Emotional Intelligence and Its Importance in Sustainable Development of Human Resources: A Conceptual Model

Abstract

It is established that human resources form the backbone of any organization. From an employer’s perspective, employee-friendly policy practices make the employees satisfied with their work and to retain them in the organization. Even from the employee’s perspective, the task accomplishment in the given work standards cannot be achieved with intelligence only, thus requiring emotional stability to sustain the challenges in the contemporary context. This paper attempts to study the importance of emotional intelligence (EI) through human resource practices that leads to sustainable development. The study focused and proposed a conceptual model to illustrate the importance of EI in the sustainability of human resources through select HR practices (recruitment and selection, performance management, compensation or incentives). Secondary data was used in the study. Data was gathered from the literature and scholarly articles relating to EI. A conceptual model was proposed linking the importance of EI in sustainable development of human resources. The proposed model illustrates that EI is a construct that helps in sustaining and developing workforce in organization. EI helps employees to deal with themselves and others to enable them to be productive. The study revealed that EI was a vital construct for employers in sustaining workforce. Employees understood their emotions and how it affected their decisions. EI was seen as a sine qua non which cannot be overlooked in a milieu of competition amongst organizations.