Emotional Intelligence: Theories, Models, and Business Applications

This essay delves into the multifaceted concept of emotional intelligence (EI), highlighting its growing significance in the contemporary business landscape. It begins by tracing the historical context and evolution of EI, emphasizing its importance in leadership and organizational success. The essay then proceeds to examine the prominent theories of EI, specifically focusing on the ability model proposed by Mayer and Salovey, Goleman's mixed model, and Petrides' trait model. Each model is analyzed in terms of its core components, strengths, and limitations. Furthermore, the essay explores the practical applications of EI within business organizations, particularly the role of leaders in leveraging EI to enhance employee performance, foster a positive work environment, and achieve strategic objectives. The changing nature of the business world necessitates leaders to adopt innovative methods, with EI emerging as a crucial tool for effective leadership and organizational growth.

Running head: EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Emotional Intelligence
Name of the Student:
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Author’s Note:

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“As more and more artificial intelligence is entering into the world, more and more emotional
intelligence must enter into leadership.”
The above quoted lines of Amit Ray from his famous work “Mindfulness Meditation
for Corporate Leadership and Management” gives an overview of the necessity of the
concept of emotional intelligence in the sphere of the present day business world. The
concept of emotional intelligence has gathered much prominence in the present day world
and is increasingly being used by the various business organizations (Cavazotte, Moreno and
Hickmann 2012). It is significant to note that the concept of emotional intelligence is a very
ancient one however in the present day context it has gained much prominence on the score
of various factors like the changing nature of the business world, the “recent developments in
the field of technology as well as innovations” and others (Zeidner, Matthews and Roberts
2012). Therefore, it is seen that the most of the business organizations as well as the business
leaders in the present day are turning towards the concept of emotional intelligence in
addition to the traditional concept of intelligence in a bid to “bring about the overall growth
as well as the development of their business organization” (Cavazotte, Moreno and
Hickmann 2012). Furthermore, in the present day competitive world of business it is
generally seen that the traditional concepts of leadership and the management styles are no
longer essential for the business organizations to sustain themselves in the competitive
business market and therefore the various business organizations in the present times turn
towards the concept of emotional intelligence to gain the competitive advantage over their
rivals operational in the same field of business (Cavazotte, Moreno and Hickmann 2012).
This essay will discuss about the concept of emotional intelligence in the light of the two
popular theories of emotional intelligence propounded by “Mayer and Salovey” and Goleman
and Petrides and will also focus on the role which the concept of emotional intelligence plays
within the framework of the various business organizations.

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The term “Emotional Intelligence (EQ or EI)” was coined by the researchers “Peter
Salavoy and John Mayer” (Zeidner, Matthews and Roberts 2012). However, the concept of
emotional intelligence gained popularity with the work of Dan Goleman called “Emotional
Intelligence” which was published in the year 1996 (Zeidner, Matthews and Roberts 2012).
In the present day context the term “Emotional intelligence (EI), also known as Emotional
quotient (EQ) and Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EIQ) is the capability of individuals to
recognize their own emotions and those of others, discern between different feelings and
label them appropriately, use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, and
manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt to environments or achieve one's goal” (Farh, Seo
and Tesluk 2012). Furthermore, this particular concept of the researchers “Peter Salavoy and
John Mayer” and popularized by Goleman has been decribed by “The Harvard Business
Review” as “a ground-breaking, paradigm-shattering idea, one of the most influential
business ideas of the decade” (Farh, Seo and Tesluk 2012). In other words, the concept of
emotional intelligence can be defined as the “measure of an individual’s abilities to recognize
and manage their emotions, and the emotions of other people, both individually and in
groups” (Brunetto et al. 2012). It is significant to note that the origin of the concept has an
interesting history behind it. It is interesting to note that the since the ancient times
intelligence is a concept which has intrigued the human mind and various kinds of researches
have been conducted in this particular genre (Farh, Seo and Tesluk 2012). The human beings
since the traditional time believe in the concept that intelligence is a factor which is likely to
lead to the success of the individual who possess a high level of it (Farh, Seo and Tesluk
2012). Thus, a critical debate started as regards to the fact that whether the concept of
intelligence was related to the genetic factor or was it possible to gain it through various
kinds of activities (Farh, Seo and Tesluk 2012). The researches “Peter Salavoy and John
Mayer” played a significant role in this particular debate and the concept of the emotional

