Emotional Intelligence Deficit: Any Hopes?

Ref. No.: OB0028

Emotional Intelligence Deficit: Any Hopes?

People high in emotional intelligence are expected to progress more quickly through the abilities
designated and to master more of them.1
John D. Mayer and Peter Salovey,
Leading Researchers on Emotional Intelligence since 1990

Earlier, it was believed that emotions did not have a role to play in the professional life of individuals.
However, of late, it is believed that emotions are equally important, if not more, at the work places.
The ability of a person to perceive, control and evaluate emotions is referred to as emotional
intelligence. The case of Raunak Sharma (Sharma) at The Ivory Plastic Company Ltd. (Ivory),
serves as an apt example in this context. Sharma was the person in-charge of the new division of
moulded furniture at Ivory and he was extremely good at delivering business results. However, he
did not know how to manage his as well as others emotions. Consequently, the lack of emotional
intelligence cost him his job. What impact does emotional intelligence have on leadership? Further, if
a person is low on emotional intelligence as was the case with Sharma, can he acquire it through
practice or is it something inherent in a person? Is emotional quotient as important as intelligence
quotient to be successful professionally?

The Ivory Plastic Company Ltd. New Leadership

Since 1992, Ivory was in the business of manufacturing plastics. It predominantly manufactured
household utility plastic articles. By 2005, it was doing decent business and was an INR 60 crore
company having 250 employees. To expand its business, Ivory decided to diversify into the business

Wagner Van Kendra, Quotes About Emotional Intelligence, http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologyquotes/a/eiquotes.htm

This case study was written by Vandana Jayakumar and Vara Vasanthi under the guidance of Dr. Nagendra V. Chowdary, IBSCDC. It
is intended to be used as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management
situation. The case was written from generalized experiences.
2009, IBSCDC.
No part of this publication may be copied, stored, transmitted, reproduced or distributed in any form or medium whatsoever
without the permission of the copyright owner.
Background Reading: Chapter 8, Emotions and Moods,
Organizational Behavior, Stephen P. Robbins, et al., (12th edition)

Emotional Intelligence Deficit: Any Hopes?

of moulded furniture. The diversification plan was an ambitious project of the company and all the
efforts were directed towards the success of that project. Thereby, a new division dedicated to the
business of moulded furniture was created and most of the positions were filled internally with some
of the most competent employees of the company. However, Ivory planned to bring in an outsider to
head the newly formed department, as it would enable the company to have a fresh perspective
towards the new venture.
After a long one and a half month selection process, Raunak Sharma (Sharma) was chosen to
head the new division. Sharma, a chemical engineer and a first class MBA (Marketing), was a
young man of 29. After completing his MBA, Sharma joined the moulded furniture division of Trend
Polymers Ltd. (Trend), leading manufacturer of plastic articles in India as a management trainee.
His career took off well at Trend and after four successful years in the company, he became a senior
manager. With no further challenges, the job did not seem interesting any longer. His job satisfaction
was getting plataued and he was on the look out for an exciting and demanding assignment.
Ivorys offer seemed lucrative to Sharma despite the company being much smaller as compared
to Trend. At Ivory, Sharma was getting the chance to head a division and the salary offered to him
was also impressive. Moreover, Sharma knew that Ivory offered a very amicable work culture. With
all conviction, Sharma joined Ivory as General Manager (GM), moulded furniture business, reporting
directly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ivory.
On the first day of work, the CEO introduced Sharma to the entire staff of the newly formed
division. The divisions strength was 58 including Sharma. In compliance with Ivorys culture, Sharma
received a very warm welcome. Sharma was quick to notice that almost 80% of the people in his
division were elder to him. He recollected the question posed by the CEO during his interview. The
CEO had asked, What will be your style of working with people older than you? Though Sharma
had favourably answered the CEOs question, upon noticing too many senior people in his division,
he became sceptical. However, he tried to boost his morale by reasoning out that he had joined the
company to make the new business of Ivory a big success irrespective of the conditions.
Sharma had five subordinate teams working under his supervision. Out of the five team leaders
reporting to him, one was almost as old as him and one was younger to him, while the other three
were elder to him (Exhibit I). Notably, R.S. Singh (Singh) and T. Vishwanathan (Vishwanathan) had
been working with the company since its inception. Also, Nazima Khan (Khan) was not a team
leader as such but only coordinated the activities of the logistics personnel. Sharma wondered if his
colleagues would cooperate with him. Wont there be ego clashes? Would these people help him in
doing his job or would they create hurdles in his way? He prepared himself mentally to confront
anything that came in his way.
Irrespective of the challenges, Sharma began performing his duties with full gusto. In his first
team meeting, he conveyed to the team leaders that they had to successfully kick-start the new
business of Ivory and he expected everyones full cooperation. He also conveyed to them that he
was known for getting things done and there was no room for anything that came in the way of
achieving the goals. Sharma asked the team leaders to convey his message to their respective
team members.

Emotional Intelligence Deficit: Any Hopes?

