Antczak Zbigniew, Kołodziejczyk A., Group Emotional Intelligence in the virtual organization (survey report) [art]

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Zbigniew Antczak, Agnieszka Kołodziejczyk,

Group Emotional Intelligence in the virtual organization (survey report) Introduction

The combination of the classical approach to the management of new technologies and processes (eg information and communications, telecom, virtualization, network structures, etc.) opens up different possibilities and directions of research areas. Modified the roles of managers, the economic slowdown, the adjustment of the pervasive computerization, management of remote workers, cooperators, or business partners, using modern technology – pose new challenges before the company.1

1. The issue of Emotional Intelligence (IE) in the management of virtual

C. Sikorski Studies show that the current organizational conditions with the emergence of network organizations and virtual2 – manager acts as a broker, a virtual coordinator. First of all, it is to run and exploit the potential of subordinate employees, asking them to solve more problems than goals; discussing the mode of action, rather than forcing them, sharing of information, rather than preserving them for myself.3 By C. Garton and K. Wegryna virtual manager is a person who is responsible for each of the members of the team, task or project in different locations. Relationship management and project manager at a distance is defined as a "virtu1

Kołodziejczyk A., Umiejętności..., s. 538; Antczak Z., Funkcja personalna w przedsiębiorstwie w okresie transformacji gospodarczo-społecznej w Polsce, Wyd. AE, Wrocław 2005, s. 44 – 113. 2 Organizacja wirtualna, sieciowa – zob.: Antczak Z., Funkcja ..., s. 83 – 95; Niemczyk J., Wyróżniki, budowa i zachowania strategiczne układów outsourcingowych, Wyd. AE, Wrocław 2006, s. 24 – 34; Perechuda K., Dyfuzja wiedzy w przedsiębiorstwie sieciowym, Wyd. AE, Wrocław 2005, s. 55 – 57. 3 Sikorski C., Organizacje bez wodzów, C.H. Beck, Warszawa 2006, s. 8.

al" as the cyber-manager. At the same time virtual manager is responsible for building and managing an effective and functional team of employees (a virtual team4), regardless of where employees are located and for which organizations are working.5 The management of the virtual connection are the chances: 

Dynamic development of the organization,

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Orders without geographical limitations and competence,

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Delivery of services at the highest possible level of quality.

But there are risks associated with managing virtual, such as: 

Incidental relationship experts are not conducive to building relationships of loyalty,

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Any subsequent transfer orders directly by an expert, or a business partner,

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Withdrawal of an expert or a business partner with the network structure.

Manager role, using virtual management takes a modified form: coordination, leadership, creating a culture of team, a collection of feedback, combining actors with different skills and specialties into a single virtual cell carries out a common objective.6 Striving to increase the efficiency of teamwork led researchers to explore the issue of the effect of emotional intelligence on the functioning of the group. For the pur-

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Virtual teams are characterized by that: they are not formally part of the static organizational structure, carry out tasks that are beyond existing organizational divisions, consisting of specialists and / or managers; work periodically, regularly or depending on the circumstances, be liable under the objectives, complement the existing organizational structure, but it does not replace, the members of virtual teams always have a specific position in some formal organizational unit (Perechuda K., Metody zarządzania przedsiębiorstwem, Wyd. AE, Wrocław 1999, s. 93). Virtual teams are often invoked to set the project, which has a fixed duration. Due to the different specializations and levels of responsibility to team members, to achieve the target it ceases to function, and members are assigned to other tasks and the new virtual teams (Kołodziejczyk A., Umiejętności wirtualnego menedżera w organizacji – studium przypadku (komunikat z badań), [w:] Witkowski S., Listwan T. (red.), Kompetencje a sukces zarządzania organizacją, Difin, Warszawa 2008, s. 230). 5 Garton C., Wegryn K., Managing without Walls: maximize success with virtual, global, and crosscultural teams, MC Press, Lewisville 2006, s. 20. 6 Kołodziejczyk A., Umiejętności wirtualnego menedżera w organizacji – studium przypadku (komunikat z badań), [w:] Witkowski S., Listwan T. (red.), Kompetencje a sukces zarządzania organizacją, Difin, Warszawa 2008, s. 236.

poses of research adopted semantic range of emotional intelligence (IE) for P. Salovey's, who understands it as a skill: a) the right perception, evaluation and expression of emotions; b) access to the feelings of their generation capacity at times when they can help thinking c) understanding emotions and emotional understanding of knowledge, and d) to regulate emotions so as to support the development of emotional and intellectual.7 Exploration of these issues within the context of a group of design-task in today's global-network generates a lot more specific issues such as what skills should be characterized by the functional manager wirtualno-network considerations?; Whether his individual emotional intelligence (IIE) has an impact on the coordinated team (group emotional intelligence, GIE)?, etc. Article based on a preliminary study and literature survey of the problem - an attempt to outline possible solutions to these issues.

