Emotional Intelligence and Leadership - Essay Example

? Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Literature Review The idea of Emotional Intelligence can be first tracedon the work of Thorndike (1920) who theorized that intelligence is not only confined to academics but also includes emotional and social component (qtd. in Mandell & Pherwarni, 2003). Later, investigators presented that intelligence is such a multifaceted construct that it is composed of one hundred and twenty varying types of intelligence (Lyusin, 2006). In 1971, Shanley, Walker, and Foley already hypothesized that social intelligence was distinct from academic intelligence, but could not support it with empirical evidence that emotional intelligence is a separate construct. This was later provided by Howard Gardner when he articulated his theory of multiple intelligences categorizing it as intra personal and interpersonal intelligences within the framework of multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983). His concept on intrapersonal intelligence or the capacity and competence to understand one’s self and apply it effectively in its relationship to others and in life in general as articulated in his concept on interpersonal intelligence will serve as the basic building block upon which future theorists will build their research on (Carmeli & Josman, 2006). . Gardner also proposed that there are eight types of intelligences that includes “spatial, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, bodily—kinesthetic, naturalistic, and the traditional academic intelligence: linguistic and logical-mathematical. . . Later, Riggio, Murphy and Pirozzolo (2002) propose these multiple forms of intelligence are possessed by effective leaders and allow these leaders to respond successfully to a range of situations” (Mandel and Pherwani, 2003 pg.388). Further, recent researchers reported that this emotional intelligence is in fact a requisite for leadership and executive role as what all leaders in recent organization are exemplying. It was however Peter Salovey and John Mayer who formally developed the term “emotional intelligence” which landed its model in the field of Psychology that researchers later expanded on of which we still use today. The first version of the model was defined as the as the “the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action” (Salovey and Mayer, 1990 qtd. In Lyusin, 2006: 55). It was interpreted as a complex construct consisting of three types of abilities; (1) the identification and expression of emotion as; (2) the regulation of emotions; and (3) the application of emotional information to thinking and action (Lyusin, 2006 pg. 55). This was later clarified by Mayer and Salovey that emotions contain information on how people or objects could connect at them (Mayer et al., 2001). The ability of connecting these emotions has led Salovey and Mayer to identify the four components of emotional intelligence which are “(1) the identification of emotions; (2) the use of emotions to increase the effectiveness of thinking and action; (3) the understanding of emotions; and (4) the guiding of emotions. In summary, these components relate to the emotions of others and the individual’s own self. To summarize, emotional intelligence is therefore, “defined as the ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotion; the ability to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; the ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth” (Mishra Mohapatra, 2010 pg. 54) to influence others to achieve an objective. There were also other models of EI that was different to this previous model. Most notable was the work of Daniel Goleman (1995) which were more based on the earlier works of Salovey and Mayer (1990) only that he added other components to it such as zeal, persistence, and social skills and brought together cognitive abilites and personality traits. The product of which was in Goleman’s book, “Emotional Intelligence” (1995) which became popular not only among professional psychologists, but also with business professionals and the mainstream reading public. He was also the first to introduce the important of EQ in the workplace, noting that EQ is a more powerful predictor of success in the workplace and in life in general than IQ (Brackett et al, 2006). Later organizational behaviorists was able to quantify that it is twice much effective than the traditional IQ in predicting job performances (MacCann et al., 2003). Also In 1997, Reuven Bar-On developed a method whereby emotional intelligence can be measured. He labeled his methodology of measuring emotional intelligence as Emotional Quotient (EQ). From Bar-On’s perspective, emotional intelligence differed such that it was non-cognitive and defined as “an array of non-cognitive capabilities, competencies, and skills that influence one's ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures" (p. 14 qtd. In Mandel 2006). The Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) divides emotional intelligence into five major components. Bar-On (1996) labeled the components 'intrapersonal,' 'interpersonal,' 'adaptability,' 'stress management' and 'general mood.' (Mandell, 2006 pg. 389). The first development of EI models was the Salovey and Mayer’s Model (1995-1997) which incorporated only the cognitive aspect of EI which can process emotional information. Bar-On’s Model such as the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) focused more on personality trait and did not include the cognitive dimension of EI. Later, John Mayer, David Caruso, and Peter Salovey (1999) proposed the mix model which is a combination of cognitive trait and personality trait (Lyusin, 2006). The increasing interest in the applicability of Emotional Intelligence in the workplace came about with the study of Motowidlo & Borman (1997) who made an interesting study about the contribution of emotional intelligence to a better performance. In the initial study of Emotional Intelligence applicability in the workplace, it was applied in the area of job performance. To determine the contribution of emotional intelligence to job performance, the task was dissected and divided into two dimensions which are the task performance and contextual performance. Task performance was defined as the “effectiveness with which job incumbents perform activities that contribute to the organization’s technical core either by implementing a part of its technical process, or indirectly by providing it with needed materials or services” (Borman & Motowidlo, 1993 qtd in Borman & Motowidlo, 1997 pg. 99). In short, it is the job function written in an employee’s job description of which he or she is expected to perform. On the other hand, contextual performance is the interpersonal behavior or action that benefits