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Ethics Case Study 16: Emotional Intelligence | INSIGHTS

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BY INSIGHT S | OCT OBER 1 2 , 2 0 1 3 2 :0 8 PM

Ethics Case Study 16: Emotional Intelligence

Et hics Case St udy 16: Em otional Intelligence
Jy othi, a y oung IAS officer, was transferred to a Zilla Panchay at as its new Chief Executiv e Officer. It was a punishm ent transfer,
thanks to her im peccable personal and professional integrity , and short tem per.
Soon after her posting, a m onthly rev iew m eeting was called by the ZP President. He was an influential political figure in the
district. In the m eeting, one of Presidents ardent followers, stood up and directly questioned the CEO why his dem and for
sanctioning two borewells to his constituency was not y et m et. Other m em bers joined him and in few m inutes, the m eeting hall was
in ruckus. This was prem editated to unsettle the new CEO, known for strict discipline.

She tried to explain that she would go through the files and would soon direct concerned officials to take action. But m em bers were
unrelenting. CEO got angry and asked ev ery one to behav e them selv es. This irked m any and the com m otion grew louder.
ZP President, take aback by the CEOs outburst, shouted at her and spoke to her in singular using derogatory language. He warned
her that it was the right of m em bers to question her and a protest would be held outside against her. Jy othi was insulted in front of
all the m em bers and her pride was hurt.
Explain how Jy othi could hav e handled the situation in the m eeting and what should be her reaction to the Presidents insulting
rem arks against her?
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neeraj

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October 1 2 , 2 01Enter
3 at 2 your
:57 pm

address

Jy oti being a responsible public

officer
Sign me
up should act with grace and patience. She should not get aroused by the behav iour of the
m em bers and tell them to calm down. After calm ing them down, she should ask them to giv e all their dem ands in written. She
should also explain to them why their dem ands hav e not been m et. She should assure them that she will do ev ery thing that is in
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her legal power to get the work done. Also, she should ask for their support in im plem enting the work. She should try to inv olv e
them in the work so that they for them selv es can see the obstacles in im plem entation of the plan. Also, this will help them work
together and will m ake them understand the practicality of problem s. Also, it m ight help them to com e up with ingenious ideas
and look into problem s from a different angle and point out the m issing links she m ight hav e ov erlooked.
As far as com m ents of the President is concerned, she should understand that he has a responsibility towards the people who
hav e elected them and his re-election depends on the efficiency of the adm inistration. She should explain him the reasons and
assure him of prom pt action. She should also ask him to prov ide som e v olunteers who can keep an ey e on the progress of the work
and help her in im plem enting the job.
Reply

Sonal
October 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 2 :58 pm
Explain how Jy othi could hav e handled the situation in the m eeting and what should be her reaction to the Presidents insulting
rem arks against her?
Right to peaceful protest com es under freedom of speech, though differently m otiv ated here, is still v ery m uch legal. Public
serv ants are subjected to this kind of situation v ery often. She should hav e kept calm understanding that any of her rem arks
would further be abused by them to instigate the crowd m ore and m ore. She should hav e display ed em pathy and tried to show
that she shared the concern equally and asked the agitating m em bers to com e and talk to her. Though, this m ight not hav e
stoped the prem editated set of people, but her sy m pathetic behav iour would hav e diluted the agitation and check its spread in
the rest of crowd. She should hav e rem ov ed heself from direct attack by telling that she will look wiht the concerned departm ent
and check the status with the team (this way she in av oiding becom ing the direct and only v illan). Am idst agitation she should
hav e announced a speedy im plantaion and passed a soft apology on behalf of her team . If the agitaion still kept increasing she
should call the police as a prev entiv e m easure in case it turns v iolent. Going forward she has to try to be m ore aware of the
surrounding and com e prepared.
She should av oid m aking im pulsiv e rem arks on the President as there was a great degree of possiblity that things could becom e
m ore unpleasant as the political identity of the president would m otiv ate him to further abuse her and get the agitated publics
sy m pathy towards him self. Finally she should m ake a form al com plain about the president highlighting his non professional
and im m oral behav iour am ist a delicate situation.
-Ev ery statem ent of a public officer has to be responsible as there is ev ery chance of m isintepration by people,politician,m edia
e.t.c to serv e their v aring interest.
Reply

Sonal
October 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 2 :59 pm
Friends pls rev iew.
Thanks,
Sonal

