Fostering Emotional Intelligence in Online Higher Education Courses

Given the complex challenges organizations face and the importance of emotional intelligence to effective leadership, management education has begun to help adult learners develop emotional intelligence competencies. These include emotional self-control, conflict management, teamwork, cultural awareness, and inspirational leadership, among other qualities. Leaders and managers must navigate a landscape of challenges which demand effective teamwork, fresh perspectives, and an empathic understanding of others with whom they work to inform sound decision making. This article discusses aspects of Mayer and Salovey's model of emotional intelligence. It proposes specific course design and instructional strategies which may foster emotional intelligence in adult learners, especially those in the online learning environment, based on this model. The article points to directions for future research which would empirically examine the effectiveness of these strategies on the development of emotional intelligence in adult learners in online higher education courses.