Impact of Adoption of Yoga Way of Life on the Emotional Intelligence of Managers

Vol 22, No 1&2; Article by Hasmukh Adhia, H R Nagendra & B Mhadevan; March/June 2010

There has been a growing interest in understanding the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in improving the performance of business managers. The motivation to understand this construct stems from the prevalent view that some individuals of seemingly average intelligence do well in life, whereas others struggle with life's challenges despite possessing a high IQ. Therefore, general intelligence may not necessarily be a good predictor of success in life, and other attributes may be better determinants. EI is different from traditional views of intelligence based on cognitive factors, and connotes a different kind of aptitude that is founded on non-cognitive aspects of behaviour. Further, research has established EI as the sine qua non for leadership. The paper establishes the link between the yoga way of life - as propounded by the sage Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras, whose guidelines include ethical and moral standards of living in addition to postural and breathing exercises - and EI, and proceeds to study the impact of the yoga way of life on EI using data collected from 60 managers in a business enterprise. The participants in the intervention were divided into two groups - the yoga group and the control group - and were given the requisite training inputs. A 33-item self reporting EI scale was used to measure EI for both the groups, before and after the study.

The study reports positive results in terms of enhanced EI due to yoga theory and practice. These results underscore the importance of the yoga way of life as an integral element for improving managerial performance in organisations; however, there is a need to further explore this construct in greater detail.

Reprint No 10104