|
...fact, the Management Education Task Force of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) issued a report in April 2002 that called for an increase of instruction in communication, leadership, and interpersonal skills to make curricula more relevant to "today's global workplace" (Doria, Rozanski, & Cohen, 2003). Furthermore, as a response to feedback from employers, alumni, and executive advisors, business schools across the country are addressing the need for an increased emphasis on "people skills" by teaching business students the soft skills that set exemplary managers apart from their typical peers (Alsop, 2002, p. R11) and that enhance their ability to negotiate the "interpersonal dimension" of work life (Muir, 2004).
Whereas the ability to gather, interpret, analyze, and respond to data may be a function of technical competency, the ability to receive, interpret, analyze, and respond to messages, both external and internal, is regulated by one's emotional intelligence (EI). EI is "a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use the information to guide one's thinking and actions" (Salovey & Mayer, 1990, p. 185). EI theory provides another venue for business communication faculty in presenting the importance of how our students can strategically manage internal and interpersonal communication more effectively.
This article provides a review of EI and describes one way to emphasize the growing importance of "people skills" by introducing El theory into a business communication course. This innovative assignment describes an EI instructional module that utilizes outside-of-class assignments for the majority of the learning. The project begins with students completing an EI assessment, reading a short book on El, developing a personal plan for intrapersonal and interpersonal communication improvement, and submitting weekly journal entries that detail progress toward their plan's goals. After reading about E1 and tying it to their personal plan, students apply what they have learned to further develop their skills in an action-learning role-practice and discussion during an in-class EI workshop. The last component of this project, a communication interview and analysis, encourages students to read additional articles about EI and to network with individuals in the business world through interviews that seek out information that connects the El concepts studied...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos
have been removed from this article.
More articles from Business Communication Quarterly
A small-scale client project for business writing students: developing..., March 01, 2005
A role play for revising style and applying management theories.(Innov..., March 01, 2005
A collaborative online project between New Zealand and New York.(Focus..., March 01, 2005
Looking for additional articles?
Search our database of over 3 million articles.
Looking for more in-depth information on this industry?
Search our complete database of Industry & Market reports by text, subject, publication
name or publication date.
About Goliath
Whether you're looking for sales prospects, competitive information, company
analysis or best practices in managing your organization,
Goliath can help you meet your business needs.
Our extensive business information databases empower business
professionals with both the breadth and depth of credible,
authoritative information they need to support their business
goals. Whether it be strategic planning, sales prospecting,
company research or defining management best practices -
Goliath is your leading source for accurate information.
|
%20%20&position=1)