Role of Emotional Intelligence and Gender in an Organizations Leadership Styles - Essay Example

Role of emotional intelligence and gender in an organization’s leadership styles Introduction According to Northouse (2009), “leadership is a highly sought- after and highly valued commodity” (Northouse, 2009, p.1). It has multi-dimensions as far as an organization is concerned. “It is a process which occurs in groups; it involves influence and common goals” (Northouse, 2009, p.3). No organization can exist without a leadership. Different organizations have different leadership and management styles. Some organizations implement democratic leadership or management styles whereas some others go for autocratic leadership styles. A third segment of organizations implement am mixed type of leadership styles or situational leaderships or leadership based on situations. In any case, the ultimate aim of all the leadership styles is to improve the performances and competitiveness of the organization. Some people believe that leaders are born whereas others are of the view that leaders are developed. In any case, it is a fact that genetics and environment play vital roles in shaping leadership styles of a person. It is not necessary that children of leaders may always become leaders or children of workers may not become leaders. Emotional intelligence and gender are two decisive factors which can influence leadership qualities in one way or another. According to Cherry (2012), “Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while others claim it is an inborn characteristic” (Cherry, 2012). In any case, it is a fact that the leadership qualities of a person have strong associations with his emotional intelligence. People with weak emotional quotient may not function effectively when crisis situations develop whereas people with high emotional intelligence may not lose their temper and patience when the organization faces crisis situations. Same way, the manner in which a female leader reacts to a crisis situation need not be the same as male leader reacts to same situations. This paper analyses the role of emotional intelligence and gender in shaping leadership styles of different people in different organizations. Role of emotional intelligence in an organization’s leadership styles The competition between Microsoft and Apple Inc. for domination in computer and consumer electronics market has caught the attention of many business pundits. 1980’s and 90’s were challenging periods for Apple and many people thought that Apple computers is on the verge of destruction. Microsoft did succeed in monopolizing operating system market during this period with the introduction of their window based operating system for personal computers. On the other hand, Apple’s Macintosh operating system failed to make much waves in the market. The competition between Microsoft and Apple were usually cited as the competition between Steven Jobs and Bill Gates. Many people thought that Bill Gates defeated Steve decisively in their competition in 1980’s and 90’s. However, Steve was not ready to accept total defeat. In the beginning of 2000, he introduced his revolutionary “i” series products such as iMac, iPhone, iPod, iPad, iTune, iTouch etc. All these products tasted huge success. Kim (2010) has pointed out that Apple is currently the second largest company in the world in market capitalization and also the most valuable technological company in the world (Kim 2010). They are just behind Exxon Mobile and far ahead than Microsoft at present. Moreover, Apple is the most valuable technology company in the world now. The above example is quoted here to explain how the emotional intelligence of Steve helped Apple to overcome difficult situations. Steve was not a leader who was easily succumbed to pressure. In fact he liked challenges and never stayed away from accepting challenges. According to Clawson (2008), “Leadership is about managing energy first in yourself and then in those around you. Being a leader depends on one’s point of view, not on status and title” (Clawson, 2008, p.1). Steve was a leader with all these qualities. It should be noted that he worked tirelessly until his death even though he was suffering from a chronic disease from a long time before. He never showed any signs of fatigue or weaknesses and was focused in sharing positive energy to his colleagues. He never explained many things about the difficult period through which he was going on personally. In short, Steve’s emotional intelligence helped Apple Inc a lot in becoming the second largest company in the world. Emotional intelligence moderates the relationship among leadership styles and decision making styles as emotional intelligence strongly associated with leadership styles and decision making styles. Emotional intelligence also moderates the relationship between leadership styles and organizational performance (Rehman 2011, P.409) A leader with short temper may always behave aggressively when he identifies certain mistakes from the employees whereas leaders with patience or emotional intelligence may never behave aggressively before knowing the actual reasons of the mistake. Leaders with emotional intelligence may always try to implement democratic style of management in their organization. They may change their management styles based on the situations. In other words, they will behave aggressively only when such behaviors are inevitable. In all other occasions, they will try to manage things in a democratic manner. They will seldom use their power to get the work done through their followers; instead they will use motivating strategies to encourage the employees. Kotter (1996) pointed out that “Leaders know how to encourage people to transcend short term parochial interests” (Kotter, 1996, p.65). Many leaders have the habit of looking for short term goals at the expense of the organization’s long term goals. For example, sales is a profession in which the sales managers often require to meet certain targets in every month. In order to reach the monthly target, sales managers often engage in unhealthy business practices which may destroy the organization’s healthy relationship with the customers. Lack of emotional intelligence force these managers to canvass jobs at any cost in order to make his organization satisfied with his performances. They are actually spoiling the reputation of the organization in one way or another and the organization may suffer in future. “Self- awareness is central to being a successful leader” (Bennis et al., 2001, p.87). There is no point in undertaking jobs which are beyond the capabilities of a manager or the organization. A leader or manager should