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17 September 2010
General intelligence alone is not enough:
An employee with a higher level of emotional intelligence is more dedicated
and satisfied at work. A new study shows that emotional intelligence
plays an important role in coping with organizational politics.
Employees with a high level of emotional intelligence are more dedicated
and satisfied at work, compared to other employees. This has been shown in a
new study from the University of Haifa. “This study has shown that employees
with a higher level of emotional intelligence are assets to their organization.
I believe it will not be long before emotional intelligence is incorporated
in employee screening and training processes and in employee assessment and
promotion decisions” stated Dr. Galit Meisler, who conducted the research.
The study, which Dr. Meisler carried out under the supervision of Prof. Eran
Vigoda-Gadot, and which won the Outstanding Doctorate Award from the Israeli
Political Science Association, surveyed 809 employees and managers in four organizations:
two public sector organizations and two private companies. The study examined
the effects of emotional intelligence on aspects of organizational politics,
on employees’ work attitudes, on formal and informal behavior, feelings of justice,
burnout and the like.
The results show that those employees with a high level of emotional intelligence
perceived organizational justice as higher than other employees did. Furthermore,
employees with a high level of emotional intelligence were more satisfied with
their jobs and more committed to their organizations. On the other hand, undesirable
work attitudes, such as burnout, intention to leave and negligent behavior,
were lower for those employees.
According to Dr. Meisler, the effects of emotional intelligence are not limited
to employees’ work attitudes alone, but also have an impact on various aspects
of organizational politics. For example, employees with a higher emotional intelligence
level perceived the organizational politics at their workplace as less severe
than their colleagues did. Likewise, better political skills were demonstrated
by employees with a higher emotional intelligence level. “We also found that
employees with a higher emotional intelligence level were less likely to use
forceful and aggressive forms of persuasion while attempting to persuade their
supervisors. Those employees tended to use much softer influence tactics”, concluded
the researcher. •
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