Assessment and Workplace Observation Report Susan Baune University of Phoenix Assessment and Workplace Observation Report Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to recognize one’s own emotions and those of others and to analyze these emotions to guide one’s personal thinking and actions. Previous research indicates that people are more effective at their jobs when they have a good understanding of emotions. EI is divided into five categories; self-awareness, self-management, self-motivation, empathy, and social skills.
Understanding one’s own EI provides insight into one’s management abilities including: leadership, individual performance, group performance, interpersonal/social exchange, managing change, and conducting performance evaluations (“Emotions and emotional intelligence“, 1996). This papers focus is the cumulative analysis of my own EI (also known as social intelligence) and the interactions that may occur in my University of Phoenix team. The first analysis is on self-awareness. This category seeks to understand one’s awareness of what they are feeling.
Self awareness, empathy, and handling relationships well are an essential part of being a successful leader. To evaluate my own EI I took an assessment test on University of Phoenix’s website. On a scale of 10-50 I scored a 41. This score indicates that I am fairly aware of my own feelings and have a good foundation for self-motivation, self-management, empathy, and social skills on which to build my management career on. Controlling my emotions when dealing with others will help me interact better with others.
I am also able to understand others emotions, and by doing so, I interact with others with empathy and in a non-threatening manner bringing harmony to the workplace (“Emotions and emotional intelligence“, 1996). My team’s average score was 40. 7 indicating that we all have a solid foundation of self-awareness. These predictive values will allow each of us to succeed in management and reflects the ability of the team to work well together (Self-Assessment Library, 2007). The next category is managing emotions.
This is the ability to handle one’s feelings and limiting impulsive decisions by realizing what is behind the feeling and handling that feeling appropriately, whether it is fear, anxiety, sadness, or anger (Robbins & Judge, 2007). In the past I have found that this is the toughest challenge to face and have to work on managing my emotions better. Though, I am often open-minded, fair, and value constructive feedback, I also have a tendency to be easily hurt because I take things personally. I am a person who constantly strives to be the best I can be and I am my own worse critic.
My assessment told me that my terminal values are happiness, pride, and knowledge and my instrumental values are intellectual pursuits, open-mindedness, and hard work/achievement. I agree with this assessment because it acknowledges my personal values. I believe in working hard to achieve my personal and career goals. I further believe that success comes to those who are willing to accept the challenge. I also believe that one is responsible for their personal happiness and should be committed to the goals that make them the happiest. I also see myself as an open-minded person and value diversity in others.
Within my team I discovered that we each valued personal happiness but had a wide range of other values. This diversity and common ground will be beneficial in a work setting because the various traits will complement each other. The next category, motivating one’s self, can be defined as the ability to prevail in the face of challenges (Robbins & Judge, 2007). This means being able to channel emotions, maintain self control, delay gratification, and to quell impulses for the greater purpose (“Emotions and emotional intelligence“, 1996).
This personal trait is essential in the workplace in order to achieve success and reach the company’s goals. In the individual AI assessment on a scale of 10-60 I scored a 40. The team average was 30 (Self-Assessment Library, 2007). I do believe the difference in the scores is reflective of how much one is happy in their current job. A direct correlation exists between employee satisfaction and employee involvement. Currently I hold a job that I love. I enjoy going to work and have been actively involved in activities that directly or indirectly impact my job.
Though I actively involve myself in the workplace, my personal life is a priority. The next category is empathy. Empathy is being considerate of others feelings, concerns, and understanding the perspective of others (Robbins & Judge, 2007). A manager is often more successful at receiving support from the staff if he or she considers the viewpoints of others when making decisions that impact many (“Emotions and emotional intelligence“, 1996). The final category is social skills or handling relationships. This means possessing the ability to successfully handle the emotions of others (Robbins & Judge, 2007).
Individual emotions can affect the work environment and the attitudes of the employees, being able to deal with an emotional situation in a calm effective manner are an essential part of management. In the learning team, individual assessments were discussed on our attitudes toward workplace diversity. Scores of -35 to -11 were representative of a diversity pessimist. While scores of -10 to 10 are realists, and scores of 11 to 35 demonstrate workplace optimists. My individual assessment score was 22, which means I am an diversity optimist.
There were a wide range of scores within my learning team with an average of 11. 3. In our discussion it was determined that the different scores were related too each of our individual work experiences (Self-Assessment Library, 2007). I have discovered that I personally thrive in a diverse environment. In summary the individual and team assessments gave me a better understanding of the type of leader I am. This leader thrives in diverse, challenging environments and is a team player. Other valuable traits I possess are empathy and open-mindedness allowing me to empower the people I work with.
Personally, I see my future in leadership roles being enhanced by my values and after gaining further insight into my AI I will be able to more aware of my interactions with others. Successful management styles of the future will implement more team structured activities as more employees become active in the workplace. For this reason a solid understanding of one’s own EI can provide valuable insight into one’s management abilities including: leadership, individual performance, group performance, interpersonal/social exchange, managing change, and conducting performance evaluations (“Emotions and emotional intelligence“, 1996).
References Emotions and emotional intelligence. (1996). Retrieved June 28, 2010, from http://www. socialresearchmethods. net Robbins, S. P. , & Judge, T. A. (2007). Emotions and moods. In Organizational Behavior (pp. -). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Prentice-Hall. Self-Assessment Library (2007). What about me. Retrieved June 28, 2010, from University of Phoenix rEsource. LDR531-Organizational Leadership web site.
