Reading and Carrying Framework - Iloka Benneth Chiemelie

QUESTION 5

Apply James and Arroba's (2005) "reading and carrying framework" to critically evaluate and reflect upon how you interact with others. Consider the implications in relation to your future workplace role.

0.1 INTRODUCTION

It is becoming increasingly important for people to understand their emotions and the emotionality of the environment they are in. This paper accesses outlined models to understand the bride between our rational aspect of life and the hidden dynamics of life, in relation to how I interact with people around me.

Interaction is a necessary tool in our day to day life, as we meet different people with different initiatives, views, understandings and lifestyle, so we must learn to adjust our lives in a way that makes people comfortable around us. However, this is not easy as we are also human and are turned on or turned off with certain happenings in our lives. Such happenings can be a product of our human decisions, or the impact of other peoples' decisions on our life.

Milkman et al. (2008) suggested that emotional intelligence is essential for delivering good decision. The ability of organizations and individual entities to contemplate, evaluate and implement good decision depends on a high number of intrinsic and extrinsic forces. While the management of external factors may be more difficult to control, understanding and management of human variables such as logics and emotion are very important to increase the quality of our decision. Hilary and Hui (2008)have explored the relationship between emotions and decision making, and their research found out those human emotions play important roles in decision making.

Thus, the above brief theoretical background have illustrated the early claims that emotional intelligence is the essential tool for quality decision making, because if we are comfortable and able to control our emotions, we can better gather information that are unlikely when we allow our emotions to play a role in our decisions, and in so doing, we can make more precise and accurate decisions.

Therefore, the objectives of this paper can be defined as, to incorporate academic theories as a measure of how our emotions interfere with our daily lives, and to apply these measure into my interactions with people and related it to my future workplace role. Having defined the objectives, it is worthy to note that this research paper is divided into three sections. The first section explores theoretical backgrounds, while the second sections reflects the theories in relation to my interaction with people and the final section links my personal interaction methods to my future workplace role.  

1.0 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

The definition of emotional intelligence and how the term should be applied has been a debated in numerous literatures (Mayer et al., 2008). The term was first coined by Thorndike (1920) as "social intelligence", to describe the skills used in understanding and managing people. However, the term "emotional intelligence" was first used in the USA in a doctoral thesis that studied the acknowledgement and effects of emotion (Payne, 1983). Salovey and Mayer (1990) followed the work by describing an emotional intelligence model which articulates that emotions can enhance rationality and individuals would benefit more if they work with rather than against their emotions. Bradberry and Greaves (2003) also noted that cumulative emotional intelligence is vital in representing mental and behavioral functions of individuals beyond their basic intelligence.

The works of Salovey and Mayer was identified by Daniel Goleman (1998), and this eventually leads to the formation of the four main elements of emotional intelligence. The first element is self-awareness, and it stresses the ability to read one's emotions and feel the impact while utilizing gut feeling as the bases for judgment. Self-management is the second dimension, and it is the ability to control one's emotion and impulse, while adopting to change in circumstances. The third element is social awareness, and it is the ability to see, understand and interpret the emotions of other people in relation to social norms. The final element is describes the ability to inspire, influence and develop others during conflict management and it is called relationship management.

Figure (1) below, elaborates the four dimensions of emotional intelligence discussed above into two variables of recognition and regulation. The recognition aspect involves being aware of the situation in hand in relation to our self and the society, and the regulation aspect involves applying social norms and personal constructs to identify the way forward from the recognized situation.

Figure (1): Goleman's model of emotional intelligence

1.2 THE READING AND CARRYING FRAMEWORK

Following their previous work on understanding skills required in working in the sophisticated public sector organizations, and other researchers elsewhere (Baddeley and James, 1987a, Baddeley and James 1987b, Arroba and James 1988, Arroba and James 1990, Baddeley and James 1991), James and Arroba (2005), developed the reading a carrying framework.

