A Study Report about Practices & Strategies followed by Industry

Professionals

On

“EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE”

In partial fulfilment for the requirements of the Subject: Organisational Behaviour

In the Two Year Full-time Master of Business Administration Programme,

GLS University.

Submitted To:
Dr.Juhi Shah
Assistant Professor

Submitted by:
1. Anirudhsinhji Vaghela (202000620010790)
2. Dhruv Vyas (202000620010719)
3. Dhruvee Patel (
4. Khushi Dave (202000620010514)
5. Stephanie Christian (202000620010508)
6. Tirth Shah (202000620010663)

Submitted on:
01/02/2021

Faculty of Management
GLS University

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 PREFACE

This project report has been prepared as a part of MBA Curriculum and in partial fulfilment
of the requirement of subject Organisational Behaviour of MBA programme (SEM-I) in
academic year 2020-2021

This project Report has been prepared for studying the innovative practices and strategies
used by companies to implement Emotional Intelligence as a skill at their workplace .All the
companies selected come under the Hospitality industry.

The initial portion sheds light on the detailed theoretical understanding of Emotional
Intelligence followed by how the topic is useful in the Hospitality industry .In the latter part
how some of the top companies of the given industry uses different and unique strategies to
inculcate Emotional Intelligence skills at their workplace.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to express our gratitude to GLS Faculty of Management for providing us
this opportunity to work on this project. We are indebted to Dr. Juhi Shah for her guidance
and constant supervision as well as providing all required information to enhance this project
and completing this endeavour.

Our appreciation and thanks also go to people who have willingly helped out with their
abilities.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

I PREFACE
II ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND EXPLANATION OF
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
CHAPTER 2 APPLICATION OF EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE IN HOSPITALITY
INDUSTRY
CHAPTER 3 CONCLUSION

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability for people to recognize,

understand and perceive their own and other people’s emotions as well as to regulate their
own emotions. It has been a core concept of leadership development in organizations for
many years, but today, it is also becoming a critical skill for employees at all levels.

The concept of Emotional Intelligence (EI), since its inception, has brought in together two
separate entities of psychology, namely, affect (emotion) and cognition (intelligence) under
one umbrella term‘. The term Emotional Intelligence was originally coined by Peter Salovey
and John Mayer in 1990 to delineate qualities like understanding one‘s own emotions,
empathy for feelings of others, and managing one‘s emotions in a way that enhances living.
Later, the concept was popularized by Daniel Goleman (1995) with the publication of his
best-selling book titled Emotional Intelligence. Also, the topic of EI gained more media
coverage and interest among academicians and researchers when Time Magazine mentioned
on its cover page, ―It‘s not your IQ. It‘s not even a number. But emotional intelligence may
be the best predictor of success in life, redefining what it means to be smart‖ (Time, 1995).
Since then, many researches have proliferated in the area of EI signifying its influence on
both personal and professional lives of an individual.

1.1 Definition

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Several definitions and measures of emotional intelligence have been developed by different
researchers according to their understanding of the concept of EI, whereby they have
accentuated different features of the concept. As a result, currently there are lot of definitions
of EI available.

Salovey and Mayer (1990) had provided the first formal definition of emotional intelligence
and defined EI as the part of social intelligence that involves ―the ability to monitor one‘s
own and other‘s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this
information to guide one‘s thinking and actions‖. According to this definition, the scope of EI
consists of the verbal and nonverbal appraisal and expression of emotion, the regulation of
emotion in the self and others, and the utilization of emotional content in problem solving.

Goleman (1998b) proposed that emotional intelligence is nothing but the ability to understand
one‘s emotions and those of people around us, to motivate ourselves and to manage emotions
well in ourselves and in our relationships. His primary framework of EI included five
components: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.

Bar-On (1997) opined emotional intelligence as ―an array of noncognitive capabilities,

competencies and skills that influence one's ability to succeed in coping with environmental
demands and pressures‖.

THE 3 MODELS - EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

1.2Ability Model

This model was developed by Peter Salovey of Yale University and John Mayer of
University of New Hampshire.

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 1. Perceiving emotions – the ability to detect and decipher emotions in faces, pictures,
voices, and cultural artifacts—including the ability to identify one's own emotions.
Perceiving emotions represents a basic aspect of emotional intelligence, as it makes all other
processing of emotional information possible.

