Man is a multi-façade being. He is endowed with different aspects of personality, of which he is expected to develop holistically. Different breakthroughs in psychology and education have come up with various explanations that man is not just a cognitive life form. Goleman (1995) once asked, “What factors are at play when people of high IQ flounder and those of modest IQ do surprisingly well? The difference quite often lies in the ability called emotional intelligence.”
Emotional Intelligence is the capacity for recognizing one’s own feelings and those of others, for motivating one’s self and for managing emotions effectively in one’s self and others. It influences potential for learning the practical emotional competencies, and developing the emotional literacy necessary for quality of life, life satisfaction, and overall happiness. (Ziv, 2009)
According to Daniel Goleman, Emotional Competence is a learned ability grounded in Emotional Intelligence. Emotional competence is what results and enhances one’s personal, relational and professional performance. Such skills include the development of the following: Self/Social/Relational Awareness and Competence, and Self/Social/Management and Competence.
Wolff (2005) developed 18 emotional competencies organized in four clusters: Self Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, and Relationship Management.
Self-Awareness concerns knowing one’s internal states, preferences, resources, ad intuitions. It contains three competencies: Emotional Awareness, Accurate Self-Assessment and Self-Confidence.
Self-Management refers to managing one’s internal states, preferences, impulses and resources. It encloses six competencies: Emotional Self-Control, Transparency, Adaptability, Achievement, Initiative and Optimism.
Social Awareness refers to how people handle relationships and awareness of others’ feelings, needs, and concerns. It includes three competencies: Empathy, Organizational Awareness and Service Orientation.
Relationship Management concerns the skills or adeptness at including desirable responses in others. It comprises of six competencies: Developing Others, Inspirational Leadership, Change Catalyst, Influence, Conflict Management and Teamwork & Collaboration.
Since emotional competence is an essential social skill, it involves a variety of people in an organization. These people differ in viewpoint, temperament, feelings and emotions towards working in the organization. According to Hay/Mcber (1995), Organizational Climate is the perception of how it feels to work in a particular environment. It encompasses the norms, values, expectations, policies, and procedures of a work environment. It describes six climate conditions namely: Flexibility, Responsibility, Standards, Rewards, Clarity and Team Commitment.
Flexibility refers to the feeling employees have about constraints in their workplace- the degree to which they feel there are no unnecessary rules, procedures, policies and practices that interfere with task accomplishment, and that new are easy to get accepted.
Responsibility is the feeling that employees have authority- the degree to which they can do their jobs autonomously and are accountable for the outcome.
Standards refers to the emphasis that management puts on improving performance and doing one’s best- including the degree to which people feel challenging and attainable goals are set for the organization and its employees.
Rewards concern the degree to which employees feel that they are being recognized and rewarded for good work, and that such recognition is directly and differentially related to levels of performance.
Clarity concerns the feeling that everyone knows what is expected of them and that they understand how those expectations relate to the larger goals and objectives of the organization.
Team Commitment refers to the feeling that people are proud to belong to the organization, which they will provide extra effort when needed and will trust that everyone is working toward a common objective.
People are expected to work harmoniously in any organization, but there are circumstances that are beyond control wherein people act and react in different modes. In a school setting, the role of a school manager is indispensable. He is the mediator and arbiter of what will arise. Aside from being cognitively capable, he should be emotionally competent and must be fully aware of how his flock perceives and feels about their organization.
By: Ms. Danah Mae L. De Belen | Teacher III | San Pablo Elementary School | Dinalupihan, Bataan