Exhibit I
Team Composition
Team Leader

Designation

Age

R.S. Singh

Production Supervisor

42

Anupama Mukherjee

Marketing Manager

30

T. Vishwanathan

Accounts Manager

40

Nazima Khan

Logistics Coordinator

24

Suresh Naik

R&D Manager

37

Prepared by the author

Sharmas agenda was driven by the fact that the management of Ivory had entrusted him the
huge responsibility of handling its moulded furniture business and to ensure its success he would
need the full cooperation of his entire division. The environment in which he was working was quite
demanding and he was under tremendous pressure. Despite a good work experience, he was
overawed by the situation and he began his work in a stressful mood. He was not able to bring down
his anxiety. He concentrated only on the success of the new business and did not take any effort to
know his new colleagues before settling into his job. Its almost like hitting the deck from the word
go. He began chalking out the business plans for the new division but he was not able to motivate his
colleagues. The colleagues also became apprehensive even before they could actually start working
with their new boss.

The Cost of High Performance

Sharma began his work with the marketing department. During his meeting with Anupama
Mukherjee (Mukherjee), he precisely conveyed his plans to her. However, he did not entertain any
suggestions from her. Mukherjee felt offended as she did not have any say in the affairs of her
department. She was upset that the first formal interaction between her and her boss didnt take off
on a positive and inclusive note.
Sharma:

I have already told all of you that I mean business. Please do not be complacent at
any stage and give any excuse if you are not able to achieve what is expected
from you and your team.

Mukherjee: Of course not. I am confident about myself and also trust my team members. In
the past, we have been able to deliver on our commitments.
Sharma:

Let us forget the past and think about the future.

Mukherjee and her team had made valuable contributions to the previous projects at Ivory and
she was offended that Sharma was not counting on her achievements at all. Mukherjee and Suresh
Naik (Naik) were good friends as both of them had joined Ivory together. Confiding in Suresh, she
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Emotional Intelligence Deficit: Any Hopes?

discussed the unpleasant meeting that she had with Sharma. Naik consoled her by saying that Mr.
Sharma is new to the company and very soon everything is going to be ok. However, the word
spread (about Mukherjees first interaction with Mr. Sharma) around the division and everyone else
were hoping that at least they would have a pleasant first interaction with their boss.
It was not to be, however. Especially, Singh and Naik were very dissatisfied with the behaviour of
Sharma. Being elder to Sharma, Singh and Naik expected Mr. Sharma to treat them with due dignity
and respect. Sharma, with his penchant focus on business goals and work, didnt show any respect
to their age and went about his business as usual. And this didnt go well with Singh and Naik.
Sharma behaved in a superior manner towards all his colleagues. Most of the people at Ivory were
senior in age to Sharma. However, Sharma failed to respect the age of the senior colleagues. While
others ignored this behaviour of Sharma as they did not have to directly interact with him, Singh and
Naik felt quite insulted. Many a times, Sharma showed disrespect to them not withstanding their age.
They had to be in touch with Sharma almost daily because of the nature of their work and they could
not accept his demeanour. However, they did not fail in their duties, as they wanted to remain loyal
to their company.
Quite similar to Mukherjee, Naik and Singh, Vishwanathan and Khan were also dissatisfied
with their boss. Vishwanathan was a very calm and quiet person. He did not interact much and
concentrated only on his work. There were very few occasions when there was any mistake in
his work. Sharma was a very short-tempered person and expressed his anger by yelling
unnecessarily at everyone, which was the highlight of all the weekend meetings. For any small
thing, Sharma used to come up with one standard dialogue, If you cant do your work properly,
then you may better start looking for opportunities elsewhere. I will not let the project fail due to
your errors. For any shortcoming, he was never prepared to listen to any explanation, even if
there were genuine reasons involved.
While all the team leaders bore the brunt of Sharmas anger at one point or the other, it was
extremely unbearable for Vishwanathan given his composed personality. During one such weekend
team meetings, Vishwanathan could no longer control his emotions.
Sharma:

OK. Lets review our weeks work. Vishwanathan, lets begin with you. I heard
there were some issues between Accounts and Purchase departments.

Vishwanathan: Yes. Nothing much! Just that some 6-year old documents of Rose & Co.,
were missing. I felt that they should be with Purchase department and they
felt that they should be with Accounts department. Finally, we managed to
trace them. They were in Accounts department only. You see, at that time we
werent fully computersied...
At that point, Sharma lost his temper and shouted at Vishwanathan.
Sharma:

How could that happen? I cant believe this.

Vishwanathan: Thats what I am trying to tell...

Sharma:

I dont want to listen to anything. You are the accounts manager and I think you
are with Ivory right from day one. How can you be so careless?

Emotional Intelligence Deficit: Any Hopes?

Vishwanathan: I am not careless. That is what I am trying to explain...

Sharma:

No explanations, I said. Do you realise what it means being careless in the field
of accounts? Why dont you look for opportunities elsewhere where the job will
be cosy for you?