2. Using emotions – the ability to harness emotions to facilitate various cognitive

activities, such as thinking and problem-solving. The emotionally intelligent person can
capitalize fully upon his or her changing moods in order to best fit the task at hand.

3. Understanding emotions – the ability to comprehend emotion language and to

appreciate complicated relationships among emotions. For example, understanding
emotions encompasses the ability to be sensitive to slight variations between emotions,
and the ability to recognize and describe how emotions evolve over time.

4. Managing emotions – the ability to regulate emotions in both ourselves and in others.
Therefore, the emotionally intelligent person can harness emotions, even negative ones,
and manage them to achieve intended goals.

1.3Trait Model

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This model was developed by Konstantin Vasily Petrides. He defined the trait model as "a
constellation of emotional self-perceptions located at the lower levels of personality."

 One’s understanding and perception of their emotions

 The use of personality framework to investigate trait emotional intelligence 

1.4 Mixed Model

This model was developed by David Goleman. Goleman model uses "The Five Components"
to efficiently describe emotional intelligence. 

1.) Self-Awareness

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Self-awareness is the foundation of personal growth and success. Daniel Goleman calls it the
'keystone' of emotional intelligence.

Definition of self-awareness:

1. Self-awareness is the capacity that a person has to introspect.

2. It includes gaining an understanding of and insight into one’s strengths, qualities,
weaknesses, defects, ideas, thoughts, beliefs, ideals, responses, reactions, attitude, emotions
and motivations.
3. Thus introspection also includes assessing how one is perceived by others and
4. How others are impacted based on one’s behaviour, responses and conduct.

Self-awareness is the ability to recognize and understand your moods, emotions, and drives
as well as their effect on others. Self-awareness is comprised of three elements –emotional
awareness, accurate self-assessment, and self-confidence. Individual with high degree of self-
awareness understand their emotions they are feeling and why, they recognize the links
between their feelings and what they think and say, they recognize how their feelings affect
their performance, and they have a guiding awareness of values and goals. In other words,
self- awareness is the ability to understand what on is feeling and how to direct those
feelings.

Leaders who are self-aware can recognize when their emotions have a negative impact on
their work, or on the people around them. They are then better equipped to address it in an
effective way, such as through creating opportunities for feedback, experimenting with
different ways to motivate their team, or being more open to creative solutions. 

Self-Awareness isn’t something that you achieve once. Every moment is an opportunity to be
self-aware or not. It is a continual endeavour, a conscious choice to be self-aware. The good
news is that the more you practice it, the easier it becomes.

Benefits of Self-Awareness

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 1. It can make us more proactive, boost our acceptance, and encourage positive self-
development.

2. Self-awareness allows us to see things from the perspective of others, practice self-

control, work creatively and productively, and experience pride in ourselves and our
work as well as general self-esteem.

3. It leads to better decision-making.

4. It can make us better at our jobs, better communicators in the workplace, and enhance
our self-confidence and job-related wellbeing.

Self-awareness has the potential to enhance virtually every experience you have, as it’s a tool
and a practice that can be used anywhere, anytime, to ground yourself in the moment,
realistically evaluate yourself and the situation, and help you make good choices.

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DEVELOPING SELF-AWARENESS

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2.) SELF-REGULATION

Self-Regulation Process:

The self-regulated learning is the process of taking control and evaluating one’s own learning
and behaviour. This emphasizes control by the individual who monitors, directs and regulates
actions toward goals of information standards, which is the desirable behaviour. Motivation,
to meet the standards.

Self-Regulation Theory (SRT) is a system of conscious personal management that involves

the process of guiding one's own thoughts, behaviours and feelings to reach goals. Impulse
control, the management of short-term desires. People with low impulse control are prone to
acting on immediate desires.

What Is Self-Regulation?

Self-regulation is the ability to understand and manage your behaviour and your reactions to
feelings and things happening around you. It includes being able to regulate reactions to
emotions like frustration or excitement. Calm down after something exciting or upsetting
focus on a task.

Behavioural self-regulation is the ability to act in your long-term best interest, consistent with
your deepest values. it is what allows us to feel one way but act another.

