Running Head: GROUP EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: 1

Group Emotional Intelligence

HCIN-544-02-SU17 - Advanced Health Care Information Management

Amrit Virdee

University of San Diego

August 2nd 2017

GROUP EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: 2

Emotional intelligence is rooted within the confines of social intelligence and can

be defined as the ability to express emotions. (Barr, Dowding, 2016). Emotionally

intelligent leaders have the ability to persuade others to follow a common goal and also

have the ability to make them feel good about following that goal. Emotional

intelligence is also linked to compassion. For groups to be effective, three conditions

are required, creating trust among each other, creating a sense of group identity and

group efficacy which is defined as a group’s perceived capability to perform. Meeting

these three conditions increases openness in participation which then results in be tter

decisions being made, more creative solutions being discussed and increasing

productivity and performance.

The primary goal of getting groups to be more successful is to eliminate members

of the group from holding back due to conflicting personalities and various group

dynamics so that they can collaborate and participate fully. Having emotional

intelligence within a group allows the group to understand and relate to each other,

where every group member’s voice is heard and every idea in the group is tabled. Group

emotional intelligence is not about the lack of tension within a group or the fact that all

members need to like each other, it is about acknowledging when there is tension and

addressing it head-on, it is about understanding that difference s can lead to greater

outcomes. A team can have everything going for it—the brightest and most qualified people,

access to resources, a clear mission—but still fail because it lacks group emotional intelligence

(Urch Druskat, Wolff, 2001). Team building events outside their workplace are a good way of
GROUP EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: 3

getting teams to be more emotionally intelligent where they can get to know each other on a

higher emotional level which in turn increases trust and builds on group identity.

References

Wolff, S., Urch Druskat, V., (2001). Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups. Retrieved

Retrieved August 01, 2017, from https://hbr.org/2001/03/building-the-emotional-

intelligence-of-groups

Gibson, C. B., Randel, A. E., & Earley, P. C. (2000, March 01). Understanding Group Efficacy.

Efficacy. Retrieved August 02, 2017, from

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1059601100251005

Barr, J., & Dowding, L. (2016). Leadership in health care. London: Sage publications.