The two dimensions that James and Arroba (2005) found to be key in decision making were the ability to read a situation (without linking our emotions) and manage what was carried (emotional variables) into the situation. They also went on to highlight the importance of these dimensions in leadership, as leadership position revolves around making effective choices in how to act in a contexts that are difficult and different from our original viewpoints and approaches.

Under the reading dimension, two poles were identified. At one end,James and Arroba (2005) found that the pole contained the ability to act outwardly without any emotional interference and read the situation we face, while the other end contains an element that tries to pull us off from focusing, by interplaying our emotional variables into the situation. Therefore, a good reading ability involves the ability to appreciate the need to read a situation coupled with the skills to do so without emotional interference.

The carrying dimension involves the ability to turn towards our inner feelings, understanding the situation and applying these inner feelings into the situation. Two dimensions were also found in this dimension, were the first dimension is a strong self-esteem that revolves around willingness and ability to risk reading the situation, while the other dimension involves a self-defensive ego that make us focus on protecting our feeling rather than undertaking the tasks within the situation.

James and Arroba (2005) also noted that the two dimensions are complexly linked. For instance, if the initial assessment of a situation is against someone's will, this can lead to a self-defensive approach in expectation of retaliation from the interacting party. On the other hand, if the situation is within someone's will, he is likely to reach with a self-confidence approach. By putting the two dimensions together, James and Arroba (2005) developed four behavioral options which emphasis on behaviors that results from what is read and carried in a situation.

Figure (2): behavioral options

1.2.1 Inept behavior – this is when someone with unskilled reading capabilities meets with someone with self-insight, thus resulting in the frequent choice of ego defensive approach as they tend to defense themselves in situations that they cannot make sense of.

1.2.2 Innocent behavior – this results when someone with a familiar of a territory (carrying self-esteem), meets someone with unskilled reading of the environment. Thus, the unskilled individual plays the innocent option of allowing the self-esteem individual to guide him in the situation.

1.2.3 Clever behavior – this is evident when someone with skilled reading ability meets another with self-serving and defensive ego. In this sense, the unfamiliar person is not willing to accept the fact that the situation is not clear, and it will produce controlling and manipulative behavior.

1.2.4 Wise behavior – this is the result when someone with skilled reading ability meets another self-insight and esteem. The situation is the inability of any of them to accept defeat and their high willingness to put themselves in the edge of what is familiar and risk new options as the situation calls for the exercising of one's highest values.

The two theoretical frameworks discussed above further highlights the importance of understanding our emotions in our daily interactions with people, as it can influence the outcome of our interactions either positively or negatively. Therefore, this reflective paper will proceed to apply the theories in relation to my interactions with people.

2.0 REFLECTION OF HOW I INTERACT WITH PEOPLE AROUND ME

Being an open and friendly person, interaction for me begins from the moment I wake up to the moment I go back to sleep, and sometimes transcended into my dreams as reflection of my social life. My openness has also earned me the nick name "SEKI", which my friends say is a reflection of my Sincerity, Energizing attitude, Knowledge stream and Inspiration they feel when around me. However, it is necessary to adopt theoretical frameworks as the mode of exploring my interaction with people, in order to critically elaborate each element of my personality.

2.1 GOLEMAN'S MODEL OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

2.1.1 Self-awareness – ass discussed earlier, self-awareness if the ability to read one's emotion and feel the impact while adopting gut feeling as the base of our judgment. I am sensitive to my environment and I adopt self-awareness to a great extent. When interacting with people, I judge every aspect of the interaction based on their body language, the environment and the situation in hand, and make the final decision based on my overall perception of the interaction as I tend to seek harmony in every conversation.

2.1.2 Self-management - this is the ability to control one's emotion and impulse, while adapting to the situation in hand.  I am weak in this aspect, as I can easily allow my emotions to get the better of me. Therefore, I try to explain my personality in terms of my emotionality to the person I am interacting with, by asking them to either change topic or stop what they are doing which I deem in appropriate.

