Emotional Intelligence And Perfomance Effectiveness: A Gender Comparison At Stenden South Africa

Over the past few years, emotional intelligence (EI) has generated significant interest and a wealth of research as a possible area of insight into what determines performance effectiveness in the workplace (Ashworth, 2013:8; Pillay, Viviers and Mayer, 2013:1). Traditionally, many psychologists argued that Intelligence Quotient (IQ) was the main predictor, however, to-date research indicates that IQ is only the tip of the iceberg while EI represents the large surface area beneath it. It is suggested that IQ and cognitive skills alone do not provide the basis for job effectiveness and that emotional intelligence is an integral factor of achieving success and effectiveness within an organisation. The link between emotional intelligence and effectiveness and comparing men and women in this regard are two issues that have received little attention as areas of research especially, the differences prevalent in genders. Through surveys the study attempts to highlight the relationship between emotional intelligence and overall effectiveness and a comparison of how males and females fare against each other in this regard these issue.