A Critique Paper on the Journal entitled

“Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace: Exploring its effects on

Occupational Stress and Health Outcomes in Human Services Workers”

“Emotions are those that define a person. Emotions shape a man’s

destiny and define the way he perceives life.” This is a saying from the famous

Sanskrit which best describes how emotions drive a person’s life.

According to the dictionary, emotion is a state of feeling involving

thoughts, physiological changes, and an outward expression or behavior

however, theologists, psychologists, philosophers, scientists and researchers

have developed various theories that they believe to fathom its bottomless

expanse of intrigue and fascination pertaining to emotion. This only means

that emotion when dug deeper is quite complicated. Furthermore,

sometimes there are misconceptions as to what we might be experiencing

and the terms that people should be using, if could that be feelings or

emotions. The biologist Charles Birch (1995) said that “Feelings are what

matter the most in life”. Whether it matters the most is contentious, but it

certainly is essential. The terms feelings and emotions are generally used

interchangeably, and as Wierzbicka (1999) observes certain languages do

not have an equivalent term for the English word emotion. But, there are

certain crucial differences between feelings and emotions. A feeling can be

a physical sensation which is experienced, like a flushed face, or a knot in our

stomachs or a general feeling of unease that could be due to an emotion

(Caruso, 2008). Additionally, when we use the word emotions, we combine

the qualities of all the three – feeling, thinking and physical experience. Many

psychologists also prefer the word emotion over feeling because somehow

emotion appears more objective than feeling (Wierzbicka, 1999) and it is

easier to scientifically, logically analyze something that is objective than that

which is subjective. If intelligence is thinking and rationalizing, and emotions

combine the quality of thinking along with feeling, then can it be said that

emotions too can be analyzed and assessed like any other intelligence. This is

the premise of the theory of emotional intelligence which emphasizes on the

importance of emotional regulation and emotional management in an

individual’s life. And this is where emotional intelligence comes in.

Emotional intelligence (EI) has been a popular topic of debate in the

field of management. Certain issues and concerns were raised on different

studies and researches. It is said that the study relative to emotional

intelligence promises to predict and improve the life skills of individuals. It is

believed that in understanding, analyzing and managing emotions in

themselves and others, lies the key to an improved quality of life. As

mentioned in the journal, stress results from the customers’ behaviors,

demands and even complaints and all these greatly affects the workers

condition - physically or emotionally. On the other hand, critics of emotional

intelligence claim that it is too vague a concept, it cannot be measured, and

the validity of it is suspect (Robbins & Judge, 2009). Some researchers argue

that the concept of EI is unclear and achieving a definition of it is very difficult

because different researchers focus on different skills. Further, it is also evident

that stress results in poor work quality, including lack of control, poor social

relations and interpersonal relationships, poor social support, lack of rewards,

and work overload. This only means that human services workers - teachers,

nurses, social workers, counselors and other works that deals directly to

people are considered as the most stressful. These workers ability to recognize

people’s emotions and most importantly, to regulate one’s emotions should

be manifested by these people. This is where emotional intelligence is being

made evident among these workers. Additionally, it is also being considered

that emotional intelligence is one of the greatest factors that determine

success in life and psychosocial well-being. However, other workers do not

know how to develop a stable emotional intelligence for some are refusing to

acknowledge this which can lead to their emotions controlling them and

leaves workers open to be unwittingly manipulated by others. If such manner

continues to prosper, worse that may happen is that it can cause a variety of

health problems, including headaches, muscle pain, stomach problems, and

fatigue. Added to that, it can even increase the risk of heart attack and

other serious diseases and that is why human service workers are very crucial

and at the same time, a very risky job. As stated in the journal, workers who

have high emotional intelligence showed less stress and had better physical

and psychological well-being. Despite the criticisms of emotional intelligence,

there is a research that suggests it is a valid concept and plays an important

role in the workplace. Emotional intelligence can be described as having four

branches: the ability to accurately perceive and express emotion, assimilate

emotion into thought, understand emotion, and regulate emotions in the self

and others (Mayer & Salovey, 1997).

Additionally, according to Bulik (2005), low emotional intelligence has a

a direct negative effect on the work-life balance of the worker. Further, it is

also stated that it results to an occupational stress and may impact the

health of the person. As emphasized by Mustafa, et.al. (2015), occupational

stress can lead to one's physical or mental state in response to workplace

that poses a challenge to that employee. Causes of occupational stress

include environments, organizational climate, and a conflict arises from the

job demands of the employees. Relatively, this may result to psychological

disorders and may lead to poor work performance, higher absenteeism, less

work productivity even injury. It has been observed that stressful working

conditions can lead to behavioral, physical, and psychological strains. Aside

from that, it also has adverse health effects including cardiovascular disease,

gastrointestinal disease, diabetes, hypertension, weak immune system,

increased risk of occupational injury and health service utilization. It is being

suggested that interventions to eliminate or reduce the occupational stress

should be both at organizational and individual levels.

Evidently, as stated in the conclusion of the research journal, it showed

that human services workers experience high level of stress and employees

with higher EI level is perceived to have a lower level of occupational stress

and suffered less from negative health consequences. Thus, administrators

should be able to address concerns relative to this existing dilemma that

workers are experiencing. Lessening the work demands, increasing the

personal resources of employees can lead to a healthy work environment.

Now, the challenge that people, administrators and researchers are facing is

to design an instrument or improve upon existing measures which will

accurately evaluate and assess the emotional skills of an individual so that

one may be able to promote a stress-free workplace and work environment.

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