2.1.3 Social awareness - is the ability to see, understand and interpret the emotions of other people in relation to social norms. While I can see and understand the emotions of other people during an interaction, it is very difficult for me to interpret it to what is socially acceptable. This is because, I view every individual as a different entity and I believe their behaviors can sometimes differ in meaning to what they actually mean within the society. Thus, I always focus more on understanding people and their feelings, rather than interpreting it in relation to social norms.

2.1.4 Relationship management - describes the ability to inspire, influence and develop others during conflict management. I am exceptionally good in this, as I believe in making good friends and easily influence people. Therefore, during an interaction, I try to illustrate both the positives and negatives of the situation and the person in order to clearly present a reason for change or enhancement. This approach has worked magnificently for me, and I believe it is because of my sincere, approachable and open attitude.

2.2 JAMES AND ARROBA'S READING AND CARRYING FRAMEWORK

2.2.1 Reading ability – the reading dimensions involves understanding a situation outwardly without interpreting it in relation to our inward feeling. My reading process revolves around two elements of reward and consequences. This involves understanding what will happen if I read the situation wrongly or rightly. Therefore, I tend to keep my inward feelings out of a situation especially where the result of the reading process doesn't directly influence me – for instance when resolving dispute between two friends. However, I also read certain situations based on my inward feelings when I think there is a possibility of the outcome directly influencing me – for instance when I am in dispute with somebody. Thus, it can be said that my reading ability revolves around the two pools depending on the situation being read.

2.2.2 Carrying ability – this dimension includes what we carry internally into a situation, and how we use these inner feelings to analyze a situation. Having grown up from a very prudent and ethical family, I carry numerous elements of responsibility into a situation and it generally influences my decision making aspect as I tend to find peace and harmony between every interaction. Besides the elements gained from social upbringing, I also judge situations with gut feelings and common sense.

Basically, it can be said that my decision making process is highly influenced by numerous traits that I carry with me into a situation. For instance, if a good friend of mine is seeing financial help from me, I don't just help me because he is a friend. Rather I help him because I have judge every aspects of the interaction based on previous experience, what I have heard about him, collaterals in case he fails to pay and finally my gut feeling of whether I am at peace with myself by helping him. Therefore, it can be said that what I carry into a situation highly influence my decision making process.

2.3 JAMES AND ARROBA'S BEHAVIORAL PATTERN

2.3.1 I am a flexible cat – the cat concept is the clever behavior which is one's ability to respond to any situation, whether he is aware of not aware of the territory. While taking the risk to respond, a cat also ensure that he doesn't engage in the risk of failing rather focuses on finding fault in order people's analyses of the situation.

This is the real me in personality, characteristics and decision making. I can't afford to lose and I also can't afford to just watch and be directed. I want to control every situation and I also want to make sure that all the situations I control are in their perfect state. This is also my interaction process with people. I call myself flexible cat because I don't focus on one aspect; rather I adopt and adjust to the situation in hand. When interacting with people, the first approach is to exercise my authority of being aware of the territory, and if my counterpart is adopting the innocent behavior then I will dominate and control him, but if he is adopting the wise behavior then I will look for faults in his statement as a way to weaken his moral and take the driving seat from him.

The three theories above have been essential in elaborating the way I interact with people. But, Ketz de Vries (2004) developed a "theory called prisoners of the past". The concept is that when you scratch a man or a woman, you will find a child in him or her. This means that by as we grow, a considerable amount of our behavior grows with us and eventually become a part of our live that constantly influence our decisions for the rest of our life (McCrae and Costa,1990; Heatherton and Weinberger, 1994).. Thus, it can be expected that my mode of interaction today will not be wiped out over night, but will instead continue to grow and become a part of me in the future. In that case, the next chapter will apply my mode of interactions into my future workplace role.

