Posted: September 2nd, 2015

Level of emotional intelligence

Topic 3 Workshop Activities
The purpose of this workshop is to investigate how your level of emotional intelligence, your learning style and your attitude towards working in a group influence your work preferences and performance. These activities will also explore the concept of ethics further.
Caveat: the self-evaluation tools provided are intended as a guide only and as a catalyst for personal reflection, they are not intended to give an accurate assessment of your preferences or who you are.
1. What is my Emotional Intelligence score?
Indicate your level of agreement with these ten statements using the following scale:
1 = Strongly disagree; 2 = Disagree; 3 = Neither agree or disagree; 4 = Agree; 5 = Strongly agree
Statement Score (1-5)
1 I am usually aware—from moment to moment—of my feelings as they change
2 I act before I think
3 When I want something, I want it NOW!
4 I bounce back quickly from life’s setbacks
5 I can pick up subtle social cues that indicate others’ needs or wants
6 I’m very good at handling myself in social situations
7 I’m persistent in going after the things I want
8 When people share their problems with me, I’m good at putting myself in their shoes
9 When I’m in a bad mood, I make a strong effort to get out of it
10 I can find common ground and build rapport with people from all walks of life
Source: Based on Goleman (1995).
Scoring Instructions
To calculate your EI score, add up your responses to the ten items; however, reverse your scores for items 2 and 3.
For example, if you scored item 2 a 5, use the value 1, 4=2, 3=3, 2=4, and 1=5. Remember, only do this reverse scoring for items 2 & 3.
Emotional intelligence (EI) is an assortment of skills and competencies that have shown to influence a person’s ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures. People with high EI have the ability to accurately perceive, evaluate, express, and regulate emotions and feelings.
This questionnaire taps the five basic dimensions in EI: self-awareness (items 1 and 9), self-management (2, 4), self-motivation (3,7), empathy (5,8), and social skills (6,10).
Your score will fall between 10 and 50. While no definite cutoff scores are available, scores of 40 or higher indicate a high EI. Scores of 20 or less suggest a relatively low EI.
EI may be most predictive of performance in jobs such as sales or management where success is as dependent on interpersonal skills as technical ability.
2. What is my attitude towards working in groups?
Using the scale below, indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with each of the following statements about your feelings toward working in groups or teams.
1 = strongly disagree
2 = disagree
3 = neutral
4 = agree
5 = strongly agree
1. It is important to me to attend all group meetings or team practices.
2. I enjoy being part of a group.
3. I support my teammates or fellow group members.
4. I feel I must respect the decisions made by my group.
5. I am not good at working with a group.
6. I prefer to do everything alone.
7. I work best when I am alone.
8. I keep to myself.
9. I don’t think it’s important to socialize with others.
Source: Goldberg, L.R., et al, 2006
Scoring Instructions
To calculate your result, first reverse the value you recorded for questions 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 so that if you scored 1, the value should be 5 for that question, if you scored it a 2 the value should be 4, 3=3, 4=2, and 5=1. Then, compute the sum of the 9 items. Scores will range from 9 to 45.
One thing is certain about organizations these days, more and more work is being performed by groups and teams. In fact, over 80% of Fortune 500 companies use teams in some way to accomplish work. So, it’s quite likely that you’ll be part of a team at some point if you have not already.
This measure assesses your attitudes toward working in groups. Scores at or above 36 indicate that you enjoy working in groups and that you are a “team player.” Scores at or below 18 indicate the opposite – that you prefer to work alone and do not enjoy being part of a team. Scores between 18 and 36 indicate no particular strong feelings either way.
Teams comprised of members who enjoy being part of a group can be quite effective. However, research has indicated that as little as one person with a negative attitude toward working in groups can hurt team performance. In other words, “one bad apple can spoil the barrel.” Why? Team members with negative attitudes can increase interpersonal conflict among group members, harming cohesiveness specifically and team processes more generally. Team morale and satisfaction is lowered, and performance ultimately declines.
