Developing emotional intelligence in high potential middle managers

This paper reports on a mixed quantitative and qualitative longitudinal study, performed in Australia, in which experiential training was used to foster increased emotional intelligence in a group of middle managers previously identified as high achievers. Evaluation of pre and post-training measures of emotional intelligence confirmed a significant difference in scores on an instrument measuring the construct. These results were confirmed by content analysis of journals kept by participants during the management development program. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for management development as well as for further research.