Emotional Intelligence - Essay Example

?Emotional Intelligence According to Goleman, emotional intelligence is the management of feelings so that they are expressed appropriately and effectively in order to allow people to work together for a common goal (Leadership Organization 2012: 42). Additional definitions given include one that calls it the capacity to understand and use emotional information, either from others or from one’s own, accordingly. The concept of emotional intelligence is tied around the ability to be aware and express emotions; moreover, it is the ability to be aware of other people’s feelings, establish interpersonal relationships and the ability to manage and regulate emotions. The other two aspects of emotional intelligence are the ability to realistically and flexibly cope with the immediate situation and solve problems of personal and interpersonal nature as they arise, as well as generate positive feelings that allow one to be motivated adequately in order to achieve personal goals. In addition, emotional intelligence is known to affect the personality traits that an individual exhibits, which include sociability, extraversion, self-esteem, persistence and optimism. This is because, by people understanding their own, and other people’s feelings, people can manage relationships appropriately. Therefore, emotional intelligence is crucial in influencing people and leading them to achieve certain goals that in which one has an interest. In leadership, it is crucial to have emotional intelligence and apply it to all situations that involve relationships with people in order to affect the outcome that people under one’s leadership. This is particularly so in transformational leadership styles. Moreover, in this form of leadership, a leader operates at the emotional level of transforming people and their outcomes (Leadership Organization 2012: 18). Therefore, in transformational leadership, emotional intelligence is used to inspire involvement, loyalty, commitment and performance (Leadership Organization 2012: 18). In addition, this is done by leaders identifying themselves as a force and commissioners of change through taking up that role and embodying with it (Leadership Organization 2012: 18). This is concerning the behavior they portray and the influence they seek to mount on their followers. Thus, leaders using the transformational style of leadership are able to motivate their followers to do more than what they intend to do, and that which they consider themselves capable of achieving by providing a sense of belonging (Deloitte 2012: 10). Emotions are expressed in offering meaning and offering challenging tasks to followers in order to motivate them. This shows the role of emotional intelligence in offering motivation in leadership by letting one’s followers own the goals of an organization and create, and the leader creates an enthusiastic environment in which to work. In addition, transformational leaders and emotional intelligence go hand in hand owing to the leaders characteristics. This is because transformational leaders conduct themselves in ways that are admirable, respectable and that can be trusted by their followers. Thus, they are role models for their followers by portraying the goals and needs of an organization as their own. Moreover, this behavior works on the emotions of the followers by provoking a desire to achieve together with a formidable leader. An additional way in which transformational leadership and emotional intelligence are related is in the opportunities offered by a leader concerning furthering the ideas of their followers. This occurs by leaders engaging their followers in exploring ideas, which builds the relationship between the two parties (Brady et al. 2008: 58). Therefore, the relationship between leaders and followers gets a boost by interacting, exchanging ideas, challenging assumptions and developing new ideas for the betterment of the organization (Leadership Organization 2012: 18). Furthermore, on leadership styles, emotional intelligence comes in handy with its application in situational leadership. The model of leadership dictates that a leader should follow a given guideline in which effective leaders are expected to adapt directive and supportive behaviors based on the dependency level of the followers (Leadership Organization 2012: 22). In these levels of dependency, the higher the level, the more the application of emotional intelligence by the leader is required. This is in the form of the leader dedicating their attention to explaining and showing the followers that which is required of them. Therefore, in this style, the connection involving the leader and the followers is of key significance following the maturation of the followers in their fields. It is due to this that emotional intelligence comes into focus as the leader needs to understand the emotional functionality and motivational, as well as the inspiration within the followers. In addition, for a leader, the emotional well being of the followers is of critical value in that the gender of different leaders plays a crucial role in emotional intelligence. This is evident in the difference displayed by feminine against masculine leaders. Feminine leaders care more about the emotional well being of their followers, as opposed to masculine ones, this is following the notion to masculine leaders that finances of an organization are more important than the warm relationship between leaders and followers (Hofstede 2007: 96). Therefore, for this reason, feminine leaders show sympathy for the weak while masculine leaders portray emotional support for the strong (Hofstede n.d: 26). In this case, emotional intelligence is evidenced to be more effective among feminine leaders owing to the attachment portrayed towards their followers and fellow workers. Application of emotional intelligence in leadership is effective in instruction especially when under pressure. Therefore, this is shown when the leader applies pressure followed by consideration towards the followers which gives motivation (Arvonen and Ekvall 1999: 243). In this case, motivation is