Published in 2014 in the International Journal of Business, Humanities and Technology, Orlando Rivero’s article titled “A Review of Emotional Initiatives from a Corporate Sustainability Perspective” attempts to convince the reader of the importance of recognizing and applying Emotional Intelligence (EI) in the workplace of a corporation or organization. The author claimed that EI “has become an important piece of reforming the landscape of organizational behavior practices to support corporate sustainability” (Rivero, 2014, p. 11). Using scenarios of leadership, workplace politics, workplace environment, and the process of making business decisions, the author discussed the results of a few studies that consider both IQ and EI as factors in workplace communications. Rivero gives a few examples of how EI fails or flourishes in the workplace, and concludes with recommendations for corporations and organizations to follow regarding the use of EI in the workplace.
The author uses anecdotal evidence rather than scientifically derived quantitative or qualitative evidence to explain his claims. He does not define EI at any point in the article, nor does he identify the reasons why corporations or organizations are not currently using the concept of EI as a basis for their hiring decisions or other workplace communicative strategies. Additionally, in relation to corporate sustainability, Rivero does not define this term nor does he relate how EI can enhance or improve corporate sustainability, something he promised to do in the introduction of this article. Rivero also wrote with the underlying assumption that EI and corporate sustainability are inter-related, but he never specifically addressed how this occurs or why he believed that it was of importance.
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While the author does list several recommendations that organizations or workplaces could implement in order “to improve corporate sustainability in an effort to stay on course with the overall organizational strategic plan” (Rivero, 2014, p. 14), he does not give any helpful information on how to develop an overall organizational strategic plan or offer insight on how to incorporate his suggestions into such a plan. He suggested that organizations or workplaces force candidates to undergo psychological testing to determine IQ and EI. This is not a very useful recommendation, as most corporations and organizations cannot afford to screen each potential candidate in this manner, and it would add a burden to the workload of an already busy human resources staff. The author also recommends developing a training program within the corporation or organization to teach employees why EI is important. Again, this recommendation is made without consideration for cost or manpower. A final recommendation made by the author entails revisiting job descriptions and amending them to better define objectives. Here, the author does not go into enough detail to help the reader understand why this would be a crucial undertaking for a corporation or organization. Overall, the recommendations generated in this article are less than helpful for a corporation or organization looking to build a more cohesive work team that leads to higher and more efficient production of products or services.
I found this article a bit on the “light” side regarding content, reliability, credibility, and conclusions. I don’t believe that it would be of much use for a practical application of corporate or organizational restructuring as it does not adequately define the concepts presented, it does not support the assertions and recommendations with any evidence, and it supposes a set of ideologies that are not currently in line with most of the United States’ corporate priorities. The author did not relate EI to corporate sustainability in a meaningful way, and he made the unfortunate mistake of assuming a level of understanding or common knowledge by the reader of this material as evidenced by his comment: “It is common knowledge that individuals with a high IQ are best suited for occupations that require a high level of cognitive intelligence” (Rivero, 2014, p. 12). In fact, IQ is just one measure of intelligence, and it is poor practice on the part of the author to assume any level of knowledge about this topic for the particular publication in which it appeared.
- Rivero, O. (2014). A review of emotional intelligence initiatives from a corporate sustainability perspective. International Journal of Business, Humanities and Technology, 4(6), 11-14.
