Increasing Awareness of Emotional Intelligence in a Business Curriculum

Abstract

IN TODAY’S GLOBAL, “bigger is better” business environment, theneed for intrapersonal awareness and interpersonal communicationskills is greater than ever. Business schools are being asked to addressthisneed byincreasing attentiontocommunication coursework inthebusiness curricula. In fact, the Management Education Task Force ofthe Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)issuedareportinApril2002thatcalledforanincreaseofinstructionincommunication,leadership,andinterpersonalskillstomakecurriculamore relevant to “today’s global workplace” (Doria, Rozanski, &Cohen, 2003). Furthermore, as a response to feedback from employ-ers,alumni,andexecutiveadvisors,businessschoolsacrossthecountryareaddressingtheneedforanincreasedemphasison“peopleskills”byteaching business students the soft skills that set exemplary managersapart from their typical peers (Alsop, 2002, p. R11) and that enhancetheir ability to negotiate the “interpersonal dimension” of work life(Muir, 2004).Whereastheabilitytogather,interpret,analyze,andrespondtodatamaybeafunctionoftechnicalcompetency,theabilitytoreceive, inter-pret, analyze, and respond to messages, both external and internal, isregulated by one’s emotional intelligence (EI). EI is “a type of socialintelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’