Identifying Emotional Intelligence Related Competencies among Highly Successful Managers for Corporate Success: An Empirical Study

The emerging literature reveals a close relationship between corporate success and the emotional intelligence of its leaders. While the theory of emotional intelligence is rooted in the initial phase of intelligence testing movement, the term 'emotional intelligence' was coined in 1990 by Salovey and Mayor who defined it as the "ability to monitor one's own and other's feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and use this information to guide one's thinking and action". Despite numerous research studies conducted abroad, very; little empirical work has been conducted on emotional intelligence and related competencies in India. Because of this serious research gap, the present study has been undertaken to ascertain whether emotional intelligence and related competencies really characterise highly successful managers in profit making Indian organisations. A purposive sample (n=60) of highly successful managers from five profit making Indian organisations was administered 'EC Scale for Managers' to identify; their emotional intelligence related competencies. The mean scores of emotional intelligence and its five components were found to be above average among the managers. The scores of individual managers ranged from moderate to high on emotional intelligence and its components; of course, most of them were above average. Emotional intelligence and its components had no (or very; low insignificant) relationships (r ranged from -.21 to .16) with age and experience. However, education revealed low negative (but significant) relationships with emotional intelligence (r= -.31) and three of its components: social skill (r= -.33), empathy (r= -.29) and motivation (r=-.27). The 15 managerial competencies related to five interrelated dimensions (3 in each) of emotional intelligence identified by the study can he placed in an organised framework or grid for varied HR decisions concerning managers to accomplish corporate success in the Indian context. In descending order, these include: empathy (expertise in building and retaining talent, cross-cultural sensitivity, service to clients and customers), self-awareness (self-confidence, realistic self-assessment, self-depreciating sense of humour), motivation (strong drive to achieve, optimism, organisational commitment), self-regulation (trust-worthiness and integrity, comfort with ambiguity, openness to change) and social skill (effectiveness in leading change, persuasiveness, expertise in building and leading teams).