Emotional Intelligence Essay Example for Free

Emotional Intelligence Essay Emotional Intelligence is a very powerful tool. Emotions can enhance your thoughts, transform relationships and behavior. I realize now that I by using this tool it will allow me to understand myself better. Overcome my work-related challenges, and build healthy relationships. In the context of the role that I play in the financial organization which I work for. The settings are always very professional due to the necessity of rapid change. There is a constant need to find ways of becoming self-motivating. In discovering these tools of awareness I was able to explain to my colleagues to embrace this innovation, they can capitalize upon their special talents and skills. I work in a diverse workforce so I can understand how their emotions will change. At first I could see that the Skills assessment that I handed out to them, made them feel uneasy and a bit afraid. However, I discussed my personal score and in a way they felt more at ease. By the end of the week, all of them had handed them in. We had a question and answer session to discuss our findings. We recognized that this exercise is extremely useful in reducing the interpersonal conflicts, tensions, and even crises that are internal to all human organizations and groups. We realized that we were all capable of applying these tools to improve our everyday lives. I know that we will constantly improve profitability, productivity in the workplace. A Colleague Mike has been a good colleague of mine for about a year now. He was hired as a Private Wealth Investor catering to upscale clients interested in investing there enormous amounts of wealth within our bank. This is a highly competitive business in which a relatively small number of financial institutions compete for what can best be characterized as a niche  market of affluent clients that require excellence in terms of both product and service. Consequently these few financial institutions create a valuable competition to obtain the services of the right kind of educated, skilled, and professional Banker. These salespeople enjoy a great deal of autonomy, often bring their own customer base with them to a store or gallery, and are highly regarded via a commission scale for their efforts. Consequently, a person responsible for managing a sales force consisting of this type of professional must do a good amount of mentoring, nurturing, supporting, rewarding, and otherwise r esponding to the sales force. Members of such a sales force are themselves competitive with one another and this can and does lead to frequent conflict. In my situation, two very valued and successful sales agents working for the company were actively engaged in trying to convince one of their own customers to purchase a particularly valuable and rare painting that the owner of the business had taken in on consignment. Both of the salespeople felt that they were entitled to make the deal. My job was first, to ensure that this valuable painting was sold for the best possible price. My second task was to prevent any conflict from erupting between the two salespeople. Unfortunately, at the time, I was somewhat politically unaware of their longstanding competition at this and other companies. Marilyn Gowing (89) notes that one element of emotional competence and EI is political awareness or the ability to read a groups emotional currents and power relationships. Similarly, among the social skills needed to exercise EI effectively are conflict management, leadership, the ability to build bonds, and the ability to create group synergy in p ursuing collective goals. My own abilities in these areas were somewhat limited. I was unaware of the fact that each of the two salespeople considered me to be playing favorites, or assisting one in closing a deal to the detriment of the other. As it turned out, one sales agent brought a final and quite acceptable offer to me on behalf of his customer before the second salesperson was able to obtain agreement from his customer with respect to purchasing the artwork. My immediate response was one of great pleasure: the company had successfully sold a major work of art for an excellent profit, satisfying my employers needs and the needs of our firms original client who placed the work for sale with the expectation that the work would succeed. My subordinate sales agent was equally pleased because  he would acquire a substantial commission. Finally, I too was pleased because I would receive a commission as well. What I did not take into consideration was the anger and frustration felt by the rival salesperson. After the work of art had been sold and delivered, I h eld a small impromptu social gathering for my staff. During this gathering, I was extremely complimentary about the successful salespersons bargaining skills and salesmanship. I was completely unaware that the rival sales agent was becoming more and hostile hostile to the point where he stormed out of the gathering and resigned from the company on the very next day, citing my poor responsiveness to him as a primary reason for quitting. Analysis of the Situation Looking back on this situation, I realize that my most significant failure in terms of EI was a failure in what Goleman (40) called e-leadership. Goleman (40) said that emotionally intelligent leadership is key to creating a working climate that nurtures employees and encourages them to give their best. It is the climate created by the leader that motivates employees to success and helps employees recognize that they are valued within the organization. What I failed to recognize in managing this situation was that I had two deeply committed, talented, and valued sales agents who looked to me for support as they went about attempting to