If you scored low on this measure and find yourself on a group or team at some point, try to see the benefits of teamwork. Not only is work shared among individuals, but teams also can facilitate feelings of inclusion and camaraderie among team members. Remember to be patient, however, although teams often outperform individuals working by themselves (especially on complex tasks that require multiple skills and experience), they tend to take longer to reach decisions.
3. What is my preferred learning style?
Complete the Learning Style Inventory below. This survey is designed to help you describe how you learn—the way you find out about and deal with ideas and situations in your life. Different people learn best in different ways. The different ways of learning described in the survey are equally good. The aim is to describe how you learn, not to evaluate your learning ability. You might find it hard to choose the descriptions that best characterise your learning style. Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers—all the choices are equally acceptable.
There are nine sets or lines of four descriptions listed in this inventory. Mark the words in each set that are most like you, second most like you, third most like you and least like you. In each line of four words put a ‘4’ next to the description that is most like you, a ‘3’ next to the description that is second most like you, a ‘2’ next to the description that is third most like you, and a ‘1’ next to the description that is least like you (4 = most like you; 1 = least like you). Be sure to assign a different number to each of the four words in each line; do not use the same number twice in any line.
Example
Eg happy 4 fast 3 angry 1 careful 2
Some people find it easiest to decide first which word best describes them (4 happy) and then to decide the words that is least like them (1 angry). Then you can give a 3 to that word in the remaining pair that is most like you (3 fast) and a 2 to the word that is left over (2 careful).
A) discriminating tentative involved practical
B) receptive relevant analytical impartial
C) feeling watching thinking doing
D) accepting risk taking evaluative aware
E) intuitive productive logical questioning
F) abstract observing concrete active
G) present-oriented reflective future-oriented pragmatic
H) open to experience observative conceptual experimental
I) intense reserved rational responsible

CE RO AC AE
Adapted from Osland, Kolb & Rubin (2001, p. 41)
Scoring Instructions
Total the numbers in each column and write the total in the separate boxes at the bottom of each column (labelled CE, RO, AC, and AE). The four columns correspond to the four learning style scales: concrete experience (CE), reflective observation (RO), abstract conceptualisation (AC), and active experimentation (AE).
Plot your individual scores for each of the four axes on the chart below, and join the points on each of the four axes with straight lines – the resulting ‘kite’ plot will illustrate which is your preferred quadrant and also show which other styles you use more, or less, of.
Your dominant learning style, how you resolve the tensions between conceptualizations and experience, and between action and reflection, is determined either by the single point plot, or by identifying the quadrant with the largest enclosed space in the ‘kite’ plot. On the next page there is an interpretation guide to help you understand the characteristics of each learning style.

Interpretation:
Your individual scores provide you with a measure of the relative emphasis you give to each of the four different learning modes. Kolb (1984) defines each mode as follows:
Concrete Experience (CE) — A CE orientation focuses on being involved in experiences and dealing with immediate human situations in a personal way. It emphasizes feeling more than thinking; a concern with the uniqueness and complexity of present reality over theories and generalizations; and intuitive, “artistic” approach over a systematic, scientific approach to problems.
Reflective Observation (RO) — An RO orientation focuses on understanding the meaning of ideas and situations by carefully observing and describing them. It emphasizes reflection and understanding over action and practical application; a concern with what is true or how things happen over what will work.
Abstract Conceptualization (AC) — An AC orientation focuses on using logic, ideas, and concepts. It emphasizes thinking rather than feeling; a concern with building general theories rather than intuitively understanding unique, specific areas; a scientific more than an artistic approach to problems.
Active Experimentation (AE) — An AE orientation focuses on actively influencing people and changing situations. It emphasizes practical applications as distinct from reflective understanding; a pragmatic concern with what works rather than with what is absolute truth; an emphasis on doing, more than observing.
