Emotional Intelligence: Facts and Fallacies

1
Emotional IntelligenceFacts and Fallacies

• Kaylene Ascough
• University of Queensland
• Princess Alexandra Hospital

2
Overview

• The EI explosion some history.
• Variations of EI the 2 approaches to EI
  research
• The critics
• Applying EI to the work place
• EI training programs

3
Some History

• Peter Salovey and Jack Mayer (1990)
• Emotional Intelligence, in Imagination,
  Cognition, and Personality.
• The ability to perceive emotion in self and
  others, to understand emotion, and then to manage
  emotion in self and others.
• Daniel Goleman (1995)
• Emotional Intelligence Why It Can Matter More
  Than IQ.
• Mayer and Saloveys MEIS (1997)
• Reuven Bar-On (1997) developed the EQ-i,
• Goleman (2002) the Emotional Competency Index.
• Other developments by Jordan, Ashkanasy, Härtel,
  and Hooper (2002) Schutte et al. (1998) and
  Wong and Law (2002).

4
Two approaches to EI

• Ability model vs personality/mixed model
• Ability model
• Based on Mayer and Saloveys (1997) four-branch
  abilities model.
• Perception of emotion (in self and others)
• Assimilation of emotion to facilitate thought
• Understanding of emotion
• Managing and regulating emotion in self and
  others.
• Becoming the more accepted model of EI.
• Like IQ, it is the capacity to which an
  individual can develop.

5
Two approaches to EI (contd.)

• Mixed/Personality Models
• Argued as not representative of EI (Ashkanasy
  Daus, 2005).
• Some common ground with Mayer and Salovey model.
• Overlap with traditional measures of personality.
• Examples include Bar-ons (1997) EQ-i, Goleman,
  et als (2002) ECI.
• Maybe useful to the organisation, however, they
  are too broad in scope and do not differ markedly
  from personality models.
• Goleman Emotional competency
• Bar-on Emotional-Social Intelligence

6
The critics

• Daus and Ashkansy (2005) address 3 main points of
  criticism.
• Emotional intelligence is dominated by
  opportunistic academics-turned-consultants who
  have amassed much fame and fortune based on a
  concept that is shabby science at best.
• The measurement of emotional intelligence is
  grounded in unstable (they change all the time),
  psychometrically flawed instruments, which have
  not demonstrated appropriate validity to warrant
  their use and
• There is no (or weak) empirical evidence that
  emotional intelligence is related to anything of
  importance in organisations.

7
Application of EI

• Leadership
• EI predicts leader emergence and is related to
  transformational leadership.
• Job performance/Emotional labour
• Emotional Labour - Defined as managing emotion
  for remuneration.
• In jobs requiring high emotional labour, an
  individuals EI predicted better performance.

8
Application of EI (Contd.)

• Positive organisational behaviour
• Those actions in the workplace that benefit
  working relationships and contribute to a
  positive working climate.
• High EI indicates increased commitment,
  organisational citizenship and improved morale.
• Working with others
• Better relationships in the workplace
  interpersonal sensitivity and prosocial
  tendencies.
• Indicates better team performance.
• Conflict resolution
• Individuals with higher levels of EI are more
  able to engage in collaborative conflict
  resolution.

9
EI Training Programs

• Is there value in training?
• What to look for in EI training programs.
• What are you seeking to achieve?
• Individual performance
• Team performance
• Enhancing leadership skills
• Enhancing Interpersonal skills
• Managing conflict

10
Conclusion

• What does EI mean to an organisation?
• Know the pitfalls of EI claims.
• Look for abilities based EI models.
• Seek training and development programs that show
  an understanding of all aspects of emotional
  intelligence and the role of emotions in the work
  place in general.

11
Questions?

• References
• Ashkanasy, N. M., Dasborough, M. Ascough, K. W.
  (in press). Addressing the emotional dimensions
  of leadership Teaching leadership with heart. In
  S. J. Armstrong C. Fukami (Eds). The Handbook
  of Management Learning, Education and Development
  , Sage.
• Ashkanasy, N. M. Daus, C. S. 2002. Emotion in
  the workplace The new challenge for managers.
  The Academy of Management Executive, 16(1) 76.
• Ashkanasy, N. M. Daus, C. S. 2005. Rumors of
  the death of emotional intelligence in
  organizational behavior are vastly exaggerated.
  Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26(4) 441.
• Bar-On, R. 1997. Bar-On Emotional Quotient
  Inventory A measure of emotional intelligence.
  Toronto, Ontario Multi-Health Systems.
• Bar-On, R. The Bar-On model of emotional-social
  intelligence (ESI) http//www.eiconsortium.org/in
  dex.html 23 June 2005, 2005.
• Daus, C. S. Ashkanasy, N. M. 2005. The case for
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  in organizational behavior. Journal of
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• Druskat, V.U., Sala, F., Mount, G. (Eds) 2006.
  Linking emotional intelligence and performance at
  work Current research evidence with individuals
  and groups. Mahwah, NJ Erlbaum.
• Emmerling, R. J. Goleman, D. Emotional
  Intelligence Issues and common
  misunderstandings http//www.eiconsortium.org/ind
  ex.html 23 June 2005, 2005.
• Goleman, D. 1995. Emotional intelligence Why it
  can matter more than IQ. New York Bantam Books.
• Jordan, P. J., Ashton-James, C. E., Ashkanasy,
  N. M. 2006. Evaluating the claims Emotional
  intelligence in the workplace. In K. R. Murphy
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  are the problems and how can they be fixed?
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• Jordan, P. J., Ashkanasy, N. M., Ascough, K. W.
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• Lopes, P. N., Côté, S., Salovey, P. 2006. An
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• Mayer, J. D. Salovey, P. 1997. What is
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• Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., Caruso, D. R.,
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• Zeidner, M., Matthews, G., Roberts, R. D. 2004.
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