to the cultural difference between us.

 
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When such a misunderstanding occurs people often complain of not speaking the same language. So for people to understand each other there is usually the reference to "a common language" which generally means that if people are to understand each other, the same vocabulary is essential. However, this reference to a "common language" has another connotation, which is often overlooked: mutual comprehension also requires using the same system of logic, since, despite a widespread misconception, there is more than one. "In any language, the meaning of the words is determined by semantics; its logic, however, is embedded in its syntax. Therefore, "the same language" involves using identical semantics and identical syntax. (Ivan, 1984).

Emotional intelligence is generally the ability or capacity to perceive, assess and manage our emotions and those of others. Emotional quotient is how one measures emotional intelligence. Emotions tend to get in our way of doing business especially with today's fast pace of doing business and also in our personal relationships. When we find ourselves in such situations whereby it is hard to manage our business and relationships, it is therefore of great importance that we take control by assessing and managing our emotions and others.

Emotional intelligence has proven a great and efficient tool in coping with these problems. Training supervisors and leaders on emotional intelligence has helped them listen to listen better and helped them direct employees to resolve problems on their own, how to empower others and inspire others and help them become effective personal leaders. The evidence of how effective emotional intelligence is: formal grievances are significantly reduced, lost-time accidents are reduced and general productivity increases at an organization where emotional intelligence training is done.  Training in emotional intelligence also helps develop stronger leaders who afterwards exhibit qualities such as: higher sense of self control, self confidence, teamwork, empathy and achievement oriented people (William, 2004). The training also increases an increase in frequency of analytical thinking and conceptual thinking. This means that there is contribution to job performance and leadership skills, thus profits to any organization. The test on emotional quotient (EQ) really does accurately reflect on ones emotional intelligence, it is a powerful tool in assessment and development of person's weaknesses in emotional intelligence.

Reflective Paper

Connotation and Denotation are two standard methods of describing the meaning of words. Connotation refers to the wide array of positive and negative associations that most words naturally carry with them, whereas denotation is the precise, literal definition of a word that might be found in a dictionary. Connotation is the emotional and imaginative association surrounding a word while denotation is the strict dictionary meaning of a word.

Some words have different denotative meanings and this occasionally brings about misunderstandings in our social and interpersonal relationships. These meanings range from cultural, age difference to general mood of a conversation. Different languages and backgrounds may also have different meanings of the same word. However, understanding among people is possible because all of these languages are based on the same semantic and syntactic categories; one language may differ from another in terms of: linguistic structure; however, all of them are isomorphic. This semantic and syntactic isomorphism makes possible translation, i.e., to reproduce in a given language the image of what has been said in a different one. Thus, the goal of "a common language" is achieved.

However the misunderstandings can be analyzed and a solution to understanding be found in various ways: for example,' Hollywood' connotes such things as glitz, glamour, tinsel, celebrity, and dreams of stardom. In the same time, the name 'Hollywood' denotes an area of Los Angeles, worldwide known as the center of the American movie industry.. in such a case both the literal meaning and the emotional weight have to examined before coming into conclusion of the intended meaning. In this way the misunderstanding can be avoided since the intended message is interpreted by the listener. This is a quality of a good listener, while if the listener cannot understand the intended meaning it has to be explained to them in different way to avoid misconceptions.

Language barrier is another cause of misunderstanding in conversations. It limits the understanding of the content of the message intended to be passed on to the listener. This can be solved by the mediation of an interpreter. The mediator bridges the language barrier and communication becomes effective. Use of sign language can also help in breaking the barrier brought by use and understanding of different languages.

There are several tools employed in selection and assessment of emotions intelligence.  The 360 analysis is an emotion intelligence assessment tool used to asses fully how a person emotionally deals with all the people and environment around you. The emotion intelligence test is a powerful web enabled tool for assessment and development of a person's emotional strengths and weaknesses. It is structured in a way that the test-taker first does a deep analysis of his emotional aspect of his/her personality and then the test program gives back a completed analysis on the score and status of the test-taker.

The tests, especially in the first ten questions entail a personal assessment of how one behaves under different emotional status. The method used in asking the question is that the test-taker analyses him/herself through by reflection of the various circumstances one  finds himself in, like in the workplace, coping with emotions of others, dealing with our own emotions and the like. In a question like "I calm myself quickly when I get angry or upset", here you take a critical view of how you understand yourself and how you react in such situations in life (Rudolph, 2008). The test also implores deeper for the test-taker to delve deeper into his personality and bring into assessment his past emotional behavior whish he/she couldn't have even thought of imploring and bring the assessment to thinking and learn on the best way to manage ones behavior. The test takes the test-taker through a myriad of situations many people find themselves in and also how people find themselves in their working environment.

After the completion of the test the system rates the score on your emotional quotient (EQ) and the score determines in what class you are in the different levels of emotional intelligences among others. The system also gauges and tries to define your average personality, your emotional strengths and weaknesses and offers advice on how to cope with such weaknesses and growth in your emotional intelligence. My view is that the test actually is a platform for a person or a collective group to gauge them and understand better what is good for them and ways of doing so.

Emotional intelligence therefore helps the trainee in self awareness and a better understanding of personality, and general behavior. This is crucial as it helps the individual in identification, management and improvement on the noted weak areas. It also helps in using better the strengths of the individual for overall improvement of the person in his work place and socially. The person becomes more aware of himself and the tactics to use to counter challenges that one couldn't overcome by him/herself in the past. The most important and effective way of doing this is assessing emotional quotient by receiving feedback from the important people around you, in the form of "360" feedback. Generally it is effective and a helpful way of self mastery and improvement.

 

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