B-Cognizance
IIITA e-Magazine
October - December 2006 Vol 2 Issue 11
"It is as necessary for the heart to feel as for the body to be fed."
This is a statement of great military leader, we all know as Napoleon Bonaparte. It came much before Thorndike used the term social intelligence, Gardener formulated the idea of multiple intelligences and, Peter Salovey and John "Jack" Mayer coined the emotional intelligence test. And, Daniel Goleman authored the best selling book Emotional Intelligence.
Hence, through this article of mine I intend to draw an analogy from Armed Forces to Corporate. Basically, it shows how armed forces, use emotional intelligence in varied domains to cater its employees, majority of whom are in environment which is constantly withering in nature. Why they give more consideration to EQ than to IQ? Stakes are high in both setups i.e. Armed Forces and Corporate (where employees are expected to outperform at every call). But there is greater urgency in Armed forces, to make its employees emotionally intelligent; this is because emotional intelligence has become an imperative with cases of stressed out soldiers bursting guns on their superiors and compatriots. Hence, their endeavor starts from selection process and continues with everyday working of employees. So, corporate can act as a student and learn.
As per Mayer & Salovey (1997) Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth.
Armed Forces all across the world have been tackling difficulties implicit to their job by emotional self-awareness, stress management, impulse control, empathy, interpersonal skills and motivation. These are the very foundations that form the Emotional Intelligence models whether ability (Mayor and Sloveys) based or mixed emotional intelligence (Bar-On’s) based.
Within a military context, strong leadership is essential from the top levels of the hierarchy down through to lower level personnel. Effective leadership, in particular transformational and charismatic leadership, is inherently an emotional process. Leadership behaviors are sources of affective events for followers; leaders can cause hassles, negative incidents, or uplifts, positive incidents for followers. The effectiveness of these leadership styles stems from the ability of the leader to use his or her emotional intelligence skills to manage the emotions of his or her followers. By managing follower emotions, leaders are able to arouse positive or negative emotions in followers, and they can also arouse a sense of calm where required. This ability to manage follower emotions can thus mean the difference between success and failure or between life and death.
Emotional competence differentiates successful leaders. Legendary Field Marshal of Indian Armed Forces K.M.Cariappa said that, “An officer is nothing without the soldiers” It was the trait of interpersonal EI which made him recognize the relevance of followers.
And success of his approach can be gauged from the fact that following legendary credo coined by him is still part of the ethos of Indian Armed Forces: -
“The safety, honor and welfare of the country comes first, always and every time.
The honor and welfare of men you command, comes next.
Your own comfort and ease comes last, always and every time".
Expecting this from a corporate executive will be unjustified but it can be modified for benefits of a corporate. If this thought of prioritizing Organizational goals, subordinate requirements and personal ambitions can be ingrained in the mind of incumbent leader. Expecting such thing from an emotionally intelligent person is not a far cry. That’s because on a personal level, EI involves motivation and being able to focus on a goal rather than demanding instant gratification (Daniel Golman).
EI is ingrained in working of Armed Forces even today. Although, its application has become more systematic as compared to old times. Then it was subjected to person’s individual ability but now an emotionally intelligent person is supposed to become part of Forces. His/her credentials as being Emotionally Intelligent are tested right from the onset of selection process and ultimately it becomes part of the working environment. Even the Recruitment process differs a lot from the routine recruitment processes that we observe at corporate. Sgt. Maj. Alford L. McMichael, of US Marine corps says that, “Like all employers, we tell potential recruits that if you come to work for us we will give you this and that, but before we ‘hire’ them; we challenge them to earn the title, earn the job.”
In case of Indian Armed Forces, Services Selection Board Interview forms the basis of choosing the best fits. The quality of the defense system depends primarily on the competence of the men in charge of the diverse responsibilities in the armed forces. In order to ensure the best human resources are available to the system, an effective mechanism for the selection of officers with appropriate qualities has been evolved. This is known as the Services Selection Interview (SSB), which is not just an interview in the usual parlance. The Services Selection Board effectively makes a comprehensive assessment of the personal attributes, usually referred to as `officer-like qualities.' The exercise is elaborate. It is spread over five to Six days.
