Emotional Intelligence and Leadership - Literature review Example

Topic: Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Student’s name Course name Lecturer’s name 25th September 2011 Introduction 1. Emotional intelligence is defined as the skill or ability to control, assess and identify ones emotions as well as emotions of groups and other people. According to Salovey and Mayer (2003) emotional intelligence can also be defined as the ability or skill possessed by a person that enables him/her to perceive emotions, understand emotions, integrate emotions and regulate emotions in a way that the person achieves a great level of personal growth (Salovey and Mayer, 2003). Goleman (1998) perceived emotional intelligence as comprising of an array of skills and competencies. In this regard, Goleman defined emotional intelligence as self awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management (Goleman, 1998). According to Hersey, Blanchard & Johnson (2008) leadership can be viewed as a process laden with numerous emotional events. The emotions experienced in the leadership process are also intertwined with social influence. George (2000) single out the four main types of leadership styles that includes authoritarian, democratic, free rein and the toxic leadership styles. In authoritarian style the leader applies his emotional intelligence to control emotions and impulses from others because the leader relates with absolute authority which arouses emotions from the subordinates. In relation to democratic style, the leader applies emotional intelligence to develop and inspire the subordinates because the leader allows the subordinates to participate in decision making. In relation to toxic leadership the leader applies emotional intelligence to sense, understand and react to emotions from others because the toxic leader abuses his leadership authority (Arvey, Rotundo, Johnson, Zhang & McGue, 2006). This is because the subordinates react negatively to the toxic leader’s decisions which leave the organization and people worse-off With regard to free reign style; the leader leaves the group or the subordinates to make decision for themselves. Hence, the leader applies emotional intelligence to control conflicts between the subordinates by controlling emotions and impulses that arise among the subordinates. 2. Petrides & Furnham (2000) held that emotional intelligence is a leadership trait that can be easily learnt. Basing their argument on the four aspects of emotional intelligence that includes perceiving, reasoning, understanding and managing emotions, the authors argued that emotional intelligence is not an inborn trait or strength and this it can be learnt. For example, a leader can learn how to perceive emotions from others by observing the facial expressions and nonverbal signs which depict signs of anger or disagreements. Additionally, the tone of the sound was also taken by the authors another way through which the leader can perceive emotions by learning. Furthermore, Kluemper (2008) held that emotional intelligence can be learned because the aspect of managing emotions which is a key competency of emotional intelligence requires the person to know how to respond appropriately to different and varied emotional situations as well as knowing how to regulate ones emotions when speaking to an emotional group (Arvey, Rotundo, Johnson, Zhang & McGue, 2006). In order to succeed leaders must have and do need emotional intelligence because they are faced with emotional situations on a daily basis. Bradberry & Greaves (2009) noted that emotional intelligence is a key requisite to successful leadership because a leader must be able to manage emotions, understand emotions, reason out with different kinds of emotions as well as perceive and identify as they come in order to devise effective ways of dealing with emotions. This is because a leader without emotional intelligence is likely to fail since emotions increases conflicts between the leader and the subordinates as well as conflicts between the subordinates themselves (Hoyle, 2005). As a result, every leader needs emotional intelligence in order to be self-aware, self-manage and to be able to exercise relationship management for the good of the organization and the people. 3. The main argument presented in the case is that leadership as a science cannot advance without emotional intelligence. Similarly, leaders cannot succeed without emotional intelligence. The issue of emotional intelligence is an important topic that seems weak or delicate to many people even though it is an important element that is related directly to leadership. The authors Antonakis, Ashkanasy and Dasborough 2009, p.247 argued that leadership as a science and leaders as people who execute the real mandate of leadership or who apply the science of leadership in making diverse decisions in the organisation require emotional intelligence to advance and succeed respectively. However, lack of adequate research studies and information regarding emotional intelligence and leadership makes it hard to arrive a conclusive answer to the questions on whether leadership as a science requires emotional intelligence