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Emotional intelligence : how it is applicable to engineering management in the 21st century / James L. Bury

by Bury, James L.

Emotions -- Social aspects

Emotions and cognition

Comparative management

Engineering -- Management

Personnel management

Organizational behavior

viii, 87 leaves ; ill. ; 29 cm.

Advisor: Gene Wright.

Committee members: Kimbel Nap, Dr. Paul Hudec.

Introduction -- The emotional intelligence movement -- Leadership and management -- Engineering environment -- Applications of emotional intelligence in engineering management -- Conclusions and personal applications -- Bibliography -- Appendix A) Mayer / Salovey vs. Goleman; B) Pitcher's technocrat/artist/craftsman.

The 1995 best seller Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman popularized the term "emotional intelligence" and stimulated a logical reasoning vs. emotion debate. Many consultants and companies alike quickly jumped on the emotional intelligence bandwagon and gave the concept a fad or zeitgeist aura. This paper returns to the originators of the concept, John D. Mayer and Peter Salovey, and uses their definition in a review of emotional intelligence to see if its abilities are useful for today's engineering managers

The paper begins with a review of what emotional intelligence is. Mayer and Salovey tell us emotional intelligence has four ability levels with increasing degrees of sophistication. Level one is the ability to perceive, appraise, and express emotions. Level two is the ability to use emotions to facilitate cognitive thinking and decision-making (a discussion of Antonio Damasio's somatic marker theory is also discussed with this level). Level three involves the understanding and analyzing emotional information and employing this knowledge. The ultimate level, level four, is the ability to regulate and stimulate emotions in one's self and others.

Once these concepts have been explained, the paper goes beyond the Mayer and Salovey model and discusses preconscious thought and perceptions. It refers to Seymour Epstein's description of the experiential mind and how it uses perceptions and past experiences to 1) make quick decisions on sensory imputs that signal danger and 2) color our view of perceived reality by inferring things using our past as a guide.

This section closes with a creation of the author called the thought and emotion loop. Briefly, this loop consists of the following steps: 1) the emotional mind takes in memory, perceptions and sensory input; 2) the emotional mind quickly decides if there is danger or not; 3) if there is danger, an emergency reaction cuts directly to taking action; 4) if no danger exists, emotion sorts out potential combinations that the cognitive mind must analyze and allows emotions to emerge to the conscious level which can then be sensed and regulated by emotional intelligence; 5) the cognitive mind analyzes the information and makes a decision on a course of action; 6) the event occurs and is perceived by the conscious mind; 7) the outcomes and results of the events, the perception of what occurred in the process, and the mood the individual was in are all stored in the memory and experiential mind for use on future trips around the loop. The point being made here is that emotional intelligence can be used in many parts of the loop. It can influence the deep-seated sources of those emotions to better predict and/or control the emotions before they emerge.

The paper then leaves emotions and briefly discusses leadership and manager traits. The intention is not to polarize the two types as many authors have done. Management typically has to use a blend of both types on the job, depending on what needs to be done at the time. It is shown later in the paper how emotional intelligence and these traits can combine to help the engineering manager fulfill the duties of the position.

The next section of the paper reviews the changes in both the engineering department and business as a whole in the last two decades. In general terms. business has changed from a manufacturing-based to a service-based economy, bringing with it a need for increased levels of interpersonal skills. Likewise, engineering has gone from a almost purely analytical department that designed things and then threw them "over-the-wall" to the next department to a service department that needs to view everyone as a customer, regardless if they are inside or outside the company. Improvement programs like ISO, Design for Assembly/Design for Manufacturing, and cross-functional teams have drastically increased the required skill set that everyone in the engineering department must possess to be successful. This service orientation and people skills requirement of the department and business has opened up an opportunity for those who are emotionally intelligent to be very successful as engineering managers.

The last section of the paper examines many of the functions of today's engineering manager and how each one could benefit from an individual with high levels of emotional intelligence. These functions are broken down into three subgroups: 1) influencing the company and department cultures; 2) leading project and department teams; and 3) interpersonal relationships.

The conclusions section reinforces the original hypothesis that the abilities of emotional intelligence have never been more important for the successful engineering manager due to the changes that have occurred in both the engineering department and the business environment in the past two decades. It explains the author's connection to the subject and how the lessons learned with this paper will help in his career.

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