Case Study: Emotional Intelligence | UPSC Mains: Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude PDF Download

Ranbir is the Chief executive officer of a company. The Company has been growing and has recruited quite a few specialists recently. The functional heads in the company have to meet their staff in an open meeting every two months. Ranbir detested these meetings. It was open to everyone in the office. The staff came up with a long list of trivial and tiresome complaints and grievances. They repeated the same things and spoke at length. Even when the staff knew of the constraints, they went on with their complaints. They wanted more space for lounge, for bathrooms and crèche. Ranbir pointed to lack of space, and yet the staff continued to complain. Ranbir cultivated a habit of sitting through the meeting with a cheerful face, but with his mind switched off from the proceedings. The meeting became a tiresome ritual he had to get through.
Due these issues many employees had left the company and its further hampering the Business of the company.
Q: In Ranbir’s situation what action would you have taken and why?
Ans: The question highlights the importance of understanding a team's needs and the leader’s role in addressing everyday issues faced by team members. In this case, the problem seems to stem from the company's success, which led to the addition of new team members, making the current accommodation insufficient. The situation worsened due to Ranbir's attitude towards addressing employee grievances and his lackadaisical approach towards meetings with them.
Stakeholders involved in the case are:

• Company’s Ceo
• Employees of the Company
• New & old employees
• Shareholders of the Company

The situational challenges that are faced by the CEO are:

• Crisis Management: Effectively managing a crisis with limited resources, while minimizing adverse impacts on employees.
• Timely Decision-Making: Ensuring decisions are made promptly to maintain a healthy work culture and trust among employees and the public.
• Conflict Management: Addressing conflicts, such as disputes and quarrels, that often arise within organizations.

The ethical components that could be utilized are:

• Emotional Intelligence (EI): The ability to recognize and understand one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others, and to use this awareness to manage tasks and regulate emotions.
• Emotional Quotient (EQ): A standardized measure of emotional intelligence, assessing an individual's awareness of their own emotions and those of others.
• Empathy: Understanding the needs and emotions of others, both individually and in groups, and viewing situations from their perspective.
• Social Skills: Using empathy to balance the needs and desires of others while maintaining healthy relationships, including building rapport with others.

CEO's Course of Action to Resolve the Issue:
Concrete Plan of Action: Since the company is thriving and new staff members have been recruited, Ranbir should quickly find a larger and more suitable workplace to accommodate the growing team.
If employees still face issues:

• Cleaning Toilets: Although the issue at hand is space, small actions like ensuring the regular cleaning of toilets could have a positive short-term impact on employee morale. However, this would not be a lasting solution to the space problem.
• Attentive Listening: Ranbir should listen carefully to employees’ grievances. Leaders need to show genuine concern by being attentive, even when they may not like hearing complaints. Ignoring the employees' concerns could lead to disengagement and even resignations. Therefore, empathic listening and responsiveness are essential to maintaining trust and addressing concerns.
• Ignoring Demands: Ranbir could choose to ignore the demands of employees, but this would likely hurt productivity and the future prospects of the company, causing dissatisfaction and a decline in morale.
• Work-from-Home Alternative: Offering a hybrid model with the option to work from home could alleviate the space issue. This would allow employees to work remotely while others continue to use office space, helping to ease the pressure on infrastructure.
• Temporary Office Space Rental: Until a permanent solution is found, Ranbir could consider renting a nearby office space to temporarily accommodate the staff. This would alleviate the immediate concerns of overcrowding and provide a more comfortable working environment for employees.

By implementing a combination of these solutions, Ranbir can address the space issue, improve employee morale, and create a positive work environment while seeking a long-term resolution.

Conclusion

The conflict can only be resolved through the collective effort of all stakeholders involved, where the company must take steps to enhance emotional intelligence, empathy, and emotional quotient among the CEO, employees, and staff. This would facilitate open discussions, allowing employees to express their concerns freely. The CEO and management should listen attentively to these issues and take appropriate actions to address them in a timely manner.