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On the other hand, emotional self-regulation involves control of-or, at least, influence over-
your emotions. If you had ever talked yourself out of a bad mood or calmed yourself down
when you were angry, you were displaying effective emotional self-regulation.

The role of self-regulation in education:

There are three role of self-regulation.

1. Before the learning task is begun, when the student can consider the task, set goals,
and develop a plan to tackle the task.
During the task, when the student must monitor his own performance and see how
well his strategies work.
2. During the task, when the student must monitor his own performance and see how
well his strategies work.
3. After the task, when the student can reflect back on their performance and determine
what worked well, what didn’t, and what needs to change.

How to improve self-regulation

 Be mindful of your thoughts & feelings.

 Build distress tolerance skills.
 Find ways to difficult emotions.
 Look at challenges as opportunities.
 Practice your communication skills.
 Work on accepting your emotions.
 Recognize that you have a choice in how you respond.

Benefits of self-regulation

 Self-regulation helps earn the respect and trust of employees.

 Useful when adapting to change.
 Allows you to react rationally.

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3.) MOTIVATION

Being self-motivated consists of enjoying what you do, working towards achieving your
goals and not being motivated by money or status

Intrinsic motivational is another important emotional intelligence skill. People who are
emotionally intelligent are motivated by things beyond external rewards like frame, money,
recognition, and acclaim

Instead, they have a passion to fulfill their own inner need and goals. They seek internal
rewards, experience flow from being totally in tune with an activity, and pursue peak
experience.

Those who are in this area tend to be action-oriented they set goals, a high need for
achievement, and are always looking for ways to do better. They also tend to be very
committed and are good at taking initiative.

How to improve motivation:

 Avoid overusing extrinsic rewards.

 Celebrate your results.
 Focus on setting small, measurable goals.
 Set goals to help build intrinsic motivation.
 Work with friend or co-worker to find accountability.

Benefits:

 1 reduce your likelihood of procrastinating

 Increase self confidence
 Keeps you motivated even if you face setbacks
 makes you focused on achieving your goals
 Spreads to the team

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To increase your motivation:

 Remember why you are doing your job maybe think about why you wanted it initially
 Set new goals if you lack them
 Remain optimistic because to be motivated explain why they are valuable, using
example, as this will provide then with a sense of purpose.

4.) EMPATHY

Empathy is the ability to emotionally understand what other people feel, see things from their
point of view, and imagine yourself in their place. 

Essentially, it is putting yourself in someone else's position and feeling what they must be
feeling.

When you see another person suffering, you might be able to instantly envision yourself in
the other person's place and feel sympathy for what they are going through.

It permits people to understand the emotions that others are feeling.

Some people do respond in such a way clearly demonstrates that empathy is not necessarily a
universal response to the suffering of others.

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SIGNS OF EMPATHY

 You are good at really listening to what others have to say.

 You are good at picking up on how other people are feeling.
 You often think about how other people feel.
 Other people come to you for advice.
 You often feel overwhelmed by tragic events.
 You try to help others who are suffering.
 You are good at telling when people aren't being honest.
 You sometimes feel drained or overwhelmed in social situations.
 You care deeply about other people.
 You find it difficult to set boundaries in your relationships with other people

Human beings are certainly capable of selfish, even cruel, behaviour. A quick scan of any
daily newspaper quickly reveals numerous unkind, selfish, and heinous actions.

Empathy allows people to build social connections with others.

By understanding what people are thinking and feeling, people are able to respond
appropriately in social situations.

Empathizing with others helps you learn to regulate your own emotions.

Empathy promotes helping behaviours. Not only are you more likely to engage in helpful
behaviours when you feel empathy for other people, but other people are also more likely to
help you when they experience empathy.

Tips for Practicing Empathy 

Fortunately, empathy is a skill that you can learn and strengthen.

 Work on listening to people without interrupting

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  Pay attention to body language and other types of nonverbal communication
 Try to understand people, even when you don't agree with them
 Ask people questions to learn more about them and their lives
 Imagine yourself in another person's shoes

5.) SOCIAL SKILLS

Meaning

Social skills, also called “interpersonal skills,” are those we use to interact and
communicate with other people. These skills include both verbal skills (the way you speak to
other people) and nonverbal skills (your body language, gestures, and eye contact).

