Emotional Intelligence in Organizations: EQ and Success

Introduction to Emotional Intelligence

The term emotional intelligence refers to a person's ability to identify and regulate his own emotions, as well as the ability to identify and respond appropriately to the emotions of others. The notion that emotional intelligence is linked to professional and commercial success has been around since the 1930s, when psychologist Robert Thorndike coined the phrase "social intelligence," essentially referring to intrapersonal and interpersonal communication skills. In 1948, the Office of Strategic Services developed the first assessment of "non-cognitive" brain functions, and in 1956, AT&T became the first corporation to utilize this assessment as a tool for measuring employees' emotional sensitivity, social communication skills, interpersonal skills, and the inclination to take initiative in social situations. In 1959, psychologist J.K. Hemphill and the Ohio State Leadership Studies "suggested that 'consideration' [of others' emotions, desires, and needs] was an important aspect of effective leadership," and in 1983, Howard Gardner referred to "multiple intelligence," suggesting a distinction between purely cognitive brain functions and non-cognitive functions (Cherniss, 2000). Researchers P. Salovey and J. Mayer coined the term "emotional intelligence" in 1990, describing it as "a form 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 own thinking and action" (Cherniss, 2000). Studies conducted by Salovey and Mayer suggested that a high level of emotional clarity — that is, emotional intelligence — resulted in quicker recovery times from emotional upset and a heightened ability to adapt to change in social environments, resulting in reliable social networks.

In order to fully understand emotional intelligence, one must first have a solid understanding of intelligence itself. Researcher David Wechsler defines intelligence as "the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment" (Cherniss, 2000). Meanwhile, Adele Elder, author of "Cognition and Affect: Critical Thinking and Emotional Intelligence," defines intelligence as "the ability to learn or understand from experience or to respond successfully to new experiences," while Webster's New World Dictionary defines it more generally as "the ability to retain knowledge" (Elder, 1996). By contrast, emotion can be defined as "a state of consciousness having to do with the arousal of feelings," and feelings can be defined as "any of the subjective reactions, pleasant or unpleasant" to a given situation (Elder, 1996). Emotional intelligence, therefore, can be described as "a measure of the degree to which a person successfully (or unsuccessfully) applies sound judgment and reasoning to situations in the process of determining an emotional or feeling response to those situations" (Elder, 1996).

It has been suggested by numerous researchers — including Hemphill, Salovey, Wechsler, and David Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence (1998) — that a person's degree of emotional intelligence is as valid a predictor of professional success as cognitive IQ tests. For this reason, more and more organizations are employing tactics designed to measure the emotional intelligence of current and potential employees. The most commonly used tool for measuring emotional intelligence is the EQ-I assessment scale; however, the Multi-Factor EI Scale (MEIS) and the Emotional Composition Inventory (ECI) are commonly used as well. These tests are designed to measure emotional intelligence, cognitive intelligence, and the balance between the two in a given individual, based on the assumption that neither emotional intelligence nor cognitive intelligence alone can reliably predict professional success. Rather, it is the combination of emotional and cognitive intelligence that predicts success, as both components are required for successful performance in a socio-professional context.

For the purposes of this paper, the following questions are addressed with the support of related literature:

• How reliable is IQ — that is, cognitive intelligence — as a predictor of professional success?
• How reliable is emotional intelligence as a predictor of professional success?
• What is the relationship between emotional intelligence and cognitive functioning?

Cognitive Intelligence as a Predictor of Professional Success

Studies show that an employee's IQ accounts for as little as 4% of variance in job performance, and for no more than 25% of variance. Researcher C. Cherniss, author of "Emotional Intelligence: What it is and Why it Matters," cites a 40-year study of 450 males raised in Somerville, Massachusetts. As young boys — two-thirds of whom came from families on welfare — IQ measurements revealed that one-third had an IQ of less than 90. Over the 40-year period, researchers tracked the professional success of study participants with surprising results. A participant's IQ proved an unreliable predictor of professional success. What had the most bearing on success was the intrapersonal and interpersonal coping skills learned in childhood, including the ability to "handle frustration, control emotions, and get along with other people" (Cherniss, 2000). Similarly, in a study of a group of Ph.D.s tested for IQ in the 1950s and interviewed 40 years later, it was not their cognitive IQ but rather "social and emotional abilities" that consistently determined professional success (Cherniss, 2000).

Regarding success in a leadership capacity, studies show that the most effective leaders are strategic thinkers who rely not on cognitive intelligence alone, but who successfully integrate aspects of emotional intelligence with cognitive brain functions in decision-making. Gilkey et al. describe this phenomenon:

"The area of the brain people tend to associate with strategic thought is the prefrontal cortex, known for its role in executive function. It allows humans to engage in anticipation, pattern recognition, probability assessment, risk appraisal, and abstract thinking. Those abilities do help managers solve problems. However, when we examined the best strategic performers in our sample, we found significantly less neural activity in the prefrontal cortex than in the areas associated with 'gut' responses, empathy, and emotional intelligence (that is, the insula, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the superior temporal sulcus). In other words, the conscious executive function was downplayed — while regions associated with unconscious emotion processing operated more freely." (Gilkey et al., 2010)

Psychologists David Goleman and Richard Boyatzis take this argument one step further, asserting that effective leaders are essentially super-social thinkers possessed of an above-average ability to identify, respond appropriately to, and even alter the moods of others, regardless of IQ. This is not to say that cognitive intelligence is unimportant; rather, cognitive intelligence alone is an insufficient predictor of professional success, and particularly of success in a leadership capacity. Professional success has less to do with cognitive IQ, and significantly more to do with the ability to perceive and appropriately respond to the needs, desires, and emotions of others. To fully understand the equation, however, one must also consider the reliability of emotional intelligence as a predictor of success.

Emotional Intelligence as a Predictor of Success

According to Cherniss, "there is now a considerable body of research suggesting that a person's ability to perceive, identify, and manage emotion provides the basis for the kinds of social and emotional competencies that are important for success in almost any job" (Cherniss, 2000). According to research conducted by Adele B. Lynn, these abilities — which are indicative of a high degree of emotional intelligence — account for anywhere from 24 to 69% of professional success variance (Bielaszka-Duvernay, 2008). For additional clarity: an emotionally intelligent person responds to emotions — both her own and others' — in a calm, collected, and rational way. Rather than become overwhelmed by emotion, the emotionally intelligent individual perceives, identifies, and rationally manages emotion, which in turn allows for cognitive brain functioning uninhibited by emotion. As Elder observes, "emerging naturally out of 'rational' emotions would be 'rational' desires and 'rational' behavior" (Elder, 1996).

The ability to perceive and manage one's own emotions and the emotions of others also plays an integral role in the ability to use humor to diffuse potentially stressful situations. In "Laughing All the Way to the Bank" (2003), author Fabio Sala examines how humor can be used effectively to relate to people and promote positive emotions in the workplace. However, in order for humor to be positively effective, a person must be able to perceive and appropriately react to the feelings of others. While skillful humor can reduce hostility, raise morale, relieve tension, and deflect criticism, inappropriate or insensitive humor can have the opposite effect. According to Sala, supervisors who effectively use humor in the workplace tend to be more liked and respected by their employees, creating a more positive work environment and yielding better results — which in turn yields higher compensation for the humorous supervisor. Sala's studies reveal a direct correlation between the positive use of humor and higher levels of compensation for supervisory positions, which can be read as support for a correlation between emotional intelligence and high compensation, since a high degree of emotional intelligence is required to use humor effectively (Sala, 2003).