to advance or whether to succeed leaders need emotional intelligence (Lussier & Achua, 2010). To reiterate, the main argument presented in the above case study is whether leadership and leaders need emotional intelligence to advance and to succeed respectively. I would respond to this argument by arguing that leadership and leaders need emotional intelligence as the most important element for advancement and success. The reason for this argument is that leadership as a science is tested and become effective when it transcends the numerous challenges that face it. One of these challenges is dealing with emotions in the workplace. It is imperative to note that human beings are emotional beings and these emotions are dragged in the workplace. Knowing how to deal with the emotions requires emotional intelligence which makes leadership as an art effective. Similarly, leaders also require emotional intelligence because they are also emotional beings who need to deal with their own emotions before they deal with other people’s emotions. Hence, emotional I agree with the argument presented in the case that leadership and leaders need emotional intelligence in order to advance and succeed respectively. 4.(a) Personality – Santrock (2008) defined personality as an organized and dynamic composition of characteristics a person possesses that influences his/her behaviours, motivations and cognitions uniquely in different situations. As a skill for a leader, personality is relevant because it reflects the patterns of perceiving and enduring held and possessed by the leader. Personality traits help the leader to relate to and think about the environment that surrounds him. Personality is also relevant because it also enhances the understanding of the leader about himself and other people. For instance, the leader can easily identify whether some of his subordinates are reserved or outgoing in order to determine the proper ways of dealing with reserved and outgoing subordinates (Bradberry, 2007). This means that personality is a relevant skill to the leader because it influences the behaviour of the leader and determines how the leader should perceive other people. (b) Charisma- Turner (2003) defined charisma as the compelling charm or attractiveness that inspires or arouses the desire of others to be devoted to the things said or done by another person considered to be a leader. This includes the ability to behave and communicate in ways that motivate, inspire and reach the followers in an emotional way (Lussier & Achua, 2010). Charisma is a relevant skill for a leader because it helps the leader to motivate his followers or subordinates to undertake certain roles. It is also a relevant skill because it helps the leader to inspire his followers or subordinates to also participate in various processes in the organization by encouraging the subordinates or the followers to take active roles in the running of the organization (Ryckman, 2004). Charisma is also relevant as a skill for a leader because it attracts the followers and binds them with their leader which increases the acceptability of the leader among the followers. (c) Conflict resolution skills- One of the key competencies of a leader is resolving the conflicts that arise in the organization. Such conflicts may be instigated by conflicts of roles or negative emotions dragged by the subordinates into the organization. Conflict resolution is a relevant skill for a leader because it eliminates tension and other unnecessary behaviours that might negatively impact on the organizational activities and processes. Conflict resolution skills entail applying justice in resolving problems and applying justice uniformly on all the employees. (d) Cross-cultural competencies- This is a relevant skill for a leader because it helps the leader to be aware of the diverse cultural composition of his workforce. In this regard, the leader works towards unifying the diverse cultural components for the benefit of the organization rather than perceiving the diverse cultural components as obstacles to the success of the organization. (e) Understanding power- Power is an important element of leadership. A leader without power is a leader without the requisite tool for leading his subordinates. In other words a leader without power is toothless leader who cannot exert his command upon his subordinates (Tapu, 2001). Understanding power is a relevant skill for a leader because power may be destructive or constructive depending on how it is applied in influencing decision making processes. The leader must understand when and whether coercive power, reward power, referent power, legitimate power and expert power are to be applied in order to drive the organizational processes forward. (f) In addition to the characteristics of leadership discussed above, it is imperative to state that cognitive abilities is also an important competency a leader should possesses. Cognitive ability refers to the experience, professionalism and education held by the leader in a particular field (Van, Hogan & Kaiser, 2008). For example, a manager should hold key qualifications that make him a managerial expertise. An information