the product of consideration thus portraying pressure in a positive manner for the followers to act as per the wishes of their leader. As a result, followers who have leaders showing concern for the well being of their workers, employee orientation, receive better performance results from their followers as compared to those that are product oriented. This is because such leaders put the needs of the needs of their workers ahead of those of the organization, thus allowing followers to keep up with the wishes of their leaders (Arvonen and Ekvall 1999: 246). However, this kind of relationship, employee oriented, does not always work for the best. The failure is due to lack of motivation in production orientation leading to lax working conditions and over emphasized interpersonal relationships (Arvonen and Ekvall 1999: 249). Therefore, in distributed leadership, emotional intelligence is applied concerning intuitive working relationships that allow for conjoint synchronizations of organizations actions (Feng 2011: 29). In this manner, the leadership shares their leadership position with the followers allowing for trust to arise in the working relationship (Bolden 2011: 252). As a result, relationships within the work place develop with effectiveness in productivity in the leadership style. In addition, studies have found out that paying attention to the stability of the job and position that an employee or follower has a profound effect in keeping the productivity of workers high. This is following the motivation offered by job security; moreover, it is more common in the public sector than the private sector (Karl and Sutton 1998: 517). This shows how the public sector manages to keep its employees at work as opposed to the use of economic reward used by the private sector. Overall, these two factors show the power of bearing knowledge of the emotional needs of one’s followers and the effect it has on their productivity. In this case, meeting the emotional needs of public workers, by providing job security, puts reduce pressure on them thus allowing them to work at a pace that they can afford. On the other hand, for private sector workers, economic incentives enhance the motivation of the workers. In addition, focusing on the emotional correctness expressed toward followers and other colleagues, self-sacrifice is crucial in leadership. This is in regard to the motivation it bears toward one’s followers owing to the positive emotions exhibited by workers and willingness to work together (Dierendonck 2011: 1238). Leaders that go “out of their way” to meet goals together with their followers, as opposed to delegating or directing, are deemed to have better leadership skills than those who are direct. This is because they come to the level of their followers and understand their needs in relation to work. Moreover, another aspect to emotional intelligence is that of communication in which one develops awareness of one’s own feelings, the situation and reactions of the people around them. By doing this, a leader is able to communicate effectively with his or her juniors and fellow colleagues by addressing them in a constructive way (Leadership Organization 2012: 42). Therefore, a leader is capable of doing this only if they can anticipate the feelings of their followers, and express their own feelings in a way that does not appear negative to anyone. This creates the basis of the creative use of emotional intelligence for communicational purposes. In addition, emotional intelligence in leadership is crucial when it comes to communication where information can be distorted by a number of factors. This is owing to the emotional biases that different channels and people, can have towards the expression and delivery of messages. In support of this reason, it is vital to put into consideration the reactions and reception of any information passed on to any one of one’s followers, juniors or colleagues concerning the effect it has on them. Another factor is that of distortion, as mentioned earlier, in delivery. This is because certain information elicits certain unfavorable or negative emotions in a follower, it may end up affecting the productivity of the workers, their motivation and relationship with fellow workers. As a result, hostility comes up between the leadership and followers owing to poor application of emotional intelligence and even failure to use it at all. In conclusion, emotional intelligence is a crucial aspect in leadership and the running of any organization that expects to achieve adequate productivity levels. It is also crucial in most of the leadership styles, as mentioned in the work, and, therefore, should be paid attention to and applied significantly to improve productivity and interpersonal relationships within an organization. References Arvonen, J. and G. Ekvall. (1999) ‘Effective Leadership Style: Both Universal and Contingent?’, Creativity and Innovation management 8(4): 242-250. Bolden, R. (2011) ‘Distributed Leadership in Organizations: A Review of Theory and Research’, International Journal of Management Reviews 13(3): 251-269. Brady et al. (2008) ‘Managing in the Talent Economy: The Football Model for Business’, California Management Review 50(4): 54-73. Deloitte. (2012) The Leadership premium: How Companies win the confidence of investors. Dierendonck, D. (2011) ‘Servant Leadership: A Review and Synthesis’, Journal of Management, 37(4): 1228-1261. Feng, I. (2011) ‘Distributed leadership, knowledge and information management and team performance in Chinese and Western Groups’, Journal of Technology Management in China 6(1): 26-42. Hofstede, G. (2007) ‘Asian management in the 21st century’, Springer Science and Business Media 24: 411-420. Hofstede, G. and G. Hofstede. (n.d) Cultures and Organizations Software of the Mind, Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival.2nd edition, U.S.A.: McGraw Hill. Karl, K. and C. Sutton. (1998) ‘Job Values in Today’s Workforce: A Comparison of Public and Private Sector Employees’, Public Personnel Management 27(4): 515-527. Leadership Organization. (2012) Leadership of Organisations Techcomm 7038. Read More