3.0 APPLICATION OF MY MODE OF INTERACTION INTO MY FUTURE WORKPLACE ROLE

As Friedman (1970) stated, the business of every business is business. This implies that organizations operate with the sole aim of making profit, and in that case, they are only willing to hire employees with the right attitude for their jobs and are also willing to lay off employees who are less productive than their job requires. But, this statement by Friedman above implies that organizations are also likely to use employees were they tend to excess low self-esteem within the system they work for. In that case, I intend to carry my cat behavior (clever option) into my future workplace role. This can further be illustrated by adopting the theories as given below.

3.1 Krantz and Maltz's Role as "Taken" and Role as "Given"

The framework described the two ways in which organizational role is authorized and undertaken. The role as given the tasks authorized by the organization and given to the employee to undertake (normally contained in job description), while the role as taken is the way the employee undertakes the authorized role (can be the same or different from steps highlighted in the job description (Krantz and Maltz, 1997). The difference in the way a role is undertaken is determined by the role influencers, and emotion as well as logic are common role influences. When someone judges that his output determines his pay, or that undertaking a task will help build is career, then the person is more likely to undertake such tasks with precision.

3.1.1 My role as taken – based on the above argument, it will be good to approach this concept with sincerity. While I personally believe in self-actualization, which is achievable through work performance, I also dislike being used by either people or corporations. Therefore, it is expected that my current ways of interaction will influence my future workplace role in the sense that, I will take my role exactly as it is given except for cases where I see a rewarding output. For instance, is my role is to sale 5 laptops per week, and I happen to sale exactly 5 laptops in just 3 days, I will seat back and relax as I have achieved the required target. But, if selling more laptops will earn me a commission or offer me the opportunity to develop my career, I will be more committed towards selling more. Also, I am less likely to utilize my resources for organizational growth when I see that the organization doesn't care much about me or I have nothing to benefit from doing so.

4.0 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE IMPLICATION

Emotional intelligence can be said to be the aspect of our social well-being, which gives us the ability to control our personal emotions when faced with complex and different situations that we are used to. While the concept is easy to elaborate, applying the meaning into our daily lives has been found to be a difficult task by this paper.

Therefore, it is necessary to understand how we interact with people, by adopting theories that are built for such studies as illustrated in this paper. In so doing, we can figure out our strengths and weakness. This will help us in finding solutions to our weakness and enhancing our strength as illustrated in this case study.

It can then be concluded that while SEKI is a flexible car, my flexibility implies that I am not static but dynamic in dealing with my own life and in that case open to change when it see it as a the right thing to do. This means that if in the future I find out that my "clever behavior" is negatively affecting my interaction with people within my workplace and also negatively influencing my productivity, I will adopt the wheel of change to analyze the situation and change my ways if necessary.

4.1 James and John's Wheel of Change (1994)

The framework involves understanding the change cycles by analyzing both the positive and change outcomes and making a sense of the situation. This can be done by drawing a balance sheet of change to better visualize the whole situation.

Table (1): My future balance sheet of change

Reason to change

Reason not to change

 From the table (1) above, if I am faced with difficulties in my future workplace that is related to my mode of interaction with people around me, then I will draw a balance sheet of change. If the reason to change over weighs the reason not to change then I will change or else I will stick with my personality and look for other alternatives. Thus, this implies that while I want to be in control of situations around me, I will adjust myself to difficult and unfamiliar circumstances that I will face in my future workplace. 

Prochaska & Diclemente (1982) proposed 5 stages of change and it can be used to further illustrate my wheel of change, in relation to future factors that could influence me to change my ways of interaction. This is as elaborated below/

4.1.1 Precontemplation stage – at this stage, the individual sees no reason to change as he chooses to adopt his present ways of life. Thus, if I see no reason to change my method of interaction, I will stick to it and the reason to change will be evaluated based on comparing possible outcomes with present outcomes.

