• UGI USER
  • Sep 05, 2023
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Q. The role of emotional intelligence is crucial for public servants in overcoming adversity. Discuss.

Approach:

  • Briefly explain what you understand by emotional intelligence (EI) in the introduction.
  • Mention the significance of EI for public servants.
  • Highlight how EI can help public servants overcome adversity.
  • Conclude accordingly.

Answer:

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to identify, use, understand, and manage one’s emotions as well as emotions of others in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, decrease anti-social behavior and defuse conflict.

Daniel Goleman came up with a model of EI with five dimensions, which are as follows:

  • Self-awareness: It is the ability to judge and recognize one’s feelings and indicates self- assessment and confidence.
  • Self-management: It helps to keep disruptive emotions in check and maintain standards of integrity and honesty. It also helps one adapt to varying situations.
  • Motivation: It helps in guiding in the attainment of goals and includes optimism, commitment, drive and initiative.
  • Empathy: It is the ability to understand and to be aware of the needs of others.
  • Social skills: It is the ability to sustain, thrive and persuade in social groups. It is more about collective cooperation, leadership etc.

With time, the yardstick to measure the efficiency of a public servant has evolved into a more refined format. Now, it not only includes the basic technical academic qualifications but also the intrinsic characteristics. In this light, EI has a significant role to play in public service, as it includes the following:

  • Leadership: Public servants generally work in a hierarchical setup and need social skills to lead and guide their subordinates. For example, the district administration of Bhilwara district, Rajasthan was successful in inspiring the team to work in adverse situations during the COVID- 19 pandemic.
  • Empathy: This attribute helps public servants to initiate people-centric initiatives moving away from impersonal attitude under the traditional Weberian bureaucracy. For example, the empathetic attitude of Atul V Kulkarni, an IPS officer, made him start “Bharosa Cells “and “Nirbhaya Pathak” vehicles for distressed women in Delhi.
  • Motivation: Due to organizational challenges and red-tapism, public servants’ goal of citizen upliftment may not always materialise with aptitude. However, attributes like optimism, commitment, motivation, etc. help to achieve the goals.
  • For example:  Aruna Sundarajan, an IAS officer, headed the Kudumbashree Project, which is a female-oriented, community-based, poverty reduction project of the Government of Kerala, and is a shining example of empowerment for working-class women.
  • Self-management: In an environment where there can be continuous challenges from political leaders, senior officers etc. for favouritism, nepotism, corruption, one needs to manage himself/herself to uphold virtues of integrity, honesty etc. For example, Ashok Khemka, an IAS officer, is known for frequent transfers owing to his honesty.
  • Self-awareness: In a rapidly changing world where technological advancement is at its best, reflective learning helps a leader continuously improve, learn from experience, and grow in order to lead, influence, and get the best out of others.

In this way, emotional intelligence not only ensures that public servants maintain ethical standards for themselves, but also helps in dealing with the adversaries in the service in terms of impersonal attitudes, motivating subordinates, political neutrality etc. Thus, the need of the hour is to inculcate emotional intelligence among the serving and upcoming public servants, to balance intelligence quotient with emotional quotient and aptitude with attitude.