Dilemmas of Leadership in Business - Assignment Example

J. et al. 2004:15) declares that leadership is the capability of any individual to marshal an organization’s members towards effectiveness and success by motivation and influence. It marks an influence relationship with the intention of attaining real outcomes and changes of mutual interest. In contemporary times, influential cross-border leadership is imperative, and this is measurable in terms of cultural adaptability, emotional and cultural intelligence as a factor of self-development in a leader, which impacts success through leadership at an extensive scale in the highly globalized world of modern times.

Emotional intelligence (EI) pertains to the notion that the proficiency of leaders to comprehend their individual emotions, and the emotions of people in their working environment is an expedient tool to achieve better business performance. It is claimed that the core competencies of modern and historical leaders is not just a function of EI, but it also incorporates Cultural Intelligence (CQ) into the equation. CQ is an individual’s ability to adapt to new cultural environment and forego any cultural shock attributable to unfamiliar settings in a cultural context.

With regards to assessing the EI and CQ on the developmental scale, many tests have been developed: Cross-cultural adaptability inventory (Kelley C., and Meyers J., 1995), paper-and-pencil inventory, behavioral investment centres, intercultural communication inventory tests (Earley and Peterson 2004) etc. Goleman (2002) claims that four aspects of EI: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management, add to the critical set of skills required for profound leadership.

He further asserts that self-awareness facilitates empathy and enables self-management. These two combined are a gateway to emotionally intelligent leadership built up on the foundation of self-awareness. The EI in itself is not a distinctive form of intelligence, but the application of intelligence to a certain domain of life- the emotions. The concept has an extensively wide base and therefore its measurement is not scientifically reliable, however its paramount significance can not be doubted with regards to leadership in the current era.

Cultural Intelligence comprises of three rudimentary components: cognitive, motivational and behavioral. In light of these, authors of the subject suggest a CQ learning and educational model based on three subjects: meta-cognitive (learning different strategies to enable cultural sense making), motivation (cultural empathy and self efficacy, which is directly proportional to self-esteem of an individual), and behavior (approved behavior in a cultural setting and mimicry). The current issue of contemporary times is an ever increasing demand for global effective leaders, who when measured on the scale of effectiveness must possess the required combination of knowledge measured in terms of EI and CQ for it is necessary for any achievement oriented leader in the sphere of local or international relations.

However, the supply of global leaders and managers today having adequate EI and CQ is critically very low. Globalization is regarded as the master concept of the modern times, because we live in an era which is marked by dramatic industrialization and interaction between nation states. Extensive globalization indicates that the success of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) and Small and Medium