The mission of the EI Consortium is to advance research and practice of emotional and social intelligence in organizations through the generation and exchange of knowledge. The Consortium was founded in the spring of 1996 with the support of the Fetzer Institute. Its initial mandate was to study all that is known about emotional intelligence in the workplace. Read more»

Recommended Books

The Business Case for Emotional Intelligence

The following 19 points build a case for how emotional intelligence contributes to the bottom line in any work organization. Based on data from a variety of sources, it can be a valuable tool for HR practitioners and managers who need to make the case in their own organizations. The Consortium also invites submissions of other research for the Business Case. All submissions will be reviewed to determine their suitability. Read more»

Guidelines for Best Practice

These guidelines are based on an exhaustive review of the research literature in training and development, counseling and psychotherapy, and behavior change. The guidelines are additive and synergistic; to be effective, social and emotional learning experiences need not adhere to all of these guidelines, but the chances for success increase with each one that is followed. Read More»

Research Digest

This section of the EI Consortium web site is intended to keep you updated with the latest research findings. We will be summarizing the latest research in the area of emotional intelligence in the workplace by providing you with abstracts of the latest articles from the literature. Each month we will be highlighting a different area from the scholarly literature on emotional intelligence. If you want research updates sent to you automatically, just sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Cherniss, C., Grimm, L.G., & Liautaud, J.P. (2010). Process-designed training: A new approach for helping leaders develop emotional and social competence. Journal of Management Development, 29(5), 413-431.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an EI leadership development program. The study was unique in utilizing a random assignment control group design. Participants were 162 managers from nine different companies. There were nine different groups with nine managers in each group. Each group was required to follow the identical process. Trained moderators led the groups during year 1, but during year 2 a group member served as moderator. The outcome measure was the Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI), a multi-rater measure of social and emotional competencies. Outcome data were collected before the program started, one year later, and two years later. Results indicated that after two years the intervention group had improved more than the controls on all ECI variables. The study offers recommendations for future research on the mechanisms underlying the process-designed group strategy and contextual factors that optimize results. The main implication of the study is that leadership development based on a process-designed group strategy appears to be more economical and consistent in its delivery than more traditional approaches such as workshops or executive coaching.