The Armed Forces strive to find and apply strategies and tactics it can repeat to improve its processes. Businesses can benefit from practices such as the following: -
• Corporate needs to overhaul its recruitment and selection procedure. Emotional Intelligence does have its own relevance. Procedures should be developed on lines of SSB interview. This will help to reduce attrition rate and over all environment of the organization will be healthier and composed of people who can work in synergy. Based upon these criteria, the selection of an emotionally intelligent person will affect all those people who come in contact with him/her.
• In this ever so competitive corporate, leaders should be made to empathize. They should be able to observe and remain cognizant about stress levels that their subordinates are feeling.
• Interpersonal abilities of Emotional Intelligence will play considerable part in coming times. An employee with a positive outset can act as an ideal to his/her compatriot and followers.
• The feeling of aligning with organizational goal will always be an asset for organization as well as for employee. The goals will coincide if the right kind of employee is selected.
• Familial ties are at the brink now days due to work related stress. The sort of programs that Armed Forces are pursuing can be imitated in civilian domain. Moreover, only monetary benefits will not suffice the familial needs of employees. Corporate will have to be more supportive. And, an emotionally intelligent leader can always make the working for an employee more affable.
• Moreover, the sort of association that employees have with their organizations is very superficial. Organizations can develop themselves as brands that do care, who provide a work environment (howsoever demanding it may be) that respects you and recognizes your contributions. Armed Forces have been quite successful in this context. This can be adjudged from the fact that in spite of all the pictures of gore shown from Iraq. United States Marine Core has been able to attract recruits with increasing numbers.
The military and the civilian business world will never be mirror images. The military is by its nature more hierarchical and demands tighter discipline. And the private sector focuses on profits. But both share a need to manage people carefully to produce the best outcomes and Business should pay close attention to what it can learn from the armed forces.
by Davinder Singh Jass, MBA IIITA.
X'Pressions
Emotional Intelligence, An Analogy
"It is as necessary for the heart to feel as for the body to be fed."
This is a statement of great military leader, we all know as Napoleon Bonaparte. It came much before Thorndike used the term social intelligence, Gardener formulated the idea of multiple intelligences and, Peter Salovey and John "Jack" Mayer coined the emotional intelligence test. And, Daniel Goleman authored the best selling book Emotional Intelligence.
Hence, through this article of mine I intend to draw an analogy from Armed Forces to Corporate. Basically, it shows how armed forces, use emotional intelligence in varied domains to cater its employees, majority of whom are in environment which is constantly withering in nature. Why they give more consideration to EQ than to IQ? Stakes are high in both setups i.e. Armed Forces and Corporate (where employees are expected to outperform at every call). But there is greater urgency in Armed forces, to make its employees emotionally intelligent; this is because emotional intelligence has become an imperative with cases of stressed out soldiers bursting guns on their superiors and compatriots. Hence, their endeavor starts from selection process and continues with everyday working of employees. So, corporate can act as a student and learn.
As per Mayer & Salovey (1997) Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth.
Armed Forces all across the world have been tackling difficulties implicit to their job by emotional self-awareness, stress management, impulse control, empathy, interpersonal skills and motivation. These are the very foundations that form the Emotional Intelligence models whether ability (Mayor and Sloveys) based or mixed emotional intelligence (Bar-On’s) based.
Within a military context, strong leadership is essential from the top levels of the hierarchy down through to lower level personnel. Effective leadership, in particular transformational and charismatic leadership, is inherently an emotional process. Leadership behaviors are sources of affective events for followers; leaders can cause hassles, negative incidents, or uplifts, positive incidents for followers. The effectiveness of these leadership styles stems from the ability of the leader to use his or her emotional intelligence skills to manage the emotions of his or her followers. By managing follower emotions, leaders are able to arouse positive or negative emotions in followers, and they can also arouse a sense of calm where required. This ability to manage follower emotions can thus mean the difference between success and failure or between life and death.