2. Theoretical and methodological assumptions and method of measurement of group emotional intelligence (GIE) of possible solutions to these issues

Were selected for the study (selection of intentionally) a group of small businesses from the sphere of information and services in your area that contains the organizational structure of the network-virtual (think design-task), designed primarily to its headquarters in Lower Silesia. Theoretical model for the starting point adopted an interesting attempt to construct a concept of group emotional intelligence (GIE) on the basis of individual emo-

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Salovey P., Sluyter D.J., Rozwój emocjonalny a inteligencja emocjonalna, Rebis, Poznań 1999, s. 34.

tional intelligence (IIE, an understanding of the P. Salovey's, H. Gardner' s and JD Mayer's), which has S. Côté (see Figure 1.).8 Figure 1. The matrix model / measurement of group emotional intelligence (GIE) by S. Côté. Additive model

Model for the highest result

Model the lowest result

Dispersion model

Source: own study based on: S. Côté, Group Emotional Intelligence and Group Performance, „Research on Managing Groups and Teams” 10/2007, s. 317 – 344. S. Côté – depending on the performance of the task force – has adopted the possibility of measuring and interpreting the results as a model of group emotional intelligence (GIE) according to standard: 

additive (Additive and Direct Consensus Composition Model), the emotional intelligence of a block is equal to the sum of the individual intelligence of individual members of the group;

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the highest result (Maximum-Score Composition Model), the emotional intelligence of a block is equal to the highest result of belonging to a team member;

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the lowest result (Minimum-Score Composition Model), the emotional intelligence of a block is equal to the lowest result of belonging to one of the members of the group;

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distributed (Dispersion Composition Model), in which the emotional intelligence level block is determined by the variance of the results of the individual in the group.

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S. Côté, Group Emotional Intelligence and Group Performance, „Research on Managing Groups and Teams” 2007, Vol. 10, s. 317 – 344.

The assumption, which was behind the basis of research, contains a condition that tests show the presence of characteristics / predispositions with managers and team members (including higher results in the study of emotional intelligence), which is an essential element of the precondition for the functioning of a virtual team. Then they are confronted with economic data, achieved by the organization. If (and this despite the economic slowdown) the economy is growing – it must be inferred that a significant variable, which is the GIE synergistically contributed to this fact (there was a positive correlation). The survey consisted of an examination of a trial in the third quarter of 2009 in Neurosof, small business information and service based in Wroclaw, the top management's (Vice President), project coordinator and members of virtual teamengineering task force (2 persons) Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire PKIE and test H. Weisingera. The concern (with the vice-president and two members of the executive team) conducted in-depth interviews. Consulted with the interpretation of the observer involved. We collected data about the condition of economic organization, the rate of development and current directions.

3. General characteristics of the company Neurosoft

Neurosoft created in November 1992 as Limited Liability Company, a joint venture with foreign capital. According to the vision of its creators – in the near future, a computer system equipped with the technology Neurosoftu will, through software that facilitates the work of a man with a computer partner (and not a tool) the user. The name comes from the technology of artificial neural networks, used in Microsoft products, including module recognition (OCR), in the process of speech recognition, etc. Neurosoft since mid-2009, (despite the economic slowdown) noted a significant increase in growth revenue (compared with previous years). In

terms of number of employees (or cooperating) – there was a significant increase (more than 30%). Intellectual output, ie research results and the ability of their application in practice – is the most important capital of the firm. It is inextricably linked with people working in Neurosofcie. The majority are two graduates of the Wroclaw University, Polytechnic and University. Neurosoftu facilities are collaborators, primarily faculty of both universities. The organization is therefore a kind of spin-off company of the two universities, but with this difference, that the developed technologies are wholly owned Neurosoft.9 According to Vice President Neurosoftu form of virtual collaboration applied from the beginning. "With new collaborators use a combination of: working in a fully remote, plus a meeting summary. With permanent staff can work remotely full, and any meeting shall be enforced by the successive phases of the project" (work in flexible, yet an additional aspect, which drew the attention of one of the new employees: "It was a way to test our willingness to work whether we are able to mobilize, to work alone at home without supervision, unless we are able >to give the company itself