ILPC 2027

Work-based initiatives to  transform thought and feeling into new action and sentiment are increasingly legitimised in organisational practices, most clearly exemplified in the latest trend in Emotional Intelligence (EI) training and development (Bar-On, 2004; Clarke, 2006; Goleman, 1998).  The ascendency of  working on the self  via this  soft management technology has been aided by life-style matching narratives of psychotherapy and counselling and a   positive organisational scholarship movement which encourages ‘excellence’ in the display of feelings (i.e. positive, happy, optimistic).  However, as a work-based tool,  Emotional Intelligence has the ability to probe deeper into intimate emotional realms and the link between EI and therapeutic aims is frequently made by EI scholars and practitioners (e.g. Bar-On, 1997; Higgs and Dulewicz, 2002; McBride and Maitland, 2002). This paper highlights how Emotional Intelligence harnesses therapeutic techniques to increase employees’ capacity for productive behaviour. It situates its ‘penetration’ into employees’ inner emotional world within contemporary debates of therapeutic narratives and interventions where key commentators argue these  practices subjugate and disempower individuals by cultivating certain identities (e.g. Ecclestone and Hayes, 2009; Furedi, 2004; Illouz, 2007). Drawing on field data from practicing managers who have voluntarily undergone ‘open course’ Emotional Intelligence  training in response to work pressures to better understand and ‘retool’ themselves,  this paper explores managerial resistance to the therapeutic practices of EI.  In doing so, it highlights agentic powers of  the manager when faced with prescribed  emotional  self-examination and reformulation. Through an exploration of  managers’ work-based reflections and actions this paper demonstrates their capacity to  evade EI’s therapeutic incursions for work gains when prescribed by off-site management trainers.  Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

References

Bar-On, R (1997). The Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQi): A test of emotional intelligence.  Technical Manual. Toronto: Multi-Health Systems.

Bar-On, R. (2004). The Bar-On emotional quotient inventory (EQ-i): rationale, description and summary of psychometric properties. In G. Geher, (Ed). Measuring emotional intelligence: common ground and controversy. Hauppauge, N.Y: Nova Science Publishing.

Clarke, N. (2006). Emotional intelligence training: a case of caveat emptor. Human Resource Development Review, 5(4): 422-441.

Ecclestone, K. and Hayes, D. (2009). The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education. Oxon: Routledge

Furedi, F. (2004). Therapy Culture: Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age. London: Routledge

Goleman, D. (1998). Working with Emotional Intelligence. London: Bloomsbury.

Higgs, M. and Dulewicz, V. (2002). Making Sense of Emotional Intelligence. London: ASE, nferNelson.

Illouz, E. (2007). Cold Intimacies: The Making of Emotional Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.

McBride, P. and Maitland, S. (2002). The EI Advantage: Putting Emotional Intelligence into Practice. Maidenhead: Mcgraw-Hill.