sell products. Each had a right to expect that I would provide this kind of support and certainly, both had a right to expect that I would reward them and respect their feelings. In the case of the successful seller, I more than lived up to these obligations. In the case of the frustrated sales agent who did not close the deal, I became the immediate target of his frustration over a lost sale. Looking back, I realized that I did not in any way offer this employee my sympathies for a lost sale or indicate that I understood his frustration over the lost sale. Instead, I focused all of my energy on congratulating the victor in this rivalry and I ignored the needs of an equally valuable employee. I lacked the EI to recognize that the unsuccessful salesperson felt that the small social event held immediately after the sale was closed was a further slap in the face. I also lacked an understanding of what I should have done after the situation occurred. I did not attempt, when this salesperson rather dramatically left the social gathering, to find out what was wrong and why he was angry. I assumed that my primary responsibility was to continue hosting the party and to make my  successful sales agent aware of how pleased the company was with his success. I did not, as Cherniss (19) commented, exhibit much in the way of emotional intelligence because I was completely insensitive to the very real and powerful feelings of a staff member. Even when the disgruntled sales agent returned the following day to hand in his resignation, I did not respond appropriately. I failed to recognize the very real anger that this individual felt or that much of this anger was now directed at me. I assumed that this individual   who I knew to be extremely competitive and occasionally somewhat overly dramatic   was not truly serious about leaving what had, after all, been a very profitable relationship with the company. I am afraid that I was somewhat cavalier in my response, simply suggesting that he might want to think it over before making a final decision and rather dismissively stating something to the effect there will be other sales just as good. On my behalf, I think it is important to point out that I was relatively new in a managerial position and had never received any formal training in either EI or human relations management. As Kram and Cherniss (255257) have so significantly noted, EI is something that may be inherent in most people, but it can also be expanded by means of appropriate education, development and training programs. The successful leader who uses EI effectively is not necessarily born; he is she is far more likely to be made via training and the opportunity to out new concepts and skills into practice. In my own mismanagement of the disgruntled employee, I failed to recognize that my job was to use sufficient EI to convey my own empathy for the sales agents loss and frustration, my belief in his competency to make equally important sales in the future, and my own acceptance of his sense of injured pride an achievement. I did not seek to discover what was really frustrating this individual or to learn from him what I could, as a manager, have done differently to provide him with the support and assistance he felt he lacked. While it is possible that there was nothing I could have done to change the outcome of this competition   and no evidence that had it gone differently, I would not have had an equally frustrated person to deal with   the fact of the matter is that in my enthusiasm for one staff members victory, I failed to appreciate that another staff member felt defeated. Knowing more about EI would have led me, for example, to recognize before the event occurred that a potentially dangerous rivalry had been created or  allowed to emerge within my staff that did not bode well for the company or for these individuals. Kram and Cherniss (258-259) noted that ensuring that work groups exist in relative harmony is one of the key responsibilities of the emotionally intelligent manager   somet hing that my management or mismanagement of this situation suggests I was not at the time. EI competencies are therefore important attributes of the individual who must lead a group or manage the activities of individuals who may perceive themselves to be in some type of competition with one another. In a sales organization such as that I have briefly described herein, a few very aggressive individuals may see themselves as competing for customers and commissions; they often enjoy a friendly rivalry, but in this instance my lack of EI made it impossible for me to recognize that the rivalry between the two salespeople had been building for some time to a climax. My apparent preference for one over the other was the final Straw that led the one to quit   and my inability to properly respond to that decision was further proof that I lacked EI. Had the situation taken place more recently as I was participating n this course, I would have recognized the tensions that were emerging as the two salespeople competed to be the one who would fund a buyer for a valuable work of art. I would have worked with them both to make it clear that there would be no winner or loser and I would have not rushed to publicly reward one at what could be interpreted as the expense of the other. I would have exhibited what Goleman (8) calls greater empathy for the frustration of the one and the pride and satisfaction of the other. As significantly, I believe that a manager with greater EI than I clearly possessed would have done more to eliminate the competition that had already   polarized the sales people. While there was little that could be done to change the fact that these workers were paid largely on commission and their ability to sell luxury items at high ticket prices