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Reply

Prudhvi Raj
October 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 3 :05 pm
It is obv ious that there will be both support and conspiracy against a person who is strict and with high integrity . In the abov e
case when the m em bers were unrelenting with her, she should hav e strongly m aintained her stand by say ing that nothing will
be done by passing the laws/rules for the acts which inv olv e public m oney /funds.. and also she m ight hav e requested the
m em bers to be patient and assure them that the process will be com pleted soon. Controlling anger in public m eetings is required
for a public serv ant as well as a politician. Now com ing to the Presidents insulting rem arks she can politely say with him that
being an elder person and in a respectable position he shouldnt hav e m ade the rem arks to an IAS officer on duty , and that it is
im portant for both of us to m aintain our dignity .
Reply

Abhinav
October 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 3 :4 3 pm
Public serv ants are prone to face these situations often. Howev er, we should not loose our cool. We should be serene, but express
ourselv es clearly and unam biguously .
First of all, she should ask all the m em bers including President to m aintain calm and cooperate to enable the m eeting to proceed
further so that m atters can be sort out through proper dialogue. Then she should assure the concerned m em ber that the bore
well issue will be looked through and in accordance with law it will be done at the earliest . Later she should tell the President to
m aintain proper decorum in m eetings. Of course its their right to question and protest, but its no ones right to create ruckus
and use derogatory language against a CEO which wouldnt solv e the problem . She should say to President that he being a
representativ e of people should set a good precedent by being decent in approach but not behav e like a obstructionist and any
further such actions would be com plained at the highest authority .
Reply

prerna
October 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 7 :04 pm
short and good.
Reply

Rahul Agarwal
October 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 3 :4 9 pm
Jy oti, should hav e realized, that these are pressurizing tactics adopted by the ZP m em bers. She should hav e said that she is
recently appointed in this departm ent and still understanding the nuances of it. The outburst by Jy oti was alay s going to be
against her, as this was the cov ert m otiv e to corner her during the m eeting. Thus, she could hav e walked out or refused to
answer any question by citing lack of Inform ation.
Regaring the derogatory behav ior of ZP president, Jy oti should strongly register her com plaint against him to her superiors and
the Personnel departm ent of hom e m inistry . This ty pe of behav ior is entirely uncalled for, and she can also register a plice
com paint against the ZP president under the legal prov isions. She should also report the m atter to the political leaders at district
and state lev el, citing problem s in discharging adm inistrativ e duties in wake of such behav ior by the ZP m em bers
Reply

sekharkothuru
October 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 4 :1 1 pm
Jy othi, being in such a responsible position and with his past experiences she should hav e acted in m uch better way rather
facing the wrath of the people. Though total situation was deliberate and posing a challenge to the y oung IAS officer, she should
be m ore patient in listening to the problem s of the people and addressing them graciously . If any person of that
stature/responsibility of Jy othis, should bear in m ind that if popular dem ands are not m et or fail to acknowledge them by the
concerned officer/departm ent the people will feel alienated and depriv ed which further incites them ending up in a blam e gam e.
But, in the giv en situation, she should not becom e restiv e further stoking the anger of the people and this giv ing an opportune
m om ent for som eone like the president-politician to a pass com m ents or to flay the adm inistration, as if the president is by the
side of the people.
.

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.
Instead of that, the y oung IAS, should call the head of the concerned departm ent or MPDO to know what the actual problem is
and steps to address the problem and if the sam e is deliv ered to the gathering, then people also com e to know about the officers
com posure and also being satisfied with the answer besides instills confidence of the people.
Reply

sekharkothuru
October 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 4 :1 2 pm
Insight & frenz rev iew m ine and lem m e know
Reply

prerna
October 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 7 :02 pm
Role an Chief executiv e officer is a challenging job. Hav e to deal m any situations and face lot of criticism from people and handle
excessiv e stress at the sam e tim e be effectiv e in dispersing responsibilities. This dem ands a high em otional intelligence from the
person in that role.
Jy othi should hav e m aintained calm and should not hav e lost her tem per by getting em otional. She should hav e tried to
conv ince them that all the m atters would be addressed by a particular date. If the situation went out of her control she should
hav e walked out without getting angry . This solv es the issue som e people in the m eeting are try ing to annoy her.
Jy othi should not get em otional with the sort of com m ents she got from President, she should forgiv e him and ignore his
com m ents and in no case should she shout back which would m ake m atters ev en worse by creating a non conduciv e
env ironm ent in her new work place and go about to explain people persuade people to giv e her som e tim e to tackle the issues.
Reply

dr Vineet
October 1 3 , 2 01 3 at 1 :2 1 am
y ou m ean to say she should tolerate derogatory language?
Reply

gaurav
October 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 7 :4 8 pm
I didnt undestood
Reply