technology manager should hold key experience, professionalism and education that make him/her qualify for the position of an IT manager. The reason behind this is that a qualified, experienced and professional leader with cognitive ability in his area of leadership commands respect from the subordinates and is able to supervise, monitor and make decision that reflect the reality both in the internal and external environment. According to Stanovich (2009) cognitive abilities can be perceived as the leader’s possession of sharp brains which he applies in solving expert problems and other related problem that may arise in the course of undertaking organizational activities. Stanovich (2009) held that without cognitive ability the leader can easily be manipulated by his subordinates and in so doing the leader losses his power to command his subordinates. Hence, cognitive ability is one of the most relevant characteristics of leadership that must be possessed by every leader. 5. In conclusion, the discussion above is important because it shed light on different aspects of leadership and emotional intelligence. As a matter of fact, it is evident from the discussion that emotional intelligence is a requisite in leadership. In order to advance, leadership must employ emotional intelligence. In order to succeed a leader must apply emotional intelligence. The value of the above discussion is that leadership and leaders are bestowed with the responsibility of leading managing affairs of other human beings. Research studies shows that human beings are emotional beings which means that every human being has a certain level of emotions which guide their reaction to different stimuli. In this regard, the discussion has shown that emotional intelligence is an important element because it helps the leader to deal with the various degrees of emotions dragged by the employees and the other people in the organizational setting. It is also evident that a leader without the emotional intelligence capability is likely to enter into serious conflicts with his subordinates because the leader also poses a certain level of emotions. However, emotional intelligence helps the leader to deal with his emotions before dealing with emotions from other people. The discussion is therefore worthwhile to every leader whose aspiration is to advance his leadership career and improve his leadership capability. The discussion above has also shown that a leader must poses key competencies, characteristics and strengths that makes him/her stand out from the rest of the people. Such characteristics include charisma, cognitive ability (which refers to experience, expertise and educational qualification), personality, cross-cultural competencies and the ability to understand the particular types of power to apply in different situations. Hence, the leader must stand out from the rest of the people through the characteristics he possesses in order to command respect from other people. References Arvey, R., Rotundo, M., Johnson, W., Zhang, Z., & McGue, M. (2006). The determinants of leadership role occupancy: Genetic and personality factors. The Leadership Quarterly, 17, 1-20. Bradberry, T. (2007). The Personality Code. New York: Putnam Bradberry, T., and Greaves, J. (2009). Emotional Intelligence 2.0. San Francisco: Publishers Group West. George J.M. 2000. Emotions and leadership: The role of emotional intelligence, Human Relations 53 (2000), pp. 1027–1055‏ Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books Hersey, Paul; Blanchard, Ken; Johnson, D. (2008). Management of Organizational Behavior: Leading Human Resources (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Hoyle, J. (2005). Leadership and Futuring: Making Visions Happen. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc., Kluemper, D.H. (2008), Trait emotional intelligence: The impact of core-self evaluations and social desirability. Personality and Individual Differences, 44(6), 1402-1412. Lussier, R.N., & Achua, C.F., (2010). Leadership, Theory, Application, & Skill Development.(4th ed). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Mayer, J., & Salovey, P. (1997). What is emotional intelligence? In P. Salovey & D. Sluyter (Eds.), Emotional development and emotional intelligence: Implications for educators (pp. 3-31). New York: Basic Books. Petrides, K. & Furnham, A. (2000). On the dimensional structure of emotional intelligence. Personality and Individual Differences, 29, 313-320 Ryckman, R. (2004). Theories of Personality. Belmont, California: Thomson/Wadsworth. Santrock, J. (2008).The Self, Identity, and Personality. In Mike Ryan(Ed.). A Topical Approach To Life-Span Development. (pg 411-412). New York: McGraw-Hill. Stanovich, K. (2009). What Intelligence Tests Miss: The Psychology of Rational Thought. New Haven (CT): Yale University Press. Tapu, C. (2001). Hypostatic Personality: Psychopathology of Doing and Being Made. Ploiesti: Premier. Turner, S. (2003). "Charisma Reconsidered," pp. 5-26 in Journal of Classical Sociology, 3:5, p. 6. Van, M., Hogan, R., & Kaiser, R. (2008). Leadership, followership, and evolution: Some lessons from the past. American Psychologist, 63, 182-196. Read More