Emotional Intelligence

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND HOW ITS RELATIONSHIP TO MCGREGOR’S

THEORY X AND THEORY Y

Inttroducttiion

“When dealliing wiitth peoplle,, remember you are nott dealliing wiitth creattures of llogiic,,

butt creattures of emottiion” (qttd.. iin braiinyquotte).. Thiis quotte from Dalle Carnegiie presentts

a conceptt tthatt iis very iimporttantt tto tthe worlld of busiiness managementt:: our emottiions..

Riichard S Lazarus,, an expertt on emottiions,, defiines emottiions as “compllex human

reacttiions tto personall achiievementts and settbacks tthatt may be felltt and diispllayed” (Kreiittner

and Kiiniickii 172).. Emottiions can be very powerfull and can serve us wellll,, butt tthey can

allso holld us back from whatt we iinttend tto do.. Therefore,, a manager who has sttrong

conttroll over hiis or her emottiions wiillll be more lliikelly tto succeed iin tthe busiiness worlld tthan

one who iis nott.. Butt how exacttlly can one measure conttroll over ttheiir emottiions? The

answer tto tthiis questtiion may be expllaiined by “emottiionall iinttelllliigence..” Emottiionall

iinttelllliigence,, or EQ,, based on tthe wriittiings of P.. Sallovey and J..D.. Mayer,, iis defiined as

“…tthe abiilliitty tto manage ones own emottiions and tthe emottiions of otthers tto promotte

growtth,, wellll-beiing,, and functtiionall sociiall rellattiions” (Barretttt and Sallovey 1)..

Haviing sttrong emottiionall iinttelllliigence can mean tthe diifference bettween sttattiing

your case callmlly iin an argumentt and sttattiing your case iin an argumentt by yelllliing and

iintterrupttiing tthe otther partty.. Haviing tthiis skiillll can even mean tthe diifference bettween

keepiing your jjob and llosiing your jjob,, due tto tthe factt tthatt jjustt one negattiive emottiionall

outtburstt can cause your superviisors tto frown upon you and questtiion your emplloymentt..

Siince keepiing your emottiions under conttroll and usiing tthem effecttiivelly iis so iincrediiblly

iimporttantt,, iitt iis beiing argued tthatt emottiionall iinttelllliigence may be more iimporttantt tthan

formall iinttelllliigence,, or IQ,, iin dettermiiniing your success (Tubbs 168).. Despiitte iitts

iimporttance,, EQ can be a hard subjjectt tto grasp,, as iitt iis consiidered tthe mostt prottean of allll

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known psychollogiicall consttructts (Matttthews,, Zeiidner,, and Robertts 9).. Therefore,, tto gett a

betttter grasp on tthe conceptt of emottiionall iinttelllliigence,, iitt has been diiviided iintto fiive diisttiinctt

areas:: sellf-awareness,, managiing emottiions,, mottiivattiing onesellf,, empatthy,, and sociiall skiilllls

(Hunsaker 28).. To be ttrully iin ttouch wiitth your emottiions and tto be consiidered tto have

hiigh emottiionall iinttelllliigence,, one mustt be profiiciientt iin each of tthese areas..

The mere menttiion of tthe ttopiic of emottiionall iinttelllliigence calllls tto lliightt a paiir of

conceptts tthatt can allso affectt how we deall wiitth otthers iin tthe workpllace,, McGregor’s

Theory X and Theory Y.. Thiis sett of ttheoriies presentts tthe iidea tthatt a manager’s viiew of

human natture falllls iintto one of ttwo cattegoriies (Hunsaker 40).. The fiirstt iis Theory X,,

whiich iis tthe belliief tthatt humans do nott lliike work,, llack responsiibiilliitty,, and need tto be

wattched every miinutte iin order tto make sure tthatt tthey work.. Theory Y,, on tthe otther hand,,

sttattes tthatt humans lliike work iif tthey are commiitttted tto iitt,, seek outt responsiibiilliitty,, and are

creattiive.. The more negattiive viiew of human beiings expressed by Theory X iis consiidered

tto be tthe more ttradiittiionall viiew of how managers viiew ttheiir emplloyees (Kreiittner and

Kiiniickii 14).. If a manager wiishes tto become betttter att whatt he or she does,, iitt woulld be iin

ttheiir bestt iintterestt tto rellease any Theory X viiews tthatt tthey have aboutt ttheiir emplloyees and

adoptt a more posiittiive,, Theory Y-oriientted viiew.. By doiing so,, managers wiillll be ablle tto

creatte more posiittiive workiing enviironmentts tthatt iinspiire commiittmentt and creattiiviitty

among ttheiir workers..

The iidea of iimproviing emottiionall iinttelllliigence and swiittchiing from a Theory X tto a

Theory Y viiew of human natture may be siimiillar iin ttheiir purpose tto creatte a betttter

workiing enviironmentt for yoursellf and tthose around you,, butt are tthese ttopiics diirecttlly

rellatted? Thiis research paper wiillll attttemptt tto answer tthiis questtiion usiing tthe sciienttiifiic

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metthod.. Itt iis iimporttantt tto examiine tthiis iidea aboutt tthe rellattiionshiip bettween emottiionall

iinttelllliigence and McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y because,, whiille botth of tthese ttopiics

have been sttudiied iimmenselly,, tthey have rarelly been sttudiied ttogetther.. By combiiniing

tthese conceptts,, many

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