vipul
October 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 8:2 4 pm
Explain how Jy othi could hav e handled the situation in the m eeting and what should be her reaction to the Presidents insulting
rem arks against her?
Jy othi has alway s discharged her duty with Integrity but she lacks the leadership abilities. She should recognize that her short
tem peredness is negativ ely affecting her perform ance. Dem and of m em bers in m eeting seem s im practical as she has just joined
the office and she needs som e tim e to go through all the files & pending tasks. Being a CEO of Zila Panchay at, it is her
responsibility to listen to their dem ands. Em otionally intelligent person should ignore the bad behav ior at tim e to carry on the
negotiation. Instead of losing her calm , she should hav e put all efforts to m ake them realize that she shares their concern and
will take actions on their files at the earliest.
ZP president reacted on Jy othi rem arks. Though president has used the derogatory language against Jy othi but her angry
reaction to it m ay further jeopardize the relationship with ZP president & team m em bers. Anger has it v alue but it should be
used at the right tim e and right place. Her softer reaction will stop the situation from becom ing worse to worst. Her im m ediate
effort should be to bring all the team m em bers & president on negotiation table. She can reserv e her protest against derogatory
rem ark and discuss it with president at later point of tim e.
Reply

Asrana
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Asrana

Ethics Case Study 16: Emotional Intelligence | INSIGHTS

October 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 9 :4 7 pm
9 . Asrana
As the m atter of being an IAS officer ,is a great responsibilty to look into the m atter is concerned for a newly appointed authority
to tackle with the situation ,as it is facing by jy oti in the m eeting she should rem ain trainquil in the m eeting by telling the
m em ber of ZP m atter will be looked into soon rather loosing her tem per and controlling ov er her em otion she should call for the
inv estigate officer to inv estigate the m atters as it is required to be im plem ented.
1 1 . Making sure that the m atter should be im plem ented or not if the m atter should neednt to be im plem ented giv e ev idence of
not working on the issue or is it required to be im plem ented giv e reasons for dely ing the work that has to be com pleted earlier .
1 2 . As being a president he should not insult the chief executiv e officer publicly he should take care of the degnity of an IAS
officer as well as him self .Jy oti m ust hav e to controlling ov er her outrage m ake them calm to proceed further to discuss the on
going issue.
Reply

aspirant
October 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 1 0:4 7 pm
As a CEO,such situations are often encountered by the civ il serv ants but,a one should exercise proper control and regulation
ov er the expression and use of em otions in dealing with his self and others in v iew of prom oting harm ony and peace.
Jy othi,being a responsible officer and with help of the past experiences should hav e handled the situation based on ev idential
support as to why there was a delay in m ov ing ahead with their files.She should hav e kept calm rather than reacting to such
outburst and instead could hav e urged President to take control of the crowd as he would better know their nerv es.She could also
take help of police functionaries to calm down the crowd rather than reacting in such heated situaton. It is then,that she could
hav e explained in clear term s what were the roadblocks concerned with their dem ands.
On the question of reacting to the insult by the President,she should hav e warned him against any such further abuse and that
it is his duty to uphold the dignity of a civ il serv ant as both of them together are responsible for the working Zila Parishad. .Any
such act should be reported to higher authorities for the action to be taken.
Being a public serv ant,one should respect the right to protest and question and keep calm to work towards m utual support,peace
and prosperity .
P.s. : plz rev iew.
Reply

dr Vineet
October 1 3 , 2 01 3 at 1 :1 8 am
Ability to control em otions is necessary attribute required in any profession which requires dealing with m any people. It
becom es m uch necessary for an honest civ il serv ant.
In particular case, jy othi should hav e understood the intention of m em bers to harass her and should hav e replied them with
patient and conv incing answers. She should hav e politely answered that she would go through all the files and will saction the
projects according to m erit.
She has to hav e a lev el of m aturity in her behav ior and tone down the anger.
She should apologise for the m isconduct.
Regarding insult, she should com plain to appropriate authority .
As far as punishm ent posting is concerned, she has to understand that post of CEO com es with im m ense opportunity to work for
dev elopm ent of rural areas. She should take it as a challenge and not punishm ent.
Reply

vins
October 1 4 , 2 01 3 at 8:2 3 am
Along with honest and integrity good tem peram ent is a prerequisite for a civ il serv ant,since any em otions display ed will be
alway s taken adv antage of.
Since the president and his m em bers cam e prem editated to annoy the CEO, she m ust be careful that any wrong m ov e from her
would inflict a ruckus. Since her explanation that she will look into files and direct the concerned officials did not calm the
agitation,her next step m ust be to m ake agitators understand the situation from her side and explain the obstacles in
sanctioning the borewells. She m ust inv ite ideas from them to tackle the problem , this will dilute the agitation.
Regarding the insult she m ust m aintain com posure and m ust negotiate with them , since any em otions display ed will be alway s

