Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance

General studies part IV - Ethics Integrity and Aptitude 

Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance Part 2

Another case of relation between EQ and good administration/ governance

Let’s say that a major natural disaster occurred. The relief and rebuilding of the place needs good coordination between state and centre, officials of different departments. In short the decision has to be made by a group of people. Imagine that all these officials are holding a meeting to discuss future strategy. The IQ of all the people would combine in such a situation (Group IQ). A heated debate or a angry emotional outburst by a department head (person with low EQ) can spoil the whole discussion. This is something that occurs so commonly in the meetings. Here the low EQ of a person can change the whole direction of talks.

<<  Angry comment during a important meeting--> a lot of hue and cry over this silly occurrence -->discussion is lost  >>

A real life case scenario:Role of EQ in profession

The importance of EQ is high is certain professions. Eg: health care,social justice,ngo’s, rehabilitation etc. The doctor has to be a good listener and good communicator who understand the emotions of the patient while taking decision.

 Eg : A doctor working in government hospital comes across a patient who is poor. He has two choices.

Option A: Prescribe a drug available in his government hospital which is free but has higher side effects and low cure rate.

Option B: Write for a better drug which is not available in government supply but available in medical shops for a price.

If the question asked is “Which is the best treatment for the disease?” then answer would be Option B.

But when the patient is poor and doctor knows that the person won’t buy the better drug from outside, shouldn’t he go for Option A. In that way, at least he will get treatment, even though the treatment is not the best. The above said problem is one which commonly comes in real life scenarios for doctors working in government setups. How should he act? In case some side effect comes up after he prescribed drug thinking about the wellness of patient, can doctor be blamed? Here the judgement of “right” and “wrong” are based on the situation. Not on the research as to “which drug is the best for that particular disease”.

The persons working in social welfare departments continuously come upon such situations.

Measuring Emotional Intelligence

The Baron EQ-I and Goleman’s ECI are the two most widely
used tests for measuring EQ

This earlier part of this article can be read here (Part 1 - Click here)