the organization in general. This includes desirable organizational citizenship, teamwork, cooperation, emotional management and social skills that relate to human dynamics. Both made contribution to the overall performance in the workplace but the study applied the interpersonal aspect, which requires emotional intelligence in the overall effectiveness of job performance. There are other organizational behaviorists who stressed the role and importance of emotions in the workplace. Among these are research of Ashforth and Humprey (1993) who pointed out that an employee’s emotional experience plays an integral part of an organization and as such, more attention should be given to it. In the same vein, stressed the importance of managing emotion as it can impact employee’s performance and consequently their job performance. Organizational behaviorists agree that EI is very much interrelated with social functioning that is equally important in building relationships as well the ability of making thinking more intelligent (Lyusin, 2006). EI enable individuals to process emotional relevant information accurately and can aid reasoning in solving problems. It was also argued that EI provides the intangible variable to succeed such as motivation to succeed and overcome any problem at hand which IQ cannot provide. In short, intangible characteristics which will enable an individual to succeed or do a good job such as motivation and resiliency cannot be taught. Recently, management and organizational theorists are extending the applicability of emotional intelligence to leadership. The early studies of Howard Gardner, Thorndike, Salovey, Mayer and others served as the jumping board of extending emotional intelligence to leadership. One of the early studies who associated emotional intelligence to leadership was Chen, Jacobs and Spencer (1998) who made a bold conclusion that emotional intelligence is attributable to close to 90 percent of success in leadership positions. And individuals with emotional intelligence may be more creative in arriving at potential alternatives to problems, and more likely to incorporate emotional considerations, when deciding among those alternatives (Pope & Singer, 1990). With these study and figures supporting the relevance of emotional intelligence in achieving success in leadership positions, managers and organizations alike are beginning to take notice of the importance of emotional intelligence to leadership. The social and emotional dimension of leadership which early management theorists overlooked as trivial are now becomes a focused of study. In a continued effort to determine how the social and emotional dimension contributes to effective leadership researchers begun to focus on theories of intelligence other than the traditional, cognitive ability based general intelligence. Beginning under the label of social intelligence, Thorndike (1920) proposed that other types of abilities existed and needed to be differentiated from general intelligence. His main focus was to suggest that the understanding and perception of our own feelings as well as those of others was a distinguishable difference to that of general intelligence”. Gardner (1983), expanding on the concepts presented in early intelligence work as well as social intelligence theory, developed a theory of multiple intelligences. ...one of the seven areas of intelligence discussed in multiple intelligence theory, personal intelligence, corresponds to earlier theories such as social intelligence. Two domains or divisions exist within the theory of personal intelligence. Intrapersonal knowledge or intelligence describes the ability to access and express personal inner emotions while interpersonal intelligence focuses on a person's ability to recognize and process emotion in others. By separating intelligence into intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence, Gardner's theory of personal intelligence provided a context from which emotional intelligence as a conceptualization would later be developed. From this definition, the theory of emotional intelligence was suggested to involve three process, appraisal and expression of emotion, regulation of emotion, and utilization of emotion as intelligence which is critical traits that a leader must possess (Salovey & Mayer, 1990). Such that this emotional intelligence provided the competencies such as self-awareness, self-regulation, personal motivation, empathy and strong social skills that formed part of what is called transformational leadership. Thus, research involving the social and emotional dimension of leadership brought about the idea of transformational leadership whose foundations are close knit to emotional intelligence’s. Transformational leadership … involves the mutual ”rising” of both sides to higher levels of motivation and morality(Jamaludin, et al, 2011, pg. 76). In support of Burns’ opinion on the latter, Bass (1997) further clarified that transformational leadership paradigm move the followers beyond their self-interests for the good of the group, organization and society. According to this author, this new leadership paradigm does not replace the conceptions of leadership as exchanges that are contingent on followers’ performance, rather, it enhances the role of leaders in enlarging and elevating followers’ motivation, understanding, maturity and sense of self-worth. Conclusion The recent trend of requiring leaders to be emotionally intelligent and have the ability to work with teams and other people stemmed from the idea of emotional intelligence. Today, social and emotional skills as a requisite of emotional intelligence are becoming more and more integral to leadership that effective leadership is now equated with emotionally intelligent leaders. Research are in unison in concluding that emotional intelligence is a necessary requirement of effective leadership with some stressing that emotional intelligence is more important than cognitive skills to become an effective leader. The prevailing style of leadership that is preferred among organizations today called transformational leadership where leadership brings out the best of people that makes them leaders themselves is in fact anchored on emotional intelligence. Because of this, the social and emotional dimension of work and leadership are no longer dismissed as trivial and unimportant and in fact now considered as one of the important facets of performance be it among leaders, managers and employees. Research may still be continuing today to determine more accurately the extent of how emotional intelligence contributes to effective leadership and how to develop it further, but it is already established that emotional intelligence is necessary for a leader to be effective. 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