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taken adv antage of by them and rem arks by the president should be taken care of later. President m ust not be left without
taking legal action, since it will set an exam ple that derogatory and unparliam entary behav ior will lead them to negotiation.
Reply

panzy
October 1 4 , 2 01 3 at 9 :05 pm
Patience is one of the forem ost requirem ents for a civ il serv ant, who has to face pressure situations in ev ery day dealings. Such
and easy display of anger and im patience shows inexperience, im m ature handling and lack of control (ov er oneself as well as the
situation ).
Jy oti should hav e m aintained her calm and com posure as such rash behav iour would only corner her and m ake the situation
worse for her. First, the m em bers should be asked to calm down and assured that the issue should be discussed and elicit their
cooperation. She should express solidarity with the m em bers concern about the issue and share the difficulties being faced about
the project. The goals of public serv ice and welfare are com m on to the civ il serv ant as well as the politician. Howev er, proper
processing and careful scrutiny /exam ination are also a v ery im portant aspect of public serv ice. Howev er, she should assure
them that she would look into the m atter urgently and deal with it on a priority basis.
Whatev er her reaction, the President has forgotten the dignity and responsibility of his position. She should hav e calm ly told
him that she would do the best in her position, but not without their cooperation. As the m atter was already under process, she
would soon report about it. Also, she should hav e told that she respects the m em bers right to express and protest but expects of a
proper language and conduct from the President in an official deliberation. Later, she could hav e warned him against any such
m ishappenings in future.
Reply

NB
October 1 5, 2 01 3 at 1 2 :01 am
This kind of situation do arises in politico-adm in env ironm ent of our gov ernance structure. Where politicians are supposed to be
sensitiv e to the needs of people and adm inistration with full zeal has to im plem ent the program m es and policies im plem enting
those public sensitiv ities. Borewell is a serious issue and inv olv es larger question of basic need of water. So at out set Jy othi m ust
understand this is v ery im portant issue. And since m em bers are m otiv ated they will create ruckus. Better would be to try to
pacify them by keeping cool and com posed behav ior. Assuring them that she will com e back to them in tim e bound m anner and
will address the issue im m ediately . Ev en if they continue she can at best show her cool and calm tem per without getting m ov ed
by them .
Further, in a scenario where Zila President has used derogatory words against her has to be seen in light of the situation. Firstly ,
she should m ake clear to Zila President later on that derogatory rem ark against her are against the ethics and civ ility of Person
m anning Zila President. Howev er, she should apologize for her short tem per behav iour and should clearly tell him that her role
here is to serv e com m on people through peoples representativ e and she will within a short tim e keep up the aspirations of people
and in coordination with m em bers of Zila Panchay at m em bers will address all the problem s.
Reply

Mohit
October 1 8, 2 01 3 at 1 :00 am
Jy othi should not hav e got angry while reacting to the unrelenting ruckus created by ZP m em bers. A y oung IAS officer who has
a reputation of im peccable integrity should know that such incidents could be created to unsettle her in a new job. Since the
m em bers were creating a ruckus without listening to her assurances, she could hav e signalled the President to hav e a word with
her in priv ate and assured him that action would be taken on the dem ands and that m eeting should continue without further
disruption.
As regards the further course of action in relation to the Presidents derogatory rem arks, she should file a com plaint with the
higher authority or a wom an griev ance redressal cell of the ZP (if there is any ) regarding his behav ior and m ake sure he is
brought to justice with the related punishm ent.
Reply

Pavan
Decem ber 1 6 , 2 01 3 at 4 :4 0 pm
Managing ones em otions and so as others is an im p trait to be observ ed by any public official. In this case, Jy othi with her
em otional outburst has dem onstrated her lack of EQ to handle troublesom e and irking situations.
Since Jy othi was well aware of the pressure tactics being play ed by the political m em bers, she should v e handled that situation

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Since Jy othi was well aware of the pressure tactics being play ed by the political m em bers, she should v e handled that situation
with calm and serene. In such situations it would be better to answer the President directly about the ongoing process and causes
for logjam in the projects.By taking President into her confidence she could hav e requested him to calm his party m em bers.
The President has dem onstrated his true colours by abusing a public official and so as a wom am . She could form ally lodge a
com plaint against his v erbal abuse with the Chief Secretary of the state. She can also inform National Com m ission of Wom en
about the pressure tactics,v erbal abuse and other form s of harassm ent m etted out to her to influence her functioning. If both the
action doesnt lead to satisfactory dev elopm ents, she could atleast request the Chief Secretary to transfer her to new dept. A
m edia exposure would also bring the President in public dom ain thereby receiv ing the wrath of public for abusing a wom an.
Reply

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