to an admittedly small market segment   I could have created opportunities for developing team synergy that might have diminished these rivalries if not eliminating them entirely. Cherniss (111) does not that many executives and managers who are lacking in EI tend to think mainly in terms of short-term results rather than long-term outcomes and advances. In the situation described above, my focus was not on what my staff needed or their frustrations, but on selling an important item to increase th e profitability of the business. By failing  to understand that one staff member was reaching the boiling point and that I needed to demonstrate my concern an empathy, I lost a valuable employee. Summary and Conclusions This essay has examined the concept of EI and applied elements of the concept to a real-work professional situation n which this writer was an actor. The point of the discussion is to illustrate how ordinary situations in the professional environment can and should be approached with respect to their emotional undertones and content. A leader or a manager with high EI is less likely to allow such conflicts as I have described to escalate to the point of losing a valuable employee. In addition, the leader or manager who is high in EI displays empathy and inculcates in staff members a sense that they are valued for all of their contributions to the organization. Had I been able to reach out to the disgruntled salesperson and make him aware of the fact that this was merely a temporary setback and had I demonstrated successfully that he was valuable to the organization, it is quite likely that the outcome would have been substantially different. While not all conflicts involving employees can be resolved this easily, EI does much to prevent such problems. References Goleman, D. 1995. Emotional intelligence_._ New York: Bantam books. Goleman, D. 1998. Working with emotional intelligence_._ New York: Bantam Books.

Tourism Essay -- essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Currently, ecotourism is rapidly becoming one of the world’s largest industries. According to the World Trade Organization, 600 million people traveled to see â€Å"environmental areas† in 2000, spending more than 500 billion U.S. dollars. This makes ecotourism one of the world’s number one earners, ahead of automotive products, chemicals, petroleum, even food .   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  But, what exactly is ecotourism? Ecotourism happens to be a special branch of tourism. The Conservation International defines it best saying it is â€Å"responsible travel that promotes the conservation of nature and sustains the well being of local people .†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There has been dramatic growth of participation in outdoor recreation and ecotourism activities. The bad impacts of ecotourism have led to high demands and this has attracted tourist developers looking to access the environment, â€Å"answering the tourist’s demands†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Unfortunately, there are very few rules or regulations regarding ecotourism and its development. And because of the lack of rules tourism developers are destroying the environment. This problem can not go unnoticed. We are running out of places to ruin, and we will soon not have any where to call home.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to Erlet Cater and Gwen Lowman,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The much needed rules and regulations must include good and environmentally   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  sensitive, infrastructure-including airports, transport and communications   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  networks, and sanitation and electricity supplies. But above all else,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  sustainable ecotourism requires careful planning †. Without this planning, ecotourism is doing more harm that good.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I will show how these tourist developers are putting huge strains on the environment and how the effects of this behavior will eventually leave the land with the inability to cope with the drastic changes. I believe with carefully planned ecotourism development and rules and regulations, we can make ecotourism and the environment blend simultaneously.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First, the tourist developers are adding increased pressure to the limited natural resources, especially in places... ...ions to stop all this destructive behavior.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Letting this growing problem go unnoticed will lead to the environment’s crumbling. We have no other options when it comes to living on another planet, at least at the moment. We need to establish harsher rules and take better care of where we call home.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In conclusion, now that I have explained what tourist developers are doing wrong and what they are doing to destroy our environment we can see that the effects of their behavior have been devastating. We are running out of places to ruin and resources to use up. Someone must step up and create rules so we can protect our environment instead of destroying the earth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Bibliography Cater, Erlet, and Lowman, Gwen. Ecotourism-a sustainable option?. New York, 1994. Croall, J. (1995) Preserve or Destroy: Tourism and the Environment. London:Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. â€Å"Ecotourism.† Online Posting. 2 February 2002. 27 January 2004. Theobald, William. Global Tourism: the next decade. Oxford, 1994. Worpole, K. (1999) Driving Forces. The Guardian, 8 June.