have better knowledge about his abilities and also the abilities of his organization. Suppose a manager of a digital printing unit canvass certain offset printing jobs. He might have taken this job with an intention that he can get this job done through another offset printing press. If the offset printer fails to complete this job in time, the reputation of the digital printing unit could be spoiled. The digital printing unit may not get any jobs in future from this client because of the mistake committed by the offset printer. In short, a leader with emotional intelligence will always aware of his own as well as the organization’s capabilities. They will never undertake jobs which are beyond the capabilities of their organization. Leadership has been described as an “emotion laden process”, with the skillful management of followers’ feelings representing a critical leadership function. Accordingly, leaders’ emotions and associated behavior have been found to profoundly influence followers’ emotional reactions (Walter, 2011, p.47). The emotions of the leaders play a vital role in directing the emotions of the workers or followers. When the leader gets panic in certain situations, followers will also get same emotion. Leaders with strong emotional quotient will never show their emotions in front of the followers. They know that their negative energy may spread among the followers and the organization may fell in deep trouble. As mentioned earlier, Steve Jobs never showed any emotions in front of his followers even when Apple was facing real challenges for its existence in the market. Steve’s courage and leadership qualities did succeed in transferring positive energy to the followers all the time. Apple employees never realized the depth of the crisis even when Apple was sinking. They trusted the abilities of Steve blindly and the results are in front of us now. A recovery would have been extremely difficult for Apple, if Steve failed to motivate the employees during the crisis situations. “In too many jobs, employees at all levels feel that they are in a socially toxic environment” (Hooper &Potter, 2001, p.1). The above feeling can be eliminated only if the leader possesses strong emotional intelligences. Just like an infant watches his mother or father, employees in an organization always look towards the leader for motivation. If the leader fails to motivate the employees effectively, the future of the organization could be in danger. Employees always submit different problems to the leader and it is the duty of the leader to provide answers. Only a leader with ample emotional intelligence may provide right answers to the employees. A leader with emotional intelligence will always look for changes in the organization. Innovation at all levels is necessary for current organizations to survive in the market. “When most people talk about change, they talk about ensuring leadership support for the change in high, powerful places”(Black &Gregersen 2002 p.100). Nokia was the leader in mobile phone market until recent times. The introduction of iphone by Apple and galaxy series of mobile phones by Samsung created strong challenges to Nokia which failed to identify market trends. At present Nokia is struggling to compete with smartphone manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung etc. In other words, no company can keep their dominance in the market for longer periods, if it fails in innovating new products and services. A leader with strong emotional intelligence will always encourage innovation and change in the organization. Servant leadership is an emerging concept in the gamut of leadership theories. It is a leadership approach that aims to satisfy the needs of the employees so that it enhances job satisfaction and inspires them to reach higher levels of performance in organizations due to its emphasis on serving, vision, values, teamwork and empowerment (Mehta, & Pillay, 2011, p.24). Some leaders have the illusion that leadership is all about using power. It is a fact that power is essential for leaders to streamline followers in the right track. However, a leader who fails to exercise the power judiciously may struggle to contribute anything to his organization. According to modern leadership theories, power is only a part of leadership. Leadership is much more than using power upon followers. Servant leadership is a modern concept in leadership theories which stress the importance of making the employees satisfied for getting the job done in a proper manner. Job satisfaction is a much needed necessity for employees. Apart from good salaries, employees value job satisfaction immensely while they work in an organization. An employee who is getting good salaries may leave his organization if he fails to derive any job satisfaction. Working environment, organizational culture, management styles etc can affect job satisfaction immensely. Leaders with poor emotional intelligence may not accept the concept of servant leadership. However, the ultimate success of a leader lies in how well he is able to motivate the employees to get the job done. Servant leadership is one way of motivating the employees. Correlational and regression analysis revealed that there is a direct and positive relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment. Also results show that emotional intelligence moderates the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment (Farahani,et al., 2011, p.211) “Transformational Leaders show by their attitudes and actions how everyone else should behave. They also make continued efforts to motivate and rally their followers, constantly doing the rounds, listening, soothing and enthusing”(Transformational leadership, 2012). Some leaders have the habit of rebuking employees in front of others. Such leaders are actually destroying the morale of the employees. On the other hand, leaders with emotional intelligence will never rebuke an employee in front of others even if the employee committed a serious mistake. He will call the employee for a meeting in his cabin and will try to identify the causes of the mistakes committed by the employees. He will try to eliminate the causes of the mistake rather than punishing the employee. For example, an employee who forced to work overtime may not keep same vigil through the day. Fatigue can force the employee to commit mistakes in his jobs. A leader with emotional intelligence may try to reduce overtime hours of that employee or give him some breaks in between his overtime hours in order to keep him fresh all the time and to avoid mistakes. Role of gender in an organization’s leadership styles Leadership literature has over the years, included assertions