EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND LEARNING AGILITY TO SURVIVE IN THE VUCA ENVIRONMENT OF INDUSTRY 4.0

Abstract

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to efficiently appraise the emotions of one as well as others’, and regulate them. It determines the emotional quotient of a person and helps the individual to handle the emotions in a way that will help the individual to stay motivated and exhibit superior performance. It also enables an employee to cope with the demands and uncertainties in working environment by enhancing his/her learning agility. Known to be an important trait of high performers, learning agility enables a person to learn something from every experience and apply it in new situations. An individual with good learning agility is flexible and is able to adjust and readjust to new situations and projects as they evolve. This trait enables an employee to navigate through challenges especially in a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) environment like Industry 4.0. The fourth Industrial revolution though mainly concerns the automization of manufacturing processes, will also have implications on the human resources of an organization. While industry 4.0 is anticipated to disrupt the working environment within organizations, the pressure to perform will be more than ever and learning agility of an employee will positively predict his/her performance levels during these challenging times. This article dwells on the relationship between emotional intelligence and learning agility of an individual and how enhancing the learning agility of the employees could be significant in ensuring the sustainability of an organization during Industry 4.0.