'Emotional intelligence in leaders: Does it matter' - Essay Example

Emotional Intelligence in Leaders: Does it Matter? Introduction: The importance of emotions in organizational leaders was mentioned and explained by Daniel Goleman who wrote the book ‘Emotional Intelligence’ in the year 1995. It has been observed that emotional decisions by leaders have proved to have magnetic effects on the leadership abilities and performances within an organization (Rothstein and Burke 2010). Emotional Intelligence in Leaders:Several studies have been conducted to find the relation between emotional intelligence and leaders in an organization.

It has been found that empathetic leaders tend to reflect greater intellectual stimulation considering the individuals. Leaders, who regulate their moods less, are generally more effective as transformational leaders (Barbuto and Burbach 2006). Studies have also found that leaders that are emotionally intelligent tend to happier in nature and hence their commitment to their organization is also more, enabling them to achieve greater success, display better performance, take greater consideration of the emotions that are positive in nature trying to improve the overall performance of the organization, and also improve their decision making abilities depending on the positive emotions (Gardner and Stough 2002).

Leaders who are more dependent on transformational leaders have been found to motivate the organizational employees more. This has been observed to be possible with use of positive emotions by the leaders. Being able to associate their own emotions with those of the employees, the transformational leaders have been found to be more effective in utilizing the emotions in understanding both themselves as well as the employees thus leading to enhanced relations and performances (Gardner and Stough 2002).

Leadership is a practice of communal interface where the aptitude of the leader to manipulate the actions of their followers can powerfully influence performance results. “Leadership is intrinsically an emotional process, whereby leaders recognize followers’ emotional states, attempt to evoke emotions in followers, and then seek to manage followers’ emotional states accordingly” (Kerr et al 2006). Thus the ability of leaders to influence the emotional positivity of the employees can effectively influence the outcomes.

Hence emotional intelligence has been obtained to be a major “determinant of effective leadership” (Kerr et al 2006). Emotional intelligence as considered by the skill to comprehend and deal with emotions can come about without essentially distinguishing feelings perfectly or completely understanding them. “What is required involves a higher-level, conscious processing of emotions, with necessary reasoning about emotions, how they develop over time, how they may be managed, and how to fit emotional management into social situations” (Leban and Zulauf 2004).

Emotional intelligence capability adds to the behavior of a transformational project manager leader and consequent authentic project performance (Leban and Zulauf 2004). Thus emotional intelligence can be considered to be an essential tool to determine the effectiveness of leaders in an organization (Brown, Bryant and Reilly 2006). Conclusion:Considering the above study, it can be concluded that emotional intelligence has a significant positive relation with the effectiveness of leadership in organizations and hence emotional intelligence in leaders can be said to matter significantly in organizations, with effect to the positive performance of the organizational employees.

ReferencesBarbuto, J.E. and M.E. Burbach (2006). The Emotional Intelligence of Transformational Leaders: A Field Study of Elected Officials. The Journal of Social Psychology, 146(1), p.51-64. Brown, F.W., Bryant, S.E. and M.D. Reilly (2006). Does emotional intelligence – as measured by the EQI – influence transformational leadership and/or desirable outcomes? Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 27(5), p.330-351. Gardner, L. and C. Stough (2002). Examining the relationship between leadership and emotional intelligence in senior level managers.

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 23(2), p.68-78.Kerr, R. et al (2006). Emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 27(4), p.265-279. Leban, W. and C. Zulauf (2004). Linking emotional intelligence abilities and transformational leadership styles. The Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 25(7), p.554-564. Rothstein, M.G. and R.J. Burke (2010). Self-management and Leadership Development (Google eBook). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.