The Importance of Emotional Intelligence to Managerial Success

¶ … Emotional Intelligence

Today, most people have a general understanding concerning the concept of intelligence, but many may lack of comprehensive understanding of the concept of emotional intelligence. To help overcome this gap, this paper provides some salient examples of emotional intelligence together with an explanation concerning how this construct is conceptualized by modern researchers. Finally, a summary of the research and important findings concerning emotional intelligence are provided in the conclusion.

The concept of emotional intelligence was first proposed during the early 1990s and the concept has since been refined to include subsequent research (Richburg and Fletcher 32). According to the definition provided by Richburg and Fletcher, emotional intelligence is "a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions" (32). Salient examples of emotional intelligence can be related to the concept's five constituent domains as follows: (a) knowing one's emotions (widely regarded as the key to emotional intelligence), (b) managing emotions, (c) motivating oneself, (d) recognizing emotions in others, and (e) handling relationships (Richburg and Fletcher 33).

Other attributes of the emotional intelligence concept extend to other areas that can be vitally important for business managers. For instance, Wirth and Gansle (2012) report that, "Important aspects of emotional intelligence are self-awareness, the ability to communicate and influence, commitment, and integrity" (88). Applying these attributes in real-world business settings can therefore provide useful examples of the emotional intelligent construct, but it is also important to note that there have been some legislative initiatives in recent years that control how assessment of emotional intelligence are conducted in the workplace. In this regard, Wirth and Gansle advise that, "Emotional intelligence assessments fall under the purview of the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures issued pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as other anti-discrimination and privacy laws" (88).

Notwithstanding these legal considerations, there is a growing consensus that emotional intelligence is an essential component of leadership success, and that both transactional and transformational leaders exhibit these attributes (Pearman 69). For instance, Pearman reports that an emotional intelligence is characterized by an "empathetic concern of others, tolerance for the stress embedded in the situation, and [the ability to] remain optimistic about the future" (70). Taken together, it is clear that emotional intelligence differs from individual to individual, but there are some commonalities involved that can provide useful examples to demonstrate best practices.