Emotional Intelligence in Tourism and Hospitality

Erdogan Koc

• Publisher: CAB International
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781786398314
• eBook ISBN:
  9781786398338
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

Emotional intelligence is the capability to recognize, use and manage one's own emotions and those of others. The use of emotional information guides thinking and behaviour, allowing adjustment of emotions to adapt to environments. As tourism and hospitality services are produced and consumed simultaneously, with a high level of contact between employees and customers, the development of emotional intelligence of employees in tourism and hospitality establishments is vital.This book has a skills-based approach and explains how emotional intelligence can be developed in tourism and hospitality students and employees. Key features: A foreword by Gill HassonThe first tourism and hospitality book to describe emotional intelligenceCovers all major literature, concepts, theories and research findings from the perspective of emotional intelligence.Includes exercises, end of chapter questions, practical examples, student aids and Powerpoint slides for each chapter that can be used in class by academicians and practitioners in their training sessions.The book is intended for use by tourism and hospitality students, researchers and practitioners.

1 Introduction to Emotional Intelligence in Tourism and Hospitality

ERDOGAN KOC

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter you should be able to:

• Understand the concept of multiple intelligences.

• Explain the difference between intelligence quotient and emotional intelligence.

• Understand the relevance of emotional intelligence for tourism and hospitality.

1.1 Introduction

There have been two main motivations for this book. Firstly, emotional intelligence is highly relevant for service environments and service encounters, especially in the tourism and hospitality sectors. Secondly, emotional intelligence can be developed, learned and improved through training and experience (Hasson, 2017). In this section, in addition to an introduction to the concept of emotional intelligence in general, the relevance of emotional intelligence for tourism and hospitality businesses is explained.

1.2 Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence

1.2.1 Intelligence

Intelligence can be defined as the ‘aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal efficiently and effectively with one’s environment’ (Weschler, 1940). Originally, the word intelligence came from the Latin intelligentia, which in turn is derived from intelligere. The Latin word intelligere combines two terms, the first being inter (meaning between) and the second being legere (meaning to choose). Hence, etymologically the origin of the term intelligence refers to knowing how to choose, i.e. intelligence allows people to choose or discern the best options from alternatives for a given problem.

The earliest use of the word intelligence in the English language can be traced back to a poem (The Teares of the Muses) written by English poet Edmund Spenser in 1591:

A stonie coldnesse hath benumbed the sence …And dimd with darknesse their intelligence

Spenser’s lines above suggest some sort of an understanding of the engagement of the environment with the individual’s internal capacities. In the Oxford English Dictionary (2018) the word intelligence is listed as a noun meaning ‘the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills’. In basic terms, intelligence is the mental ability to reason, learn and solve problems. Intelligence integrates cognitive functions such as perception, attention, memory, language and planning (Colom et al., 2010). It influences the capacity or ability to learn and understand, and hence influences all dimensions of human conduct (Piaget, 2005).

Although a high level of intelligence (e.g. a high intelligence quotient (IQ) score above 120) can be seen as a predictor of success (Sternberg et al., 2001; Duckworth et al., 2007), there are other types of intelligence and new perspectives on the concept of intelligence.

1.2.2 The concept of multiple intelligences

After Thorndike (1920) proposed three types of intelligence (mechanical, abstract and social) there was a shift in terms of the focus of intelligence from the brain to other aspects of human intelligence. Later, the theory of multiple intelligences was developed in the 1970s by the psychologist Gardner (1993). According to Gardner, individuals draw on different types of intelligence to solve problems at work, and in their daily lives to solve problems relevant to their contexts and societies (Gardner, 1993, 2008). The nine intelligences offered by Gardner (1999) are outlined in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1. Gardner’s multiple intelligences construct. (From Gardner, 1999.)

