Hello, Aieman -

"Intelligent" is such a subjective term that is is difficult to answer this without defining  "intelligent" in some way. Nevertheless, as a former business owner of approx. 15 years, my concept of an intelligent employee was that of one who was creative, self-directed and critical thinking. These were my most productive employees. Among my employees I also had some who were more "educated" than others in that they had attained more formal education that some of their co-workers. Some of them were what I would classify as "intelligent" (given my conceptualization of the term), while some were definitely not.

Lack of "intelligence" absolutely resulted in lower productivity since those employees were less adept at making autonomous decisions and choices. They had less confidence and needed more direction, and were not critical thinkers. So I would say "yes", by my definition of intelligence as it relates to the workplace, the intelligence of employees can lead to lower (or higher) productivity and less (or more) innovation.

Intelligence is a critical factor but it is not "the all". There are tasks that require a particular level of intelligence- in grammar and composition, technical writing, calculations, creativity, etc. They are necessary. But they must be coupled with trustworthiness, loyalty, industry, good PR, etc. But management has the responsibility of motivating them because they have better options. They have to be placed in the right place for them in the organization otherwise there could be discontentment, etc.

Hello, Aieman -

"Intelligent" is such a subjective term that is is difficult to answer this without defining  "intelligent" in some way. Nevertheless, as a former business owner of approx. 15 years, my concept of an intelligent employee was that of one who was creative, self-directed and critical thinking. These were my most productive employees. Among my employees I also had some who were more "educated" than others in that they had attained more formal education that some of their co-workers. Some of them were what I would classify as "intelligent" (given my conceptualization of the term), while some were definitely not.

Lack of "intelligence" absolutely resulted in lower productivity since those employees were less adept at making autonomous decisions and choices. They had less confidence and needed more direction, and were not critical thinkers. So I would say "yes", by my definition of intelligence as it relates to the workplace, the intelligence of employees can lead to lower (or higher) productivity and less (or more) innovation.

Employees intelligence is very important to the success and effectiveness of any organization. Management should motivate the intelligent employees.

The potential problem is a mismatch in mental productivity across people belonging to the same organisation. Perhaps it complicates communication and therefore collaboration

Intelligent employees are important to any organization. However, intelligent employees have no any contribution to the success of organization if they have no any commitment to their organization. For success, any organization needs employees having right attitude and behavior, hard skill and knowledge, and soft skills. Especially, we need people, who want to listen to others, willing to share and learn from others, working as a team effectively.

I think the difference lies in who sets the goals and who is supposed to pursue them. If mediocre people set the goals, intelligent people might fail to accomplish them and vice versa. From a company's point of view I think all the people are important, its just that intelligent people are less common and are difficult to manage.

9 is bigger than 8, but still both are just numbers, one may appear more important than the other depending on the context.

Than you Dr. Rahul for your contribution.

That is true "If mediocre people set the goals, intelligent people might fail to accomplish them and vice versa"

How to identify mediocre people? Also so-called very intelligent people can 'fail' (e.g. see politics?)...

Good point Dr. Marcel.

In case, the question is about managerial employees, then I would say the following. A study was done Harvard Business School, which found that those students who were outstanding in studies did not end up as the best managers. Rather, those who were next in the rung were more successful  managers.  It was found that the best students had very high IQ, but did not have high emotional intelligence (EI). And the mediocre had better EI,  which was a key variable in determining managerial success. 

Managers need empathy, which is not necessarily reflected in IQ tests... 

An appropriate environment is necessary for productivity and innovation to occur. appropriate time to innovate and be productive is an essential part of the environment. If time is not present and that person is immersed in day to day mechanical work, there will be no time to be productive much less to innovate, regardless of intelligence.

The appropriate support structure must also be present. If the employee is not given the necessary tools to execute appropriately, he will not be productive(what is the appropriate tool is another completely different question).

Just a thought

Dear Aiernan,

These papers may offer some insights on the nexus between human factors, inididual innovation, firm innovation and output performance:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299604127_Human_Factors_Affecting_Productivity_in_Jamaica_Technical_Report_on_Preliminary_Findings

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299747565_Towards_a_talent-driven_outward-oriented_globally-competitive_SME_framework_Discussion_Paper

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305684096_The_development_of_a_creative_class_A_national_imperative

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260638458_Strategies_for_enhancing_Jamaican_competitiveness_in_the_global_knowledge_economy

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301341427_Reforming_Jamaica%27s_National_Systems_of_Innovation

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305687139_Priority_policy_recommendations_for_transforming_individual_productivity_and_SME_competitiveness_in_Jamaica

Technical Report Human Factors Affecting Productivity in Jamaica: Technical R...

Technical Report Towards a talent-driven outward-oriented globally-competitiv...

Presentation The development of a creative class: A national imperative

Conference Paper Strategies for enhancing Jamaican competitiveness in the glo...

Technical Report Reforming Jamaica's National Systems of Innovation

Technical Report Priority policy recommendations for transforming individual ...