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Conflicts are inherent in this day’s fast-paced and competitive work. These create differences of opinion, miscommunication, and power struggles that hinder productivity and morale. Emotionally intelligent people can handle such disagreements appropriately. This blog discusses therefore, one key aspect of emotional intelligence – the immense significance in effectively resolving conflicts at the workplace and keeping the working environment conducive.
The Impact of Workplace Conflict
The impact of conflict in the workplace goes beyond the personal level and extends to the organization as a whole. Surveys reveal how ‘expensive’ workplace conflict can become. In addition, besides the monetary effects; conflicts may cause more strain, lower job satisfaction, and higher turnover leading to the diminution in the growth of organizations (Read the links at the end)
Emotional Intelligence Defined
EI can be defined as one’s capability to recognize or discriminate between his or her own emotions, understanding them as well as recognizing emotions displayed by others. It comprises four key components:
Self-awareness – The ability to identify your own emotions.
Self-regulation – Managing and controlling emotional responses.
Social awareness – Feeling another person’s emotion or need.
Relationship management – Managing Relationships with Emotional Intelligence.
Emotionally Intelligent Conflict Resolution
Self-Awareness: An emotionally intelligent person is able to feel his or her emotions in times of conflict and analyze what provokes one’s bias, thus not overreacting. Because of this self-awareness, it enables them to handle the issue much calmer, and hence be less anxious about what to do first when faced with it.
Self-Regulation: This makes it possible for people to regulate their emotions. Emotionally intelligent people avoid impulsive reactions; instead, they take time to think out what to say or do in order to create productive conversations.
Social Awareness: Workplace conflicts can be resolved by understanding the emotions of others. Emotionally intelligent individuals understand non-verbal communication, actively listen, and feel others’ sentiments, giving a platform where everyone is listened to and valued.
Relationship Management: Smart people with emotions have a great way of forming and preserving good relations. This means locating areas of agreement, conducting mediation talks, and promoting settlements among team members in conflict resolution.
The Hard Facts
Several studies support the importance of emotional intelligence in conflict resolution:
According to a study by the Journal of Applied Psychology, supervisors with high emotional intelligence resulted in less workplace conflict and higher levels of employee satisfaction.
Findings of The Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations show that teams under emotionally intelligent leadership are effective in solving conflicts and achieving their goals.
According to a survey done by the Center for Creative Leadership, emotionally unintelligent individuals cause their own career downfall; they account for seventy- five percent of all derailment cases that have underlying components such as failed attempts at solving conflicts.
Conclusion
The skill of conflict resolution has become a necessity in modern-day quickly changing and fluid working environments. People with high emotional intelligence tend to be better at dealing with these conflicts, producing a friendly and highly productive atmosphere.
The hard facts make it clear: In today’s world, organisations with high emotional intelligence have a higher chance of succeeding. While business continues to change, it can be said with certainty that emotional intelligence plays an instrumental role in creating a place full of harmony without conflicts. Connect with me chandini.khanna@gmail.com
https://pollackpeacebuilding.com/workplace-conflict-statistics/
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/hr-policies-trends/76-of-indian-workers-say-stress-negatively-impacting-work-shows-survey/articleshow/102810905.cms?from=mdr
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