Kolb (1984) describes the characteristics of each style as follows:
Converger — The convergent learning style relies primarily on the dominant learning abilities of abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. The greatest strength of this approach lies in problem solving, decision-making, and the practical application of ideas. The style works best in situations where there is a single correct answer or solution to a question or problem. The style suggests a preference for task accomplishment or productivity rather than for more socio-emotional experiences.
Diverger — The divergent learning style has the opposite learning strengths from the convergent. It emphasizes concrete experience and reflective observation. Its greatest strength lies in imaginative ability and awareness of meaning and values. The primary adaptive ability of divergence is to view concrete situations from many perspectives and to organize many relationships into a meaningful “gestalt.” The emphasis in this orientation is on adaptation by observation rather than action. It is called divergent because it works best in situations that call for generation of alternative ideas and implications, such as a “brainstorming” idea session. The style suggests a preference for socio-emotional experiences over task accomplishment.
Assimilating — In assimilation, the dominant learning abilities are abstract conceptualization and reflective observation. The greatest strength of this orientation lies in inductive reasoning and the ability to create theoretical models, in assimilating disparate observations into an integrated explanation. As in convergence, this orientation is focused less on socio-emotional interactions and more on ideas and abstract concepts. Ideas are valued more for being logically sound and precise than for their practical values. It is more important that the theory be logically sound and precise.
Accommodating — The accommodative learning style has the opposite strengths from assimilation, emphasizing concrete experience and active experimentation. The greatest strength of this orientation lies in doing things, in carrying out plans and tasks and getting involved in new experiences. The adaptive emphasis of this orientation is on opportunity seeking, risk taking and action. This style is called accommodative because it is best suited for those situations where one must adapt oneself to changing immediate circumstances. In situations where the theory or plans do not fit the facts, those with an accommodative style will most likely discard the plan or theory.
Although each of us may have a dominant learning style it is important to remember that a learning style describes how we learn, not how well we learn. No particular style is intrinsically better or worse than another — only different. Understanding the commonalties and differences between your learning style and those you are working with may be useful in communicating more effectively. It can also give you an idea of your strengths and where you can grow.
4. Ranking Jobs on their Emotional Labour
Adapted from Exercise 4.2 in McShane et al (2012, p.125)
Purpose
This exercise is designed to help you understand the jobs in which people tend to experience higher or lower degrees of emotional labour.
Instructions (note there are slight variations for Internal and External Students)
1. Individually rank-order the extent to which the jobs listed below require emotional labour. In other words, assign a ‘1’ to the job that you believe requires the most effort, planning and control to express the emotions desired by the organisation during interpersonal transactions. Assign a ‘10’ to the job that you believe requires the least amount of emotional labour. Write your rankings in column 1.
2. In your workshop group, rank-order the items on the basis of consensus (not simply averaging the individual rankings). Place these results in column 2. NB External Students – you are encouraged to attempt this part of the exercise via the Workshop Activity Forum or the Workshop Activity Chat Room.
3. Internal Students only. The lecturer will provide expert ranking information in class. This information should be written in column 3. Then you can calculate the differences in columns 4 and 5.
4. External Students – the expert rankings can be accessed from the link in the table below; these are for your personal information and it is requested that you only refer to this document once you have completed the individual and team rankings. You are encouraged to discuss with your group members the features of jobs with high emotional labour, and the organisational behaviour implications (job satisfaction, learning and development, etc) of emotional labour.
5. Internal Students only. The class will compare all of the results and discuss the features of jobs with high emotional labour.
Occupational Emotional Labour Scoring Sheet
Occupation 1. Individual ranking 2. Team ranking 3. Expert ranking
4. Absolute difference between 1 and 3 5. Absolute difference between 2 and 3*
Bartender
Cashier
Dental hygienist
Insurance adjuster
Lawyer
Librarian
Postal clerk
Registered nurse
Social worker
Television announcer
TOTAL
Your score Team score
*The lower the score, the better
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