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intelligence was a result of this particular debate. This particular debate also captured the
attention of Goleman and formed the lacuna of his 1996 book called “Emotional Intelligence”
(Brunetto et al. 2012).
In the present times various scholars as well as researchers have articulated various
theories and hypotheses related to the concept of emotional intelligence. However, the most
significant ones among them and the ones which are widely used by the various individuals
as well as the business organizations in the present day context are the theories of the
researchers are the “Ability model” the “Mixed model” and the “Trait model” of emotional
intelligence (Brunetto et al. 2012). The “Ability model” of emotional intelligence was
propounded by the researchers “Peter Salavoy and John Mayer” and is one of the most
widely used ones in the present times (Druskat, Mount and Sala 2013). The researchers
“Peter Salavoy and John Mayer” tried to define the concept of emotional intelligence within
the framework of a “standard criteria for a new intelligence” (Druskat, Mount and Sala 2013).
Furthermore, they defined the concept of emotional intelligence as the “ability to perceive
emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and to regulate
emotions to promote personal growth” (Druskat, Mount and Sala 2013). However, during the
process of their research conduct by them the initial definition of emotional intelligence
articulated by them underwent a rapid transformation (Saklofske et al. 2012). In the final
phase of their research they defined the concept of emotional intelligence as “the capacity to
reason about emotions, and of emotions, to enhance thinking (Saklofske et al. 2012). It
includes the abilities to accurately perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as
to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively
regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth” (Saklofske et al.
2012). This particular model of emotional intelligence articulated by the researchers took into
consideration four different types of abilities related to the concept of emotional intelligence,

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namely, perceiving emotions, using emotions, understanding emotions and managing
emotions (Saklofske et al. 2012). However, it is significant to note that this particular model
of emotional intelligence has come under the scanner in the recent times on the score of its
inability to face as well as predict validity within the various modern day workplaces
(Saklofske et al. 2012).
The “Mixed model” of emotional intelligence, on the other hand, was propounded by
Goleman and is one of the most commonly used models of emotional intelligences in the
present times (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee 2013). This particular model of emotional
intelligence was propounded by Goleman in his famous work “What Makes A Leader” in the
year 1998 (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee 2013). This particular model of emotional
intelligence takes into consideration five important entities of the concept of emotional
intelligence, namely, motivation, self awareness, self regulation, social skill and empathy
(Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee 2013). Furthermore, the most important aspect of the model
of emotional intelligence of Goleman is the fact that he introduced “a set of emotional
competences” of the framework of the emotional intelligence (Goleman, Boyatzis and
McKee 2013). He defines the various emotional competencies as not the inherent or the
innate talents of the individuals but as the “learned capabilities that must be worked on and
can be developed to achieve outstanding performance” (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee
2013). Therefore, it can be said that this particular model of emotional intelligence considers
the fact that the various individuals “are born with a general emotional intelligence that
determines their potential for learning emotional competencies” (Goleman, Boyatzis and
McKee 2013). However, it is significant to note that this particular model of Goleman has
been criticized in the recent times as merely the reflection of a “pop psychology”.
The “Trait model” of emotional intelligence, on the other hand, was propounded by
the researcher “Konstantinos Vasilis Petrides” along with the ability as well as the mixed

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models of emotional intelligences it is being widely used by the various individuals as well as
business organizations (Kong, Zhao and You 2012). The primary significance of the work of
“Konstantinos Vasilis Petrides” lies in the fact that he made a stark distinction between the
earlier models of emotional intelligence and used the weaknesses of those models for the
creation of his own model of emotional intelligence which is called by the name of “Trait
model” (Kong, Zhao and You 2012). In this particular model of emotional intelligence the
concept of emotional intelligence is “a constellation of emotional self-perceptions located at
the lower levels of personality” (Kong, Zhao and You 2012). In other words, it can be said as
the ability or the skill of a particular individual regarding to the self perceptions of their own
emotions (Murphy 2014). Therefore, it would be apt to say that this particular model of
emotional intelligence “encompasses behavioral dispositions and self-perceived abilities and
is measured by self report, as opposed to the ability based model which refers to actual
abilities, which have proven highly resistant to scientific measurement” (Murphy 2014). The
significance of this particular model of emotional intelligence lies in the fact that this
particular model of emotional intelligence tries to access the emotional intelligence of an
individual with the framework of their personality or character. Furthermore, it can be said
that the “conceptualization of EI as a personality trait leads to a construct that lies outside the
taxonomy of human cognitive ability” (Kong, Zhao and You 2012).
The three above mentioned models of emotional intelligence when taken into
consideration reveals the transition that the concept of emotional intelligence has undergone
since the later part of the 20th century till now (Murphy 2014). It is significant to note that
whereas the ability model of emotional intelligence focuses on the concept of the ability or
the various kinds of emotions which regulate the emotional intelligence of the person or the
individual concerned whereas the mixed model of emotional intelligence takes into
consideration the emotional competencies in the particular context of the emotional

