Emotional Intelligence And Organizational Performance

I. What is EI?

A. EI can be divided into two dominant schools of thought.

1. "Purist" position by Mayer and Salovey consider EI an ability similar to spatial or verbal skills.

a. It's the ability to perceive emotions, to access emotions to assist thought, understand emotions and emotional knowledge and reflectively regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth.

2. "Mixed" model by Bar-On and Coleman combines emotional processing with personality aspects such as optimism and persistence.

II. Connection between EQ and IQ

A. EI meets traditional standards for intelligence: It can be broken into set of mental abilities; the abilities are inter-correlated, they correlate positively with traditional intelligence; they develop with age and experience.

B. EI leads to the ability to regulate one's feelings, and the concept is two-sided: One side involves the intellect understanding emotions the other side involves emotion reaching into the intellect system and generating creative ideas.

C. EI is a skill that needs to be facilitated in individuals who deviate from the norms in their IQ.

D. Highly intelligent individuals resort to defensive behaviors to ward off unrewarding interactions; therefore, it is necessary to facilitate bridging the gap between their emotional and social development and the majority of the population.

III. Measuring EI

A. There are more than 60 EI inventories and assessments to measure EI, but there are three that stand out as useful business tools: the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i), the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), and the Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI).

1. Emotional Quotient Inventory was designed by Bar-On to measure a number constructs related to EI. Bar-On utilizes Emotional Quotient (EQ) to describe his view of EI as "an array of non-cognitiveÐ'...skills" that are useful in predicting success in specific areas of life. It consists of 133 items that give an overall EQ score as well as scores for the following 5 composite scales and 15 subscales:

a) Intrapersonal scales: self-regard, emotional self awareness, assertiveness, independence, self-actualization

b) Interpersonal scales: empathy, social responsibility, interpersonal relationships

c) Adaptability scales: reality testing, flexibility, problem solving

d) Stress Management scales: stress tolerance, impulse control

e) General mood scales: optimism, happiness

2. ECI was designed by Coleman as a 360-degree feedback tool. The score is reflection of feedback from one's boss, peers, and direct reports.

3. MSCEIT was developed by Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso, the originators of the term EI, to measure four branches of EI:

a) Identifying emotions: the ability to recognize