People can benefit from good interpersonal skills when they get along with others. …
Without the academic qualification, people are unlikely to gain ideal job opportunities, and
without social skills, they can hardly succeed in the workplace and build good relationships
with friends in their personal lives.

Importance of social skills:

1. Social skills help you give a good first impression because you know how to present
yourself positively and form a connection with others.
2. Social skills help you start a conversation with a potential client which can lead to in
Social skills help you exchange business cards with respect so you make that person
feel important
3. Social skills help you exchange business cards with respect so you make that person
feel important and appreciated
4. Social skills help you choose who to talk with at a networking event so you can form
the right connections in business.

Benefits of social skills:

 Better Communication.

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  Greater Efficiency.
 Increased Overall Happiness.
 Advancing Career Prospects

CHAPTER 2: APPLICATION OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN COMPANIES

2.1 Introduction

One of the most important qualities of a good hospitality employee is emotional intelligence.
In a job where you have to be friendly, welcoming, and attentive to anybody and everybody
who walks through the door, being a “people person” is a must.

A person with a high level of emotional intelligence is essentially someone who is

exceptionally good at navigating interpersonal relationships. Individuals with a high EQ
(emotional quotient) tend to be more empathetic, socially aware, and they genuinely enjoy
helping other people. All of these traits are ideal for hospitality workers who interact with
people day in and day out. It’s no surprise that studies have shown that hospitality
professionals possess above average emotional intelligence.

Frontline hospitality employees must learn to deal with a variety of different personalities,
emotions, and demands from their guests. At any given moment these hotel workers may be
called upon to calm an irate guest or soothe a disappointed customer. Making people happy
all the time requires a unique combination of finesse, inner fortitude, and serenity.  

We will further see how some of the companies implement Emotional Intelligence as a skill
among the employees in their workplace.

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2.2 HILTON HOTELS CORPORATION(Empathy)

Hilton is one of the world's largest hospitality companies, with nearly 6,000 properties in 117
countries and territories. Recognised as the world's second-best workplace, Hilton knows that
when their team members truly feel empathy for the experiences of their guests, they'll
provide the absolute-best hospitality service.

To develop that empathy, Hilton turned to virtual reality and the development of innovative
learning experiences supported by the Oculus for Business platform.

Hilton is one of a few examples of organizations that have turned to immersive technology to
tackle empathy training. For the past 18 months, Hilton have introduced thousands of
marketing, financial, and corporate team members to Hilton’s new virtual reality (VR)
training program, called Hotel Immersion. Designed in collaboration with teach solutions
developer SweetRush. Always a trendsetter — Hilton invented the airport hotel, the piña
colada, and the first underwater hotel suite — the 100-year-old company is pioneering VR
technology to impart one of hospitality’s most essential ingredients: empathy.

Among the thousands of talented new hires Hilton brings in to its corporate locations each
year, only a handful arrive with hands-on experience working in hotels. That means they may
inadvertently set policies that could make hotel team members’ lives more challenging. For

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example, adding a seemingly small task that may take housekeepers five extra minutes to
clean a room compounds when you consider how many hundreds of rooms are cleaned every
day. To help these corporate team members develop empathy and appreciation for frontline
hotel service delivery.

Hilton's learning team partnered with SweetRush to bring the hotel experience to corporate
team members through the power of virtual reality. The program uses both 3D computer
graphics and 360-degree video to simulate tasks performed by room service, housekeeping,
and front desk employees.

In the housekeeping experience, participants have to take care of nine items in each room. In
reality, housekeepers have 62 checklist cleaning tasks to accomplish. The learners were
shocked when they really experience how much housekeepers need to accomplish. They’re
also surprised by how deeply engrossed they become in the hands-on experience. Hilton
determined this kind of training was essential to offer environments with a high degree of
realism and authenticity.

Hilton wants its employees to understand the physicality and complexity of hotel operations
so they can better feel what it’s like to be in the shoes of a room service attendant.

Empathy for Visitors/guest/customer

In another experience, hotel team members discover what it feels like to be a guest
experiencing a problem. In Exceed with Empathy Programme, team members take on the
role of guests in virtual scenarios that include interactions at a front desk, a meeting room
setup, room service, breakfast service and departure to see how it feels when interactions are
poorly managed, resolved correctly or handled in a way that goes beyond expectations.