Old Buildings

Many old buildings are protected by law because they are part of a nation’s history. However, some people think they should be knocked down to make way for new ones because people need houses and offices. How important is it to maintain old buildings? Should history stand in the way of progress? In the contemporary age, the contradiction between preserving history and progress becomes increasingly serious, which has disturbed and alarmed many people. In terms of the old buildings, many people assert that old buildings should be protected while others contend they should be knocked down for constructing the new ones. It is widely acknowledged that old buildings play the crucial role in our society. First of all, old buildings are the indispensable parts of the history, which could reveal the historical mysterious and witness the development of history. Meanwhile, many old buildings are the icons or landmarks of the nation. To illustrate, the Forbidden City symbolizes the Chinese time-honored history and becomes the important tourist spot. The existences of old buildings tend to maintain the distinct features of the cities as well as avoid those cosmopolitan cities are awash by the skyscrapers. More specifically, the old buildings reflect the national unique culture lasting hundred and thousand years. However, due to the widespread of demolishing the old buildings, the extinction of culture identity will ensue. Overall, in nowadays, there is unanimous consensus on maintaining old buildings which is the effective method to preserving history. There is no denying that the history gives us overall experience of the nation’s past. Comparing with history, we could draw a host of lessons, thereby avoiding mistakes for current progress. Nevertheless, people empower to pursue blindly the maximum profit for enhancing the level of our daily lives and progress of human society, from the long-term point of view, sacrificing the history to meet our current need would hinder the development. In my view, there is definite link between preserving history and progress but the fundamental contradiction. History is conductive to our progress and we should take it seriously forever.

Behind The Beautiful Forevers By Katherine Boo - 2015 Words

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo is a documented version of life in a Mumbai slum. The â€Å"story† revolves around the life, death, and hope in the undercity of Annawadi. The book thrusts the reader into the hidden worlds behind the lavish living of the rich and into the lives of people that are impossible to forget. Originally published February 7th, 2012 by Random House in New York, Katherine Boo writes about the apparent economic inequality occurring in the Mumbai undercity. This telling of life in a slum provides a distinct look into the social and economic injustice that determines the way these people live their lives. The book highlights the struggle of those in Annawadi as well as the Indian people as a whole. Terror and the global recession shake the city and the rising tensions over religion, caste, gender, power, and jealousy take a violent turn. Behind the Beautiful Forevers is beautifully written and does a superb job of opening eyes to the brutal and unforgiving world of Annawadi. Pulitzer Prize winner, Katherine Boo emphasizes the economic and social inequality occurring in Annawadi as well as the general mistreatment of humans in the slum. She touches the hearts of the readers with powerfully written narratives of some extraordinary people. For example, Boo writes about Abdul Husain, a young, enterprising Muslim teenage boy who scavenges throughout the city’s trash for anything that could be deemed valuable. There’s Asha, a witty and power hungryShow MoreRelatedBehind The Beautiful Forevers By Katherine Boo Essay1560 Words   |  7 PagesIn the Novel Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, India has entered new age of globalization that is causing growth the Indian people have never experienced before. The booming economy creates immense prosperity for a select group of Indians citizens, but still lacks opportunity for most of the poor population. With this globalization comes change to the community surrounding the people of Annawad i. The upper class citizens of India continue gaining wealth and the poor are trapped rightRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Behind The Beautiful Forevers By Katherine Boo912 Words   |  4 Pages Corruption in Poor Communities The book Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo, addresses the corruption of a slum in India called Annawadi. Annawadi is a small, poor area in the shadows of luxurious hotels and an airport near Mumbai. The poor community struggles to make a living and hold on to