Vishwanathan: Enough is enough. You are the GM but you are no one to decide what job I need
to do. I dont understand why you cant listen to what I have to say.
Vishwanathan left the room angrily slamming the door behind him. He spoke to the CEO and
conveyed his desire to resign from the company. He had been with Ivory right from the very beginning
and the CEO knew that there had to be something genuinely wrong for Vishwanathan to take such
a decision. The CEO persuaded Vishwanathan to hold on until he found a solution to his problem.
Similarly, Khan also had a tough time with Sharma. This was her first job. She was new in town
and was living in a hostel. Though she was quite committed to her work, she was finding it little
difficult to adjust as Sharma exploited her a lot. He extracted more work from her on the pretext that
she was a fresher and that she needed to learn a lot. She could not even avail her leaves as and when
required as Sharma never sanctioned her any. However, when it was Sharmas turn, he would be on
leave irrespective of the state of affairs in office. This irritated Khan in particular. One fine day,
unable to handle the stress, she broke down in office. While her colleagues tried to console her,
Sharma admonished her that shed better leave her emotions at home before coming to office.
While all the team leaders had some issue or the other with Sharma, the overall behaviour of
Sharma was not cordial with all the members in the division. Even after spending 6 months in the
organisation, he had been unable to build good relationships. He did not mingle with his division
members and he came to be known for his ruthless behaviour throughout the company. He did not
even try to bond with the companys culture.
At Ivory, there was a practice to celebrate the companys founding day on a large scale. The
families of the employees were also included in the celebration. As the anniversary celebrations
approached, the entire staff of Ivory was in an enthusiastic mood. However, Sharmas division could
not play an active role in the celebrations as they were overburdened with work. Sharma had told
them that the success of the new division was very crucial and he would not want to waste even a
single day. He viewed the large-scale celebrations as waste of time and money.
Yet another example of Sharmas apathy towards his subordinates came to the forefront when a
factory technician went to Singh, with a plea. He conveyed to Singh that the particular machine,
which he and his colleagues were handling was malfunctioning and they had to operate it manually
to ensure a quality product. Singh could understand the problems as he knew that the machine had
been repaired many a times. Singh thought of asking the management to buy new equipment, even
though it was quite expensive and took the issue to Sharma. Sharma heard the problem but his
attitude infuriated Singh.
Sharma: Singh, you know that the machine is expensive. Why are you asking the management
to buy new equipment? Lets wait for this quarter. We will discuss then with the
management.
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Emotional Intelligence Deficit: Any Hopes?

Singh:

But... there are two more months for the quarter to end. Till then how will we manage?

Sharma: Didnt you tell me that it can be operated manually?

Singh:

Its difficult but

Sharma: ...But possible.

Sharma lacked the art of self-management as well. While he expected his subordinates to finish
their work on time, he was unable to manage his own work and the work was delayed at his end. He
then made his subordinates slog at the eleventh hour to ensure that the overall work got finished on
time. On such occasions he just could not control his emotions and lost temper for no reason on
anyone who had to interact with him.
He even tended to get nervous at crucial times. Two months prior to the launch of the moulded
furniture products in the market, Ivory planned an elaborate pre-launch advertising campaign in the
prominent city malls and furniture stores. Just one day prior to the launch, there was hectic activity
going on in Ivorys office. This was the first time when the management and other divisions of Ivory
would be seeing the work of Sharma and his division. Everybody was anxious but the team leaders
were surprised to learn that their GM was nervous and lacked confidence. Sharma expressed his
nervousness by shouting at one and all for no reason. He set a bad example for his subordinates and
instead of boosting up their morale made them all the more nervous.
Finally, at the end of 19 months of starting the new division, the entire range of moulded furniture
of Ivory was introduced into the market. The products were an instant hit with young couples
because of their design. Within just 3 months of the launch, the division saw good sales and it became
clear that the new venture of Ivory was a success.
However, even after the success of the new division, Sharma was unable to bond with his team
members. Gradually, Sharma started experiencing subtle retaliation (a mild insubordination!) from
his colleagues. Even the cooperation, which the team members had shown despite Sharmas bad
behaviour was missing. The employees had expected that Sharma would change his behavior with
the divisions success. However, his behaviour remained the same and the success made him all the
more ruthless due to pride.
The division was rewarded by the company but the division members were unhappy because of
the day-to-day excesses of their boss. Having completed 2 years in the company, Sharma was called
for a meeting with the CEO of the company. The CEO congratulated Sharma for his efforts and
asked him to resign from the services of the company. The CEO said, You have been successful in
handling the new division but we know at what cost. We cannot play with the emotions of more than
50 of our employees because of the apathy of one individual. Sharma was stunned! He was speechless
as many questions were running across his mind: What am I supposed to achieve? Was it wrong
afterall to go after the business results? Why should we bother about someone elses emotions? Am
I emotionally bankrupt? Whatever was happening at the new division had not gone unnoticed.
Why did the management take such a decision? Was it the right decision? Why did it take so long
to take such a decision? Was it the right time to take the decision? What role does emotional intelligence
play in leadership? Can emotional intelligence be learnt? Or is it an inherent quality of an individual?
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