The expression ‘emotional intelligence’ may itself seem to be a contradiction. In the history of philosophy, the terms ‘appetites’, ‘passions’ and ‘emotions’ are used as opposites of ‘reason’, ‘intellect’ and ‘understanding’. Philosophers saw a sharp dichotomy between the two sides – emotional and intellectual – of human mental life. They felt that emotions cloud human understanding and lead men astray. For them, as for saints, moral endeavour was a never-ending effort to bring momentary emotions and passions, often selfish, under the control of reason. This strain of thought continues to be a perennial theme in practical ethics.
However, philosophers have also recognised that a strong character grounded in sound ethics is necessaryforpursuit of good.Otherwise,goodpeoplewithweakmindsand convictionswillsuccumb to the forces of evil. Modern thinkers proceeded further and recognised many emotions as good per se. Thus, a mother’s love for her children, a soldier’s heroism, and a scholar’s commitment to his vocation – all these are intrinsically good emotions. These emotions are spontaneous and have no other motives underlying them.
Even other emotions, though not as noble as the previously mentioned ones, can prove effective in daily personal life, social relations, and business management and in public administration. For
these functional purposes, we have to change our normal emotional responses and mind-set or mental makeup.
Before beginning our discussion on emotional intelligence, we may note that the skill sets which public servants require fall into three distinct, though not watertight, categories. The first set consists of intellectual abilities. These are subdivided into mathematical, logical, and verbal skills. Mathematical and logical strandsare moreor lessidentical.They areessentialfor analyzingproblems,understanding their quantitative dimensions and for structured thinking. These are the intellectual qualities which computer programmers, mathematicians and statisticians are likely to possess.
Verbal skills denote the ability to speak and write clearly and lucidly. They are the skills of oral and written communication. Literary writers and critics – such as Tolstoy, Thomas Hardy, TS Eliot and Samuel Johnson – possess them in abundant measure. But hardly anyone can match the standards of these writers. However, we can try to express our thoughts simply, directly and clearly without pretentiousness and artificial props. These skills are extremely important for civil servants since government business is transacted on files in the form of letters and notes. Furthermore, civil servants nowadays have to make computer-aided oral ‘presentations’ on various subjects.
The second type of skills consists of moral qualities suited for government servants. These are the core virtues which should form part of the moral outlook of an ideal civil servant. Codes of ethics and codes of conduct embody such desired moral behaviour. Of course, it will be more appropriate to describethese as moralsthanskills.
The third skill set in the repertoire of civil servants can be called ‘emotional intelligence’. This is a term coined by American scholars. These are the qualities which influence an officer’s personal behaviour and his interactions in the course of his official work with people, both within and outside his organization. Many management theorists emphasise that these personal and social skills of officers contribute to increased organizational effectiveness. Empirical research studies have shown that emotional intelligence contributes far more than academic intelligence to an individual’s success in management, profession and administration.