A inteligência emocional: da clarificação do constructo à sua aplicabilidade ao exercício da liderança

Abstract

Due to the increasing importance that the subject of Emotional Intelligence (EI) is becoming to have in the scientific and managerial community, particularly in its application to the leadership exercise, in this article we analyze what is emotional intelligence, as well as whether there is scientific support that allows applying emotional intelligence to leadership, from the research and intervention point of view. To this end, we conducted a historical framework of the construct of Emotional Intelligence, we analyze the assumptions of the model of Goleman (1995, 1998a, 2001a, 2001b) and the capabilities model of emotional intelligence (Mayer, Salovey & Caruso, 2000a, 2000b, 2004a, 2004b, 2008). We had, too, a critical analysis of the construct of Emotional Intelligence and, finally, we analyze the current research on the applicability of Emotional Intelligence to exercise leadership. After having done this analysis, we draw conclusions regarding the possible application of emotional intelligence construct for both research and for intervention in the organizational context, with regard to leadership.