4.1.2 Contemplation stage – in cases where I consider the result to be beneficial, I will evaluate the present situation (problem) with expected outcome (result) and adopt the change option. But if the outcome is possibly negative, I will stick with my present ways of interaction.

4.1.3 Preparation – once I have made the decision to change, I will start to get ready for the change process by understanding the does and don'ts that will result from the change process. For instance, if I decided to reduce my ego, then I must be ready to take shame and bow to other people's authority.

4.1.4 Action – after the preparation, then I will take the full change process by humbling myself and listening to what people are saying. I think this will also be great in gathering more information from conversation as my parties will be offered the opportunity to communicate more of their minds to me.

4.1.5 Maintenance – the change process will be maintained by encouraging my partners to speak freely in a way that illustrates equality in the conversation instead of the dominant trait I usually exhibit. Through this means the change process will be executed to precision and thus build a more interesting conversation.

Incorporating myself into the organization and society where I reside will highlight the fact that change is eminent as the society and organization is an already system and they cannot change to adapt to my style. Thus, I am required to change to adapt to their style and thus create a more unanimous system were everybody exercise freedom of speech and this will increase the quality of interaction with people and data gathered from such interactions.

5.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arroba, T. and James, K. (1990) 'Politics and Management: the effect of stress on the political sensitivity of managers', Journal of Managerial Psychology 5 (3): 22-27.

Arroba T and James K (1988) 'Are Politics Palatable to Women Managers? How Women can make wise moves at Work', Women in Management Review 3 (3): 123- 130.

Arroba, T. and James, K. (2005) "Reading and Carrying: a framework for learning about emotion and emotionality in organisational systems as a core aspect of leadership development", Managemnet Learning, Vol 36, No. 3, pp. 299-316. Available at: https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/bitstream/1826/983/4/Reading_and_carrying-2005.pdf [Accessed on: 11-04-2012].

Baddeley, S. and James, K. (1987a) 'Owl, Fox, Donkey, Sheep: Political Skills for Managers', Management Education and Development 18 (Spring): 3-19.

Baddeley, S. and James, K. (1987b) 'From Political Neutrality to Political Wisdom', Politics 7 (2): 35-40.

Baddeley, S. and James, K. (1991) 'The Power of Innocence: from politeness to politics', Management Education and Development 22 (Pt. 2): 106-118.

Bradberry, T. and Greaves, J. (2003), The Emotional Intelligence Quickbook, Talentsmart, San Diego, CA.

Friedman, M. (1970), "The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits", The New York Times Magazine, September 13.

Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.

Heatherton, T. and Weinberger, J. L., Eds. (1994). Can Personality Change? Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Hilary, G. and Hui, K.W. (2008), "Does religion matter in corporate decision making in America?", Journal of Financial Economics, available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract¼1284329.

Krantz, J. and Maltz, M. (1997) "A Framework for Consulting to Organizational Role," Consulting Psychology Journal, Vol. 49, No. 2, 137-151. Available at: http://www.worklab.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Role-Consultation-Article2.pdf [Accessed on: 13-04-2012].

Mayer, J.D., Salovey, P. and Caruso, D.R. (2008), "Emotional intelligence: new ability or eclectic traits", American Psychologist, Vol. 63 No. 6, pp. 503-17.

McCrae, R. R. and Costa, P. T. (1990). Personality in Adulthood. New York: Guilford Press.

Milkman, K.L., Chugh, D. and Bazerman, M. (2008), "How can decision making be improved?", working paper, Harvard Business School, available at: www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-102. pdf (accessed December 23, 2010).

Payne, W.L. (1983), "A study of emotion: developing emotional intelligence; self integration; relating to fear, pain and desire", Dissertation Abstracts International, Vol. 47, p. 203A.

Salovey, P. and Mayer, J. (1990), "Emotional intelligence", Imagination, Cognition and Personality, Vol. 9, pp. 185-211.

Thorndike, R.K. (1920), "Intelligence and its uses", Harpers Magazine, Vol. 140, pp. 227-35.