Emotional competence differentiates successful leaders. Legendary Field Marshal of Indian Armed Forces K.M.Cariappa said that, “An officer is nothing without the soldiers” It was the trait of interpersonal EI which made him recognize the relevance of followers.
And success of his approach can be gauged from the fact that following legendary credo coined by him is still part of the ethos of Indian Armed Forces: -
“The safety, honor and welfare of the country comes first, always and every time.
The honor and welfare of men you command, comes next.
Your own comfort and ease comes last, always and every time".
Expecting this from a corporate executive will be unjustified but it can be modified for benefits of a corporate. If this thought of prioritizing Organizational goals, subordinate requirements and personal ambitions can be ingrained in the mind of incumbent leader. Expecting such thing from an emotionally intelligent person is not a far cry. That’s because on a personal level, EI involves motivation and being able to focus on a goal rather than demanding instant gratification (Daniel Golman).
EI is ingrained in working of Armed Forces even today. Although, its application has become more systematic as compared to old times. Then it was subjected to person’s individual ability but now an emotionally intelligent person is supposed to become part of Forces. His/her credentials as being Emotionally Intelligent are tested right from the onset of selection process and ultimately it becomes part of the working environment. Even the Recruitment process differs a lot from the routine recruitment processes that we observe at corporate. Sgt. Maj. Alford L. McMichael, of US Marine corps says that, “Like all employers, we tell potential recruits that if you come to work for us we will give you this and that, but before we ‘hire’ them; we challenge them to earn the title, earn the job.”
In case of Indian Armed Forces, Services Selection Board Interview forms the basis of choosing the best fits. The quality of the defense system depends primarily on the competence of the men in charge of the diverse responsibilities in the armed forces. In order to ensure the best human resources are available to the system, an effective mechanism for the selection of officers with appropriate qualities has been evolved. This is known as the Services Selection Interview (SSB), which is not just an interview in the usual parlance. The Services Selection Board effectively makes a comprehensive assessment of the personal attributes, usually referred to as `officer-like qualities.' The exercise is elaborate. It is spread over five to Six days.
The Armed Forces strive to find and apply strategies and tactics it can repeat to improve its processes. Businesses can benefit from practices such as the following: -
• Corporate needs to overhaul its recruitment and selection procedure. Emotional Intelligence does have its own relevance. Procedures should be developed on lines of SSB interview. This will help to reduce attrition rate and over all environment of the organization will be healthier and composed of people who can work in synergy. Based upon these criteria, the selection of an emotionally intelligent person will affect all those people who come in contact with him/her.
• In this ever so competitive corporate, leaders should be made to empathize. They should be able to observe and remain cognizant about stress levels that their subordinates are feeling.
• Interpersonal abilities of Emotional Intelligence will play considerable part in coming times. An employee with a positive outset can act as an ideal to his/her compatriot and followers.
• The feeling of aligning with organizational goal will always be an asset for organization as well as for employee. The goals will coincide if the right kind of employee is selected.
• Familial ties are at the brink now days due to work related stress. The sort of programs that Armed Forces are pursuing can be imitated in civilian domain. Moreover, only monetary benefits will not suffice the familial needs of employees. Corporate will have to be more supportive. And, an emotionally intelligent leader can always make the working for an employee more affable.
• Moreover, the sort of association that employees have with their organizations is very superficial. Organizations can develop themselves as brands that do care, who provide a work environment (howsoever demanding it may be) that respects you and recognizes your contributions. Armed Forces have been quite successful in this context. This can be adjudged from the fact that in spite of all the pictures of gore shown from Iraq. United States Marine Core has been able to attract recruits with increasing numbers.
The military and the civilian business world will never be mirror images. The military is by its nature more hierarchical and demands tighter discipline. And the private sector focuses on profits. But both share a need to manage people carefully to produce the best outcomes and Business should pay close attention to what it can learn from the armed forces.
by Davinder Singh Jass, MBA IIITA.