about differences between female and male Leadership. Although no definitive conclusion has been reached concerning one gender being more effective at Leadership than another, female and male Leadership characteristics have been proffered. The literature posits that females are more caring, collaborative and cooperative, while males are more aggressive, competitive and controlling (Agezo & Hope, 2011, p.181). Even though leadership has no gender, leaders can be either be males or be females. Gender plays in important role in shaping the leadership behavior of a leader. It is not necessary that a male leader and female leader respond to a situation in same manner. Masculine characteristics are abundant in male leaders whereas feminine characteristics are abundant in female leaders. These genetic characteristics often control their leadership styles. At the same time there are lot of exceptions also; some women leaders higher aggressiveness than male leaders. This may not be because of their genetic peculiarities. Environment might have taught them to sacrifice their genetic traits for the success of leadership. It should be noted that if a woman leader shows only, feminine characteristics, workers may not respond positively to her instructions. On the other hand, if the female leader exhibits certain male characteristics in her leadership, workers will obey her instructions more frequently. Hovden, (2010) pointed out that “Because dominant leadership discourses are rooted in conceptualizations of female gender as making the gender difference, gender as a power relation is hidden or blurred, with the consequence that dominant leadership discourses make women 'prisoners' of gender” (Hovden, 2010, p.189). “Evidence from some studies suggests that when subjective evaluations are conducted by trained observers, women are not necessarily disadvantaged and they may even receive more favorable evaluations than men receive for some competencies” (Hirschfeld & Thomas , 2011, p.684). Many people have the illusion that women leaders are inferior to male leaders. It should be noted that PepsiCo like biggest companies have women CEO’s like Indra Nooyi at present. Such appointments clearly suggest that women CEO’s can function as effectively as male CEO’s. In some cases, Women CEO’s may demonstrate higher abilities in responding to crisis situations compared to male leaders. “Research has shown a strong connection between gender diversity and organizational financial performances; as the number of women at the top increases, so does the financial performances” (Northouse, 2009, p.306). In other words, financial management in women dominated organizations is better than that in male dominated organizations. Majority of the women have a tendency to reduce expenditure at any cost. Such qualities are useful in organizations which are struggling to find ways to cut expenditure. It should be noted that many of the organizations which had women financial controllers at the top, did succeed in escaping from the recent recession. “Men and women seem to experience the world differently, not merely because of the ways they were brought up in it, but because they feel it with a different sensitivity of touch, hear it with different aural responses, puzzle out its problems with different cells in their brains”(Kelley, 1997, p.4). Biologically and psychologically, men and women possess lot of similarities and differences. “Girl infants are more alert to social clues. They respond more to people, read facial expressions better and seem better able to interpret the emotional content of speech even before they can understand words”(Kelley, 1997, p.11). Since psychological activities have a prominent role in controlling the leadership styles, males and females differ considerably in their leadership styles. Problems solving abilities of women leaders are often cited at higher levels than that of male leaders. This is because of the fact that women possess more patience than men generally. Leaders are often described with adjectives such as “competitive,” “aggressive,” or “dominant,” which are typically associated with masculinity. A female leader is frequently regarded as an aberration and “women who become leaders are often offered the presumed accolade of being described as being like men” (Moran, 1992, p.478) Many people have the belief that women cannot become effective leaders if they fail to acquire certain masculine characteristics. This is because of the perception that leadership is all about dominance. However, modern leadership theories suggest that power or authority has only limited significance in the shaping of an effective leader. In short, gender does play an important role in shaping the characteristics of the leaders. Conclusions Emotional intelligence and gender play vital roles in shaping leadership qualities. Leaders with emotional intelligence respond positively to crisis situations whereas leaders with poor emotional intelligence may respond negatively to crisis situations. Emotional intelligence helps leaders to analyze crisis situations comprehensively and also to show the ways to followers or employees. On the other hand, leaders with poor emotional intelligence may respond emotionally to crisis situations and their negative energy may spread among the workers also. Gender is another important entity which controls leadership qualities. Women and men leaders are functioning differently because of biological and psychological differences between men and women. Masculine characteristics are more among males whereas feminine characteristics are more among females. Leadership requires judicious exercising of power. Since power is a masculine characteristic, women leaders may struggle to exercise power in their profession. However, when it comes to management, women leaders may excel more than male leaders because of their immense patience in dealing with crisis situations. In short, both males and females have some positive and negative innate leadership qualities. References 1. Agezo, C K. & Hope, W.C.(2011). Gender Leadership in Cape Coast Municipality Primary Schools International Journal of Leadership in Education, v14 n2 p181-201 2. Bennis, W., Spreitze G.M & Cummings T.G. (2001) The Future of Leadership Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (May 9, 2001) 3. Black S. J. &Gregersen H.B. (2002) Leading Strategic Change. Publisher: Financial Times Prentice Hall; 1st edition (June 12, 2002) 4. Clawson, J. G. (2008) Level Three Leadership: Getting below the surface, Publisher: Prentice Hall; 4 edition (April 19, 2008). 5. Cherry K (2012). What Is Emotional Intelligence? 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