"Providing an experience that increases empathy is a game-changer for us," says Bhojwani -
senior director of learning innovation at Hilton.
“If team members understand what guests are feeling, they will be better equipped to manage
guests' expectations and work to exceed them.” This is their motto behind this activity. With

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the help of this activity team members will be able to attend their guests in an effective
manner and each and every employee will contribute to its fullest for better satisfaction of
their guests.

2.3 CLUB MAHINDRA (Self-Motivation)

Due to such participating activities employees feel motivated. Such activities also work as
stress buster for employees. They feel themselves as an important member in the hotel who is
given a chance to express himself or showcase his/her talent. As this leads to their self-
growth the morale of employees is also boosted. Here the Hotel do not need to give any other
incentives/benefits to increase satisfaction level of its employees because they are self-
motivated.

Club Mahindra has started Champs Programme two years back where the employees of Club
Mahindra Resorts, whether in housekeeping, accounts, finance or HR, not only carry out their
core activities at the workplace but also entertain the members/guests with their talent. It
encourages the employees at Club Mahindra, who are willing to present/exhibit their talent in
dancing, singing or playing any instrument, to participate in the programme.

“THE MEMBERS OF CLUB MAHINDRA ARE OVERWHELMED WHEN THEY SEE

THE PERSON WHO HAS BEEN SERVING THEM IN THE MORNING AND
AFTERNOON, PERFORMING LIKE A CELEBRITY ON STAGE”

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The organisation asks its employees for their preferences and puts them into a seven-day
training programme to develop and polish their skills in the activity of their choice. It uses
internal trainers for this purpose. In some cases, even external trainers are engaged, for
instance, a professional from outside to teach an employee to master a particular musical
instrument.

Apart from controlling the attrition levels, the programme also helps encourage and bring out
the hidden talent in employees. “The Champs programme is one of the best employee-
engagement programmes at Club Mahindra. It celebrates the talent employees possess and
also pays gratitude to the employees,” says Khullar.

In another way, the Champs programme has also helped the organisation cut costs otherwise
incurred in hiring external agencies for entertaining their members.

Omkar, who works in the housekeeping department at Club Mahindra shares his experience
of how the Champs programme gave him the chance to showcase his talent in dance. He feels
proud when guests witness his performance.

The Champs programme has also affected the talent acquisition process at Club Mahindra. As
per Khullar, while hiring front-liners and managers for resorts, apart from core skills in
hospitality, they also look for some unique talents in the candidates.

This way Club Mahindra keeps their employees self-motivated and the Company not only
achieves its business agendas but is also able to create a platform where talented employees,
such as Omkar and many others can showcase their talent to an audience.

2.4) OBEROI HOTELS

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Introduction:

Hyatt Hotels is an American hotel company that started its first hotel named, the Hyatt House
at Los Angeles Airport in 1957. In 60 years, Hyatt has expanded its footprint across 54
countries with 680 hotels worldwide. Hyatt’s currently operates its hotels under 11 brands.

CEO Vikram Oberoi told how he would find his grandfather, even in his 90s and with failing
eyesight, scrutinizing customer comment cards one-by-one on Sunday mornings."
Praising the employees for "directly creating value for the customer" administratively and
financially, the adds that the employees "get special training in emotional intelligence, with
two aims: listening with empathy, and understanding each guest’s unique needs."

By empowering his employees to take individual initiatives to serve customers as well as

possible, "Oberoi established a culture by which all employees shared in his obsession with
the front line—which is why, more than a decade after his death, his hotels are still some of
the world’s most successful."

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 CHAPTER 3

CONCLUSION

We can conclude that Emotional Intelligence is a very important skill for managers and
employees specially working in the service sector. The emotional intelligence skills are ideal
for hospitality workers who interact with people day in and day out. The employees in
hospitality industry need to use Empathy, Social Skills and Self-motivation at day to day
basis. Further Emotional Intelligent employees make a service sector organisation
Emotionally Intelligent leading it to achieve good customer perception and a stepping stone
to success.

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3.2 REFERENCES

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