Emotional Intelligence and Its Impact on Leadership Styles - Essay Example

?The work and living environments of the modern world is turning to be largely diverse. Leading such a culturally diverse group requires systematic adaption in leader styles. Taking into account the fact that the varied cultural backgrounds of the team members would mean differences in their perceptions on management and leadership, theories of leadership based on generic systems of management would not work. Thus an approach based on the emotional perception of the team members would be required to mange such a team. This suggests the connection between emotional intelligence and leadership styles. The objective of this essay is to analyze the impact of emotional intelligence on different leadership styles. Emotional intelligence Emotional Intelligence is a collective name for a set of social and emotional abilities which would help people to adapt to the routine demands and it is the ability to be more effective in relationships of varied nature (MacCann, Matthews, Zeidner, & Richards, 2004). Another definition of emotional intelligence is “the set of abilities that involves perceiving and reasoning abstractly with information that emerges from feelings” (Mandell and Phewanti ,2003) In a team environment, the role of emotional intelligence is turning to be of increased importance. Barling et al (157) has opined that the five characteristics of emotional intelligence includes, understanding other persons emotions; knowing to manage these emotions; emotional self control; empathy and management of relations. The application of these components in management has been a subject of research for several years. Emotional Intelligence and Transformational leadership Transformational leadership involves the leader motivating the team members to perform beyond the expected limits of performance (Sivanathan & Fekkan, 198). In general it has been opined that emotional intelligence is a prerequisite for any sustainable leadership model. It must be noted here that transformational leadership has been suggested to have sustained results than transactional leadership which is based on contingent rewards and other tangible benefits. Transformational leadership demands to a large extend the understanding of the followers’ emotions. In this context, the characteristics of emotional intelligence will compliment the functionalities of a transformational leader. According to Ashforth and Humphrey (1995), “emotions are an integral and inseparable part of everyday organizational life” (p. 97) . Thus a team environment will involve varied range of emotions. The skill to understand the other person’s emotions can be used to analyse the satisfaction and the motivational requirements of the team members. This argument is supported by George (2000) as he opined that transformational leaders appraise and engage in emotions and they effectively use these emotions for the well being of the team. Moreover, emotional self control would help the leader to establish himself or herself as a role model for other to follow. Goleman (1998) has opined the need of emotional intelligence as a mandatory quality to be successful as leaders and that the transformational behaviors of leaders are directly proportional to the level of their emotional intelligence. Top Management & Emotional Intelligence The importance of emotional intelligence for a professional working at the top management level has been asserted by management experts. It has been opined that the importance of emotional intelligence increases with the increase in managerial responsibilities and one’s professional advances within the organization. The challenges of a leader increases in multiple disciplines as the person climbs up the managerial ladder. This must be read together with the fact that, as the area of management broadens, the cultural and professional diversity also widens. This limits the scope of transactional style of leadership to be effective to have a sustainable leadership. There are several studies which analysed various levels of top management with reference to the need of emotional intelligence. Dulewicz and Higgs (2000) has identified the key job competencies of top level managers. Dulewicz, Victor;Higgs and, Malcolm (2003) later confirmed that many of these competencies coincided with the key elements of emotional intelligence. It has been reported that out of the 40 competencies identified, 16 of them related to characteristics of emotional intelligence. Some examples to these mutually coinciding elements are Listening and sensitivity, energy and motivation, decisiveness, emotional resilience and integrity. Thus it can be concluded that the management competencies required for a top level manager relates to emotional intelligence. In other words, it can be stated that Emotional Intelligence is very important for top level managers. An depth study on the management skills required at varied levels of management including general managers, directors and board members revealed varied competencies which are demanded by the respective teams. Most of these competencies shared similar characteristics with emotional intelligence (Institute of Directors, 1995; Dulewicz , Macmillan and Herbert, 1995…EQ1). Change Managers and & Emotional Intelligence Here it must be noted that the team structure and environment will undergo continuous changes. So as to manage this continuous change, there are three important dimensions identified including emotional; rational and political factors. Thus Emotional Intelligence becomes very important for leaders in the top management to be sensitized to these changing environments. Higgs and Dulewicz (2000) have confirmed the linkages between emotional intelligence and a team leaders ability in managing change. The existence and growth of any team in the changing environments would depend on its capacity to adapt to those changes. The foremost challenge in this process is to have the members engaged in understanding the need for change. This in turn demands emotional intelligence. Brown (1999) has opined that people with high emotional intelligence can identify the feelings and emotions of co-workers and they effectively use these observations to develop better communication channels and resultantly creating better team environments. Conclusion It has been well established that emotional intelligence influence the leadership styles to a large extend. Thus it is important for a leader to develop emotional intelligence. Advances in management research have suggested that there are effective tools to develop the competencies associated with emotional intelligence. (Barling, Slater, & Kelloway, 2000) Thus it makes possible to train leaders to constructively use transformational leadership. Modern resources on such training must be utilized to train leaders of different sorts so that they mould their leadership styles in an effective way. References Ashford, B. E., & Humphrey, R. H. (1995). Emotion in the workplace: A reappraisal. Human Relations, 48(2), 97-124 Barling, J., Slater, F., & Kelloway, E. K. (2000). Transformational leadership and emotional intelligence: An exploratory study. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 21(3), 157-161 Brown, B. L. (1999). Emotional intelligence: Keeping your job. Trends and issues alert no 9. Washington, DC: Office of Education Research and Improvement. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED435041) Dulewicz, V., & Higgs, M. (2000). Emotional intelligence: A review and evaluation study. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 18(5), 341-355 Dulewicz, V., & Macmillan T & Herbert P(2000) Appraising and developing boards and their effectiveness. Journal of general Management, 20 (3) Dulewicz, Victor; Higgs, Malcolm (2003) Leadership At The Top: The Need For Emotional Intelligence In Organizations, International Journal of Organizational Analysis11, 3; 193 Institute of Directors (1995) Good Practices for the Directors; Standards for the Board, London : IOD George, J. M. (2000). Emotions and leadership: The role of emotional intelligence. Human Relations, 53, 1027-1055 Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam. MacCann, C., Matthews, G., Zeidner, M., Roberts, R.D. (2004). The assessment of emotional intelligence: On frameworks, fissures, and the future. In G. Geher (Ed.),Measuring emotional intelligence (pp. 21-52). New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Mandell, B., & Pherwani, S. (2003). Relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership style: A gender comparison. Journal of Business and Psychology, 17(3), 387-404. Sivanathan, Niroshaan;Fekken, G Cynthia (2002) Emotional intelligence, moral reasoning and transformational leadership Leadership & Organization Development Journal; 2002; 23, 3/4p.198 Read More