Is organisational genius an intelligence?

Factual Questions
1

By that I mean is it inherent in some people more than in others?

Are some people born with an ability to manage things (people, businesses and organisations) effectively, or is it a learned trait?

See I used to think it was more of a learned ability. The more time and experience you had with an organisation, the more efficiently you would organise it.

However as time has gone on I have noticed that some people seem to be better equipped to deal with these types of situations than others. They seem to have more of a knack for keeping details, yet also have an overall plan in mind.

Although you might say that general intelligence is a factor, the term “general intelligence” is itself a loosely defined (if at all) concept. This seems more precise - for example you can time how long it will take Child A to place a set of colored bricks in order (with the purpose of the bricks specified beforehand) and find it is faster than that of Child B.

Do certain people have this greater inherent (unlearned) ability to organise and manage things (or at least learn how to perform these tasks quicker)? If so, why is this the case?

–Please note I am not talking about the qualities that an individual possesses (calmness, grace, warm personality etc.) that make them better able to manage certain tasks.

I am referring to the pure mental ability to place a specific object in the right area, or understand and change conditions with respect to the situation to ensure the desired goal is achieved.–

2

Are you familiar with Howard Gardner’s work on multiple intelligences?

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm

He is a top researcher in this field. His model of multiple intelligences doesn’t have one that seems to match specifically to what you’re asking about. I could see it falling under spatial intelligence, if you are talking about organizing a physical/ mechanical task. Or interpersonal intelligence, if you are talking about a project where a lot of people are involved in a complex series of decisions. Interestingly, the skill of project management is taught to deal with both types of tasks, but the types of intelligence that would predispose someone to success seem different.

3

In my experience, there’s absolutely no doubt that some people are better equipped by nature to plan and organize projects and other people. That’s not to say that anyone can’t do better with training and/or experience.

Also, it’s my experience that the people who have this skill set can apply it in various ways, i.e. that the ability to organize is seperate from the knowledge of the subject being organized.

4

I’m going to jump off the deep end here and suggest that the term you are looking for is: talent; and yes it is a specific “intelligence”, as you put it. Of course this directs us to IMHO or GD, but maybe not.
People have certain talents, even though particular idiot “savants” (like Marilyn :stuck_out_tongue: ) insist that it is not so. People often consider talent as the ability to draw pretty pictures or sing nicely, but it can be so much more. Organizational ability is definately a talent. So is handling money, selling, understanding mathematics, schmoozing. People tell me i’m very talented. I can draw real pretty pictures, but I can’t schmooze for schnit. Keeps me working for other people instead of having my own business.
Anyone can be trained to do any of these things at some level of competence, but the good ones got it naturally.