Multiple intelligences	Explanations
Interpersonal intelligence	The ability: • to understand other people’s moods, temperaments, motives and intentions; • to have empathy; • to recognize differences and distinctions among people; • to appreciate other people’s perspectives.
Intrapersonal intelligence	The ability: • to assess one’s own feelings, moods and motivations; • to use one’s own feelings, moods and motivations to guide behaviours; • to understand oneself; • to be aware of one’s weaknesses and strengths; • to plan efficiently and effectively to achieve personal goals.
Kinaesthetic intelligence	The ability: • to control one’s body movements and to manipulate objects; • to think in movements; • to use one’s body in a skilled and complicated way; for expressive and goal-directed activities; • to have the sense of timing and the ability to coordinate whole-body movement.
Linguistic intelligence	The ability: • to use language in an efficient and effective manner; • to think in words and to use language; • to express and understand complex meanings; • to be sensitive towards the meaning of words: order among the words, sounds, rhythms, inflections.
Logical–mathematical intelligence	The ability: • to discern logical and numerical patterns; • to manipulate numerical processes; • to think of cause-and-effect connections; • to understand relationships among actions, objects or ideas; • to have inductive and deductive reasoning skills; • to be critical and to solve problems creatively.
Musical intelligence	The ability: • to produce and understand rhythm, pitch and timbre of music; • to think in sounds, rhythms, melodies and rhymes; • to recognize, create and reproduce music by using an instrument or voice; • to connect music with emotions; • to be critical and to solve problems creatively.
Naturalist intelligence	The ability: • to understand the natural world – plants, animals and scientific studies; • to recognize individuals, species and ecological relationships; • to interact effectively with living creatures and discern patterns of life and natural forces.
Spatial intelligence	The ability: • to think in pictures and to perceive the visual world accurately in three dimensions; • to transform one’s perceptions; • to re-create aspects of one’s visual experience via imagination.
Spiritual intelligence	The ability: • to perceive and manipulate a visual–spatial world; • to think that there is an ultimate power that determines people’s destiny; • to believe in the destiny that influences people’s attitudes and behaviours to achieve harmony and peace and God’s blessings.

All the intelligences described in Table 1.1 are applicable to a range of life endeavours. However, the first two, interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence, are especially relevant for service environments and encounters in tourism and hospitality. Below, the concept of emotional intelligence and how it relates to tourism and hospitality service encounters is explained.

1.3 Emotional Intelligence and its Relevance for the Tourism and Hospitality Industry

Emotional intelligence is the ability of an individual to perceive, understand, use and manage not only her/his emotions but also the emotions of other people the individual interacts with (Salovey and Mayer, 1990; Goleman, 1996).

Research findings demonstrate that as much as 60% of success in a wide variety of sectors can be attributed to emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1996; Wong and Law, 2002; Coetzee and Harry, 2014). An important proportion of people (90%) who show extraordinary success and performance appear to have relatively higher levels of emotional intelligence (Bradberry and Greaves, 2006, 2009). Senior executives believe that emotional intelligence is among the top ten skills for business success and will continue to be important in the future (World Economic Forum, 2015). The World Economic Forum (2015) developed a report and identified the crucial abilities for the 21st century. These abilities or competences included collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem-solving, or character qualities such as social and cultural awareness, understanding others, curiosity and adaptability. This means that 21st-century skills and abilities are very much parallel with emotional intelligence abilities and skills. Many studies show that the above skills, which are often referred to as soft skills, are, and will continue to be, more important than technical skills (Young, 1996; Rojas, 2014; Nikhil and Arthi, 201...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• Foreword
• 1 Introduction to Emotional Intelligence in Tourism and Hospitality
• 2 Emotions and Developing Emotional Intelligence in Tourism and Hospitality Businesses
• 3 Measuring Emotional Intelligence in Tourism and Hospitality
• 4 Emotional Intelligence and Service Encounters
• 5 Development of Personal Expertise in Tourism and Hospitality Professions: Cognitive Knowledge, Personality and Learning Style
• 6 Emotional Intelligence and its Relationship with Personality, Gender, Age and Culture in Tourism and Hospitality
• 7 Developing Intercultural Sensitivity as an Emotional Ability
• 8 Service Quality and Emotional Intelligence
• 9 Service Failures, Recovery and Emotional Intelligence
• 10 Mystery of Spiritual Intelligence: Predictions, Prophecies and Possibilities
• Index
• Back Cover