Daniel Goleman lists five components of emotional intelligence. With examples from administration, show why empathy and social skills are indispensable for an officer managing a disaster-affected population.
Subtopic: Section A · Emotional intelligence · Goleman framework
How to structure your answer
Define: EI per Goleman — self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, social skills.
Illustrate: empathy = identifying with displaced families; social skills = co-ordinating armed forces, NGOs, district staff.
Apply: Wayanad landslide 2024, Joshimath subsidence 2023, Chennai floods 2015.
Conclude: EI converts technical competence into compassionate governance.
Written within the word limit
143 words · target 150 words · 9 min
Definition: Daniel Goleman's emotional intelligence comprises five components — self-awareness, self-regulation, intrinsic motivation, empathy and social skills — that together enable an officer to act effectively under affective pressure in high-stakes settings.
Illustration: During the 2018 Kerala floods, District Collector K. Vasuki coordinated 1.4 million evacuees by deploying empathy in listening to displaced families and social skills in marshalling fisher-folk volunteers as first responders. Armstrong Pame's roadwork in Manipur required empathy with stranded villagers and social skills to mobilise diaspora donations through crowdfunding. In disaster contexts, empathy converts a relief operation from logistic compliance into restoration of dignity; social skills enable rapid coalition-building between NDRF, civil society, panchayats and the affected community. Without these, technically competent officers like the 2013 Uttarakhand response teams faced sustained backlash for procedural opacity and emotional distance.
Application: NDMA's Incident Response System guidelines now mandate behavioural-skills modules, operationalising Goleman within Indian disaster administration.
What an examiner expects to see
- Goleman 1995 model + Mayer-Salovey four-branch ability model
- Empathy = perspective-taking, emotional resonance, compassionate action
- Social skills = conflict management, change catalyst, building bonds
- NDMA SOP recognises EI as a leadership competency
- EI improves whole-of-government response (Sphere Standards 2018)
- Lack of EI compounds secondary trauma in survivors
Concrete cases, schemes and judgments
- Wayanad DM K. Renu Raj's relief co-ordination in July 2024 landslides
- Chennai Collector Rajesh Lakhoni during 2015 floods
- Kerala IAS officer K.K. Shailaja's empathetic communication during Nipah 2018