Capella University Organizational Perspectives - Human Capital Management Resources - Human Capital Research

Emotional Intelligence and Organizational Effectiveness

Will Wilson, PhD and Lori LaCivita, PhD
I/O Psychology
Harold Abel School of Psychology
Capella University
September 29, 2008

What can we do to better attain our own potential? Why don’t our workers reach the potential that we see in them? What characteristic most distinguishes effective employees from average workers? What separates organizations that do well from organizations that fail or who simply never seem to grow and develop beyond a limited degree of success? Upon examination of this issue, it is evident that organizational and employee and leader development involves much more than sheer, raw intelligence and hard work.

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Appreciative Coaching: A Positive Process for Change

Appreciative Coaching: A Positive Process for Change by Capella faculty member Sara Orem and co-authors Jacqueline Binkert and Ann Clancy applies the concepts of appreciative inquiry to coaching.

Appreciative Inquiry is based on the idea that change occurs by emphasizing the positive instead of focusing on problems. As an internal organizational development consultant Sara saw different responses from groups when a positive approach was used. She started to experiment with other teams and with one-on-one coaching relationships. Together with her co-authors, they developed an appreciative coaching process based on five principles (Orem, Binkert, & Clancy, 2007)

• The Constructionist Principle: Knowing and becoming are interwoven. Appreciative coaches recognize who a person is now and apply current knowledge to aim for a desirable future.
• The Positive Principle: Positive attitudes, actions and connections influence the person’s ability to make lasting change.
• The Simultanety Principle: The future “happens in and as a result of the present”(p. 15).
• The Poetic Principle: Life stories can be rewritten to better fit how people see themselves in the present and their future.
• The Anticipatory Principle: A dream for the future can guide current behavior.

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Business as an Agent of World Benefit: Global Forum on Appreciative Inquiry

The focus of this year’s conference is: “Management as Designing in an Era of Massive Innovation.” The conference will be held at Case Western Reserve University and online from June 2-5, 2009.

Three tracks will focus on the themes of (1) Management-As-Designing: What Can Management Learn from the Field of Design and How Might the Design Attitude Help Us Turn Social and Global Issues into Bona-fide Business Opportunities? (2) Massive Innovation: What Do We Know About Change at the Scale of the Whole?
and (3) Redesigning Management Education for the Future: If Anything Imaginable Were Possible How Might We Imagine and Design Responsible Management Education.

Information about the Global Forum and the full call for papers and workshops are online. Want feedback on your ideas for a presentation? Looking for a co-presenter? Use the comments area to discuss your thoughts about appreciative inquiry and business innovation.