Emotional Intelligence and Leadership - What Makes a Good Leader - Literature review Example

Emotional intelligence and Leadership What makes a good leader? Name of Student: Course No: Name of Supervisor: Date: Emotional Intelligence and Leadership What Makes a Good Leader? The ability to distinguish, manage and assess emotions is known as Emotional Intelligence or EI. Researchers are divided as to whether this ability is inborn or can be learned. Leading Researchers Salovey and Mayer (1990) have defined it as the division of social intelligence which entails being able to screen emotion –both one’s own and others’, to be discriminating of them and to apply this information in shaping one’s actions and attitude. Emotional Intelligence has four branches according to Salovey and Mayer (2000). These are (1) Perceiving Emotions, (2). Reasoning with Emotions (3) Understanding Emotions and (4) Managing Emotions. These branches are said to start from basic cognitive processes to more complex ones. Daniel Goleman (1995) was the man who coined the phrase ‘emotional intelligence’ and he was also the first to apply the concept to business in an article published by Harvard Business Review (1998). Goleman had researched almost two hundred multi-nationals and discovered that there was an extra something required in order to succeed apart from the archetypal qualities of determination, vision, toughness and intelligence. The truly effective leaders stood out because of an advanced level of emotional intelligence. This concept encompassed such virtues as self-awareness, motivation, self-regulation, empathy and social skill. Technical ability and IQ are crucial as threshold capabilities i.e. entry level requirements for executives. Goleman stated that his research and others has found that emotional intelligence is the sine qua non for leadership and great leaders cannot exist without it. Can Emotional Intelligence Be Learnt? To Succeed, Do Leaders Need EI? According to Segal and Smith (2010) emotional intelligence is learned by engaging the emotional parts of the brain in ways that link us to others. It occurs through the senses of sight, hearing and feelings. It depends on sensory, non-verbal learning and real life practice. There are five important skills that are required in emotional intelligence: Aptitude for quickly diminishing stress. The knack of identifying and controlling your emotions. The ability to interact through non-verbal communication. The ability to employ humour and play to counteract challenging situations. Conflict resolution that is carried out with confidence and results in positive outcomes. These skills can be learned by anyone at anytime. Although he is sceptical about the validity of Emotional Intelligence as a scientific concept, John Antonakis (2009) agrees that it is a factor in effective leadership. This is because the emotions of followers are evoked when a leader is effective and this is outlined in the early trait theories of leadership (George, 2000) and it has been demonstrated to be so empirically by Dasborough (2006). An effective leader must be able to manage their own emotions and the ability to empathise with others will make for a more efficient work place. Emotional Intelligence can affect not only the success of an individual, but that of an organisation as well. This is because when the leadership possesses this attribute, the working environment created is one that nurtures and encourages personnel to do better. This trickledown effect is illustrated in a study done on insurance CEOs in the U.S. when compared in terms of size, those CEOs who displayed EI competencies returned financial results that were better when measured against profit and growth (Williams, 1994). The relationship between EI and business results was tested by McClelland (1998) whose results were similar when testing division heads for a multi-national food and beverage firm. Antonakis, Ashkanasy and Dasborough (2009), Main Argument John Antonakis corresponds with Neil Ashkanasy and Marie Dasborough over the issue of emotional intelligence. While the concept has gained acceptance in mainstream and applied psychology as well as being employed in business, there is a doubt cast on its meaningfulness as well as the construct and predictive validity of its measures. The issues covered by the correspondence between these three researchers include the necessity theoretically for emotional intelligence in leadership; the method of testing emotional intelligence that may be most promising; methodology standards of testing the significance of emotional intelligence; data gleaned from neuroscience literature to do with intelligence and emotion; verifications of the connection between leader emotional intelligence and the follower effects. Antonakis and Ashkanasy/Dasborough were in consensus on the fact that the research designs used to test whether EI matter in leadership were not robust and thus there is currently no substantial proof that emotional intelligence forecasts leadership outcomes when personality and IQ are taken into account. Antonakis’ argument states that EI is possibly necessary for leadership value which he dubs ‘curse of emotion’ phenomenon due to the fact that leaders who display an oversensitivity to emotion – both their own and others’- may be conflicted in decision making leading to a situation known as emotional labour for the leader or followers. My response to this argument would be informed by the fact that a recently published meta-analysis by Harms and Credé (2010) seems to support Antonakis’ position. Their research which used data that was independent of common source and common methods discovered that overall EI measures correlate by only r=11 with measures of transformational leadership. Further research by Harms and Credé (2010) subsequently saw the meta-analytic estimates for EI fall to zero if the personality traits and IQ were controlled for. However, I disagree that emotion is necessarily a curse. Other Skills Necessary for Leadership Personality There are five main personality traits that researchers claim are inherent in a good leader. They are known as the five factor model and consist of; Conscientiousness: This encompasses reliability, accountability, persistence, discretion, accomplishment and task focus. Emotional stability Obligingness: consists of a personal warmth, bias towards cooperation rather than competition, trust and acceptance of others. Extraversion: comprises of friendliness, conviviality, loquaciousness, forcefulness and authority. Openness: consists of being open minded, giving importance to intellectual matters, thoughtful and creative. http://business-leadership-qualities.com/privacy.html(2011) Charisma This has been defined by Wright (1996:194) as a gift of Grace. Max Weber related this concept to leadership by using the term to describe the phenomenon where self-appointed leaders acquire followers living under stressful conditions. These leaders are attractive because people are drawn to their seeming ability to get them out of the pain they are in (Gerth and Mills, 1991:51-55). Charisma is often thought to encompass qualities found in an individual such as ability, character and presence but what are neglected are the situational circumstances that bring these leaders to the fore. These circumstances tend to include times of trouble in which the person who seems to have the answers is turned to in order to extricate the populace from the trouble. The individual then takes up the mantle of leadership and attempts to inspire and motivate the populace to believe in their solutions. This in turn causes the populace to feel safer and guided (Doyle and Smith, 2001). Conflict Resolution Skills Many a time, strong leadership emerges in times of conflict; from generals who conquer to politician who lead calls to action, to individuals who take control in a crisis. Examples of such leaders include Gandhi, Hitler, Napoleon or Joan of Arc. Legends that surround such individuals highlight their take charge demeanour in moments of crisis or decision (Doyle and Smith, 2001). The quality of leadership in any group or organisation is key to its survival. In the Art of War, it is said that it is the leaders who determine the fate of the people – whether they will be at war or live in peace (Sun Tzu, nd.) Cross-Cultural Competencies This is embodied by the Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program which studies cultural practises and values and came up with nine cultural attributes to look for in a cross culturally competent leader. These are: Performance Orientation: this is the level to which a group or culture may motivate through awarding members for improving their performance. Those who score highly on this tend to stress training and development while those who score low are more family background oriented. Assertiveness: some countries value this attribute such as Austria and the U.S. and tend towards competitiveness in business. While others stress accord and fidelity such as Sweden and New Zealand. Future Orientation: this includes delayed gratification, planning and investment. This may influence attitude to business with those who are pro future orientation tending to plan for the long term and take less risk while the opposite is true for those who do not. Humane Orientation: awarding individuals for being fair, altruistic, generous etc. Institutional Collectivism: that is collective distribution of resources and collective action as opposed to individualistic groupings. In-Group Collectivism: organisations and groups who display this are loyal, have pride in and are cohesive in their groupings. Gender Egalitarianism: minimisation of gender inequality in a collective. These societies tend to promote tolerance