a hope of one day reaching success since India is improving economically. As India is improving economically, Annawadi seems to stay the same because of the people who abuse theirRead MoreAnalysis Of Katherine Boo s Behind The Beautiful Forevers2398 Words   |  10 PagesThe money is going directly into the hands of corrupt governments and corporations, who constantly use it improperly. This aspect of money misuse is clearly illustrated in Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Boo focuses the book on the impoverished slum of Annawadi, located in Mumbai, India. Throughout the book, Boo shows examples of how the citizens of Annawadi are stuck in a poverty trap because of the countryâ €™s inconsistent and inefficient systems, leading to the failure of sustainableRead MoreA Cultural Analysis Of Katherine Boo s Behind The Beautiful Forevers1728 Words   |  7 Pages Summer Essay A Cultural Analysis of Katherine Boo’s Behind The Beautiful Forevers INTRODUCTION Culture: â€Å"the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group† (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, definition 5b). In her book Behind The Beautiful Forevers, Katherine Boo examines issues of culture, integrating them into a unique, nonfiction work. Ms. Boo—an award winning journalist—uses her life experiences as well as the cultureRead MoreBehind the Beautiful Forevers Essay1136 Words   |  5 Pagesas seen in Behind the Beautiful Forevers The city of Mumbai has seen much growth in the past years. A string of elegant hotels have been set up for travelers and high-class business men. An ever growing, top of the line airport has been built for those coming in and out of the country. From the outside, Mumbai seems to have taken a liking to being internationally integrated with the rest of world, otherwise known as globalization. This is not the case, however; as seen in Katherine Boo’s novelRead MoreBehind The Beautiful Forevers Essay1576 Words   |  7 PagesKatherine Boo’s implicit purpose for writing Behind the Beautiful Forevers was to give the reader an inside look at a day in the life of an individual living within a slum of Mumbai. The residents of the Mumbai slum, Annawadi, live upon piles of waste where there is minimal opportunity to create a better life for themselves. For example, residents within the slums of Mumbai scavenge through â€Å"mounds of illegally dumped construction rubble† (73) in hopes of making a profit off recyclable materialsRead MoreBehind the Beautiful Forevers Analysis1198 Words   |  5 Pageswritings of the slums that surround the luxury hotels of Mumbai’s airport are very, very real. Katherine Boo’s book â€Å"Behind the Beautiful Forevers – Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity† does not attempt to solve problems or be an expert on social policy; instead, Boo provides the reader with an objective window into the battles between extremities of wealth and poverty. â€Å"Behind the Beautiful Forevers,† then, exposes the paucity and corruption prevalent within India. Boo’s story begins in AnnawadiRead MoreBased on True Events A Glance into the Nonfiction Novel Genre979 Words   |  4 Pagesnovel journey began, beginning with the narrative journalistic qualities of Truman Capote, continuing with the story telling of such authors as Norman Mailer, and then continues to stay constant throughout present day literature with works like Katherine Boo’s display of immersion journalism. Truman Capote is said to have invented this new genre in 1966 with, what some call his finest work, the book In Cold Blood (â€Å"Truman Capote†). In Cold Blood details the 1959 murders of Herbert Clutter, his wifeRead MoreAnalysis Of Behind The Beautiful Forevers 1101 Words   |  5 PagesKatherine Boo, a staff writer at The New Yorker and former reporter and editor at The Washington Post, has worked for over two decades â€Å"reporting within poor communities, considering how societies distribute opportunity and how individuals get out of poverty† (Boo 257). In November 2007, she and her husband, an Indian citizen, moved from the United States to India to study a group of slum dwellers in Annawadi, Mumbai (Boo 249). While studying this group of individuals in India from 2007 to 2011Read MoreCorruption as a Difficulty in Everyday Annawadian Life1470 Words   |  6 PagesCorruption as a Difficulty in Everyday Annawadian Life In Katherine Boo’s novel Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity we are thrown into a slum in Mumbai, Annawadi and are shown that corruption is an undeniable difficulty that the Annawadians face in their everyday lives. â€Å"For every two people in Annawadi inching up, there was one in a catastrophic plunge† (24) the people of Annawadi are in such a state because of all the corruption. As soon as they get ahead