Developmental Job Experience and Emotional Intelligence at Work

Introduction to Developmental Job Experience

There is considerable controversy regarding developmental job experience (DJE) and the degree to which it plays a significant role in a person's behavior and success in the workplace. The article No Pain, No Gain: An Affect-Based Model of Developmental Job Experience and the Buffering Effects of Emotional Intelligence addresses this topic thoroughly and attempts to determine whether DJE can actually have a positive effect on an individual within his or her work environment. The article is meant to provide readers with a more nuanced understanding of the concept and of the attitudes one should employ with regard to it.

In order to engage actively in a DJE process, a person must be willing to exert considerable effort and demonstrate significant determination in achieving workplace goals. Yuntao Dong, Myeong-gu Seo, and Kathryn M. Bartol describe DJE as "an individual's experience of carrying out demanding work assignments that offer opportunities for learning and broadening his or her leadership competences in areas such as business knowledge, insightfulness, decision-making skills, and interpersonal effectiveness" (1058).

The study aims to provide a more complex explanation of the dynamics associated with DJE. People typically hold a one-sided opinion of DJE, and it is therefore essential for them to see the bigger picture and understand the range of elements behind such a process. DJE can be both beneficial and harmful within a company, as it largely depends on how each employee perceives it. The fact that some people feel pressured by it makes it difficult for them to acknowledge the benefits they are receiving and can render those individuals less effective than they were before.

Emotional intelligence (EI) can make the difference between a person who benefits from DJE and one who does not. EI refers to a person's ability to observe both personal feelings and the feelings of others, to differentiate between them, and to act according to a rationale grounded in those feelings. The study uses three approaches to provide readers with a more complex understanding of DJE (Dong, Seo, & Bartol 1057):

Theoretical Framework: Positive and Negative Effects of DJE

First, it analyzes both positive and negative influences of DJE, with the purpose of showing that affective explanation is as important as cognitive explanation. Second, it uses this insight to create a link between DJE and how individuals either benefit or experience difficulty as a consequence of coming into contact with it. Third, the study focuses on EI as one of the principal elements that help a person overcome unpleasant feelings associated with implementing a DJE process.

DJE is typically associated with positive influences on individuals because it tends to make some employees feel better about themselves and, consequently, more likely to express interest in professional growth. Most theories supporting DJE relate to how it provides employees with environments that support the learning process. As a result, many individuals who go through such experiences feel that their best course of action is to learn as much as possible during the process. These individuals are given the opportunity to recognize that the experience is likely to have a particularly positive effect on their lives and thus accept the series of difficulties that come along with it.

In contrast, DJE can be especially detrimental to a company in other situations. Employees may feel pressured and may conclude that it is in their best interest to leave in order to avoid a demanding work environment. As Dong, Seo, and Bartol note, "developmental assignments are likely to create stressful task demands by placing employees in dynamic and exigent work settings" (1058). While some interpret such pressures as having a positive effect on determined employees, the reality is that even some of the most hard-working people may feel stressed upon recognizing the risks they are encouraged to take in order to help the company progress.

Quantitative Methods and Analysis

Job experience is obviously significant when considering a person's capacity to progress, and individuals with more experience are generally more effective in the workplace than those with limited experience. Even so, experience can be of lesser importance in some cases — in many situations, experience has been shown to predict performance in lower-complexity jobs, while having little to no influence in highly complex ones. This is largely because experience typically only makes a decisive difference in jobs that are not especially complex, where it may be the primary means of preparation. In more complex work environments, education can compensate for experience, and individuals may be hired based on their knowledge rather than their prior employment history (Jex & Britt 113).

The tasks a person takes on in the workplace largely determine that individual's professional experience. As Jex and Britt explain, "when experience has high density, the employee is exposed to many developmental experiences in a relatively short amount of time" (113). By having more responsibilities, many individuals are likely to feel stressed and to perceive their working conditions as too demanding. Having more responsibilities is not always equivalent to learning more — in some cases, the demands can be excessive, and a person may actually suffer as a result. A developmental experience can largely be understood as a combination of the time spent on, the volume of, and the difficulty of the responsibilities an individual holds.

DJE provides individuals with the opportunity to experience personal change through roles, responsibilities, and missions related to their workplace. The knowledge a person accumulates through direct contact with his or her work environment can have a particularly positive effect on professional development. Even when such experiences are stressful, individuals can still achieve a form of improvement that serves them well in the future.

When viewed from a managerial perspective, workplace experience is often the most important asset a manager can develop. While education is also critical for positions of high complexity, managerial roles typically require on-the-job experience. These positions demand individuals who are well-versed in interpersonal relations and who know how to respond appropriately in challenging situations.

Conclusion

DJE is in many cases the key to helping both the employee and the organization in which he or she works. By being provided with the opportunity to take on greater responsibilities — and by being encouraged to engage with domains that may lie outside their formal education — individuals can significantly expand their experience and ultimately accumulate knowledge they would not have been able to access otherwise. Studies related to experience-based learning have yielded results that are notably complex and cannot be fully understood by focusing on a limited sample of individuals. Emotional intelligence plays an essential role in DJE: some people benefit from the process, while others feel overwhelmed by it. Ultimately, the degree to which DJE yields positive outcomes depends substantially on an individual's capacity to manage the affective demands that challenging assignments inevitably produce.