Chapter 1: How can we make sense of emotional and social competencies within organizational settings?

The concept "emotional intelligence" (EI) resonates in the business world and many authors have called for more research that clearly conceptualizes it. Within the controversy of defining EI, the behavioral approach, defining and measuring EI in terms of competencies, has not received much attention. The aim of the present chapter is threefold: (1) to propose a new structure of emotional and social competencies that is useful within organizational settings; (2) to discuss a comprehensive model of emotional competencies within organizational contexts that includes personality, emotional and social competencies, and performance; and finally (3) to draw its implications for practitioners.