EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND JOB PERFORMANCE AMONG INDIAN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE PERSONNEL

There arestudies linking emotional intelligence to job performance therefore, findings still reveal a mixture of inconsistent results. However, to add to the growing interest in the subject matter, this study examines the effect of emotional intelligence on job performance among Indian Military Intelligence Personnel. Using stratified random sampling technique, sample size of Three hundred (300) Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs), Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) & Other Ranks (ORs) of Indian Military Intelligence was chosen. Data was collected through structured questionnaire and descriptive comparative analysis while the Spearman Rank Correlation was used in testing the hypotheses and five point Likert Scale has been used. Sampling adequacy has been measured through KMO and Bartlett’s Test, sampling adequacy reflected as 0.865. The psychometric properties of the Emotional Intelligence Scale and Job Performance Scale were established through Cronbach Alpha internal consistency ranging from 0.90 to 0.95. A correlation of rho = 0.948 suggests a strong, positive association between the variables. Results indicate that a positive relationship was found between Emotional intelligence and job performance. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the Directorate of Military Intelligence should focus not only on identifying the occupational stress factors affecting their personnel but also try to manage their emotional competences through the provision of conducive working environment for them. In this way they can deal with the problem of occupational stress and boost their job performance. Also, this could be done by employing the service of motivational interviewing counsellor, psychologist and counsellors from Defence Institute of Psychological Research to train the Military Intelligence personnel,who has gathering information from various sources i.e remote sensing equipment, human resources and trans-border activities and also conduct operations to prevent espionage, sabotage & subversion activities and made them as psychologically fit to handle their emotional intelligence in positive way. KEYWORDS : Indian Army, Military Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, Job Performance. INTRODUCTION: The safety, honour and welfare of your country come first, always and every time. The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next. Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and every time. Field Marshal Philip WalhouseChetwode Commander-in-Chief, British Indian Army in 1932 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND JOB PERFORMANCE AMONG INDIAN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE. vOlUme 8 | issUe 5 | feBRUaRY 2019 ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ Journal for all Subjects : www.lbp. world 2 Emotional intelligence as originally conceptualised by Salovey and Mayer (1990, p.10) involves the ability/capability to appraise, perceive accurately, and express emotion; the ability to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and the skill/ability to regulate or control emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth. Mayer and Salovey (1993) suggested that there are individual differences in EI relating to differences in our ability to appraise our own emotions and those of others. They further suggested that individuals higher in EI might be more open to internal experience and better able to label and communicate those experiences. Salovey and Mayer (1990) initially posed that the mental processes involving emotional information included the appraisal and expression of emotion, regulation of emotion and adaptive use of emotions. However, this framework also included personality traits; for instance, EI was hypothesised to be able to distinguish between individuals who were genuine and warm ‘compared to those who were oblivious and boorish’. Because the concept of EI would be more useful if it was separated from personality traits and confined to a mental ability, the model was revised in 1997 (Mayer & Salovey, 1997) to give greater emphasis to the cognitive components of EI and to highlight the potential for emotional and intellectual growth. Research findings linking emotional intelligence to high quality social relationships have implications for the performance of employees in organisations (Sala, Druskat, Mount, 2006). To them, emotionally intelligent individuals may engage in more extra-role behaviours such as helping co-workers and spreading goodwill about the organisation than their counterparts. Furthermore, they are of the views that people may generally have favourable attitudes about emotionally intelligent individuals, and as a consequence, emotionally intelligent individuals may receive better advice, more social support, and higher performance evaluations than their counterparts. In another development, Sala et al (2006) further opine that emotionally intelligent individuals may be more successful in producing and communicating, inspiring visions or generating enthusiasm and hope for their ideas. Thus, it is not the possession of certificates by workers that really matters in the new millennium workplace, but rather workers who, in addition to excellent skills, possess self management skills and ability to relate well with others so as to engender good working relationship. In another development, Cote and Miners (2006) are of the views that individuals with low cognitive intelligence may reap relatively large returns from high emotional intelligence, because job performance that is not attained through cognitive intelligence may be attained through emotional intelligence. To them, an employee who accurately detects colleagues’ emotions may facilitate coordination and interpersonal functioning that may, in turn enhance task performance (Law, Wong, and Song, 2004). Military Intelligence personnel has gathering information from various sources i.e remote sensing equipments, human resources and trans-border activities and also conduct operations to prevent espionage, sabotage & subversion activities. After information gathering the same have been shared with other intelligence agencies i.e National Technical Research Organisation, R&AW, IB, DIA & Joint Cipher Bureau. They use this information to determine risks related to potential command decisions. They use the intelligence gathered through their specialty to resolve threats presented by an adversary and to provide operational commanders with a reduced risk of uncertainty. Hence, profession of Military Intelligence personnel is not a tiny one; they are playing with their life and against nature. Hence, the Military Intelligence department require personnels, who have strong background, not only in educational knowledge, but also in inter-personal skills such as responsibility, self-esteem, sociability, self management, integrity, effective collaboration, trust building, ability to handle confrontations constructively, treating one another in a caring manner, and honesty. All these forms the bedrock of emotional intelligence. Therefore, it is pertinent to mentioned that, low morale, intimidated personnels, arrogant superiors, emotional instability are indices of emotional deficiencies and their attendant effects become evident in decreased job performance leading to inter-conflict, mistakes, absence, ill health, unnecessary transfer request, lack of organisational commitment and reputation, loss of key staff and depleted bottom line. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND JOB PERFORMANCE AMONG INDIAN MILITARY INTELLIGENCE. vOlUme 8 | issUe 5 | feBRUaRY 2019 ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ Journal for all Subjects : www.lbp. world 3 1.1 About the Indian Army. The Indian Army has its origin in the armed guards of the East India Company of merchant from Britain. These guards were required for the company’s protection. Initially there were Englishmen but gradually Indians were also enrolled. In 1902 when Lord Kitchener took over as Commander–in-Chief (C-in-C) of Army it was further reorganized as a new regular force. In 1947, with the partition of the country, twothird of the strength remained with India and one-third went away to Pakistan. On the eve of our independence the strength of undivided Army was nearly 25,00,000. On 15 January 1948, Lieutenant General K.M. Cariappa became the first Indian Commanderin –Chief (C-in-C). 15 Jan is now celebrated every year as ‘Army Day’. Our Army is the ultimate insurance policy to safeguard our freedom as it stand guarantee against disintegration of the country, whether planned by the enemies outside the country or from within. India has 1.13 million strong Army making it world’s second largest Army. No better soldier than the Indian soldier. The Indian soldier can suffer the privacy, his needs are few and more importantly, he can brave the hardship of Army life even in combat better than any other soldier in the world. Though it has not fought a full blown war in decades, the force is bogged down in fighting domestic insurgencies, guarding restrictive borders and sometime quelling civilian rioting. Each type of profession has its own difficulties and demands adjustment to it. Adjustment and devotion in any work get hampered by non-fulfilment of basic needs e.g. physical and emotional needs and this is true for our army men too. The need for physical survival and bodily comforts includes the needs for food, clothing, shelter, sleep, rest etc the love and affection for family, religious as well as national sentiments are emotional needs that drives human behavior. The changing times through which army has traversed during the past over six decades, the Politico-Bureaucrat