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intelligence. The focus of the trait model of emotional intelligence, on the other hand, is on
the character or the personality of the individuals for the process of emotional intelligence.
In the present times the concept of emotional intelligence has emerged as one of the
major ones and it is seen that the various leaders within the various business organizations are
increasingly taking the help of this particular concept to lead the diverse entities related to the
business organization in a much better manner (Kokkinos and Kipritsi 2012). The changing
nature of the business world in the present times has made it imperative for the various
business organizations as well as the leaders associated with them to take the help of diverse
kinds of innovative methods for the purpose of leading the diverse entities related to the
business organization in a much better manner (Ciarrochi and Mayer 2013). It is significant
to note that the primary role of the various leaders related to the business organizations is “to
lead the diverse entities towards the achievement of the goals as well as the objectives in a
much more effective manner” (Boje and Smith 2010). It is here that the concept of emotional
intelligence gains special prominence. Therefore, the various leaders in the present times take
the help of this particular concept to “effectively take into consideration the various needs as
well as the requirements of the employees in the most effectively and thereby help them to
increase the level of their performance within the concerned organization” (Lee and Ok
2012). A typical example of this is the leadership style of Howard Schultz whose leadership
style is often considered to be one of the major factors for the success attained by the
business organization Starbucks in the recent times (Starbucks Coffee Company. 2018). It is
significant to note that Schultz followed a leadership style which took into consideration “the
emotional needs as well as the requirements of the various employees related to the business
organization in the most effective manner” (Starbucks Coffee Company. 2018). It is a
reflection of this that Schultz never addressed any of the employees related to the
organization as the employees of the organization rather he addressed them as the

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shareholders of the organization. Furthermore, to welcome the new employees within the
framework of the organization he always performed the “coffee sipping ceremony” (Schultz
2012). In addition to these, he always made it a point to take into consideration “the
emotional needs as well as the requirements of the various employees related to the
organization in the most effective manner” (Schultz 2012). It is significant to note that the
concept of emotional intelligence also helps the various business organizations during the
time of the organizational change by enabling the leader to motivate the employees to adjust
to the change in a much more positive manner. Another example of a leader who takes into
consideration the concept of emotional intelligence for the purpose of leadership is “Sir
Richard Charles Nicholas Branson” who is more famous as the founder of the company
“Virgin Group” (Virgin. 2018). In the opinion of many people the effective leadership style
of Branson is one of the major reasons for the success attained by the business organization
“Virgin Group” in the recent times and helped a small organization to become one of the
largest business organizations of the United Kingdom. It is significant to note that for the
purpose of leadership he took into consideration the factor of emotional intelligence and it is
a reflection of this particular fact that he used to invite all the employees related to the
business organization no matter the designation which they held within the framework of the
business organization to his house parties and treated them as his friends rather than his
employees or subordinates (Virgin. 2018). Therefore, it can be said that the concept of
emotional intelligence has helped the various business organizations as well as the leaders
related to them to perform in a much better manner.
To conclude, the concept of emotional intelligence has as emerged as one of the most
important ones in the recent times and the various business organizations as well as the
leaders related to the diverse business organizations are increasingly taking the help of this
particular concept to “cater to the needs as well as the requirements of the concerned business

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organization in a much better manner”. The concept of emotional intelligence is a very
traditional one however it gained popularity only after the works of the researchers like
“Mayer and Salovey” and Goleman and Petrides and it is a reflection of this particular fact
that the concept is being increasingly used within the framework of the various business
organizations. Therefore, the concept of emotional intelligence has become an important part
of the various leadership styles and the various business leaders like Howard Schultz, “Sir
Richard Charles Nicholas Branson” and others take the help of this particular concept to
“bring about the overall growth as well as the development of their business organization”.

9EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
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