The Application of Emotional Intelligence in Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Abstract

Business seems to be enamoured by the construct of emotional intelligence. The emotional intelligence framework has enabled managers to understand the contribution of emotions in creating desirable qualities in business such as enthusiasm, motivation, and affective commitment (loyalty), and how these can be enhanced in the workplace by influencing employees’ affective abilities (Caruso & Salovey, 2004; Cherniss, 2001; Cherniss & Adler, 2000). At its most basic level, the emotional intelligence framework has provided business with a basis for implementing competencies that identify skills that enable employees to deal with emotions in the workplace. While enthusiasm for the potential of emotional intelligence is shared by many in the business community (Goleman, 2000, 2004), there are those working in and with business who have some level of psychological training and cannot understand the attraction (see Murphy, 2006). Some of this can be linked to the varying conceptualizations of emotional intelligence (see Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2000), while other criticisms emerge from the way in which emotional intelligence is measured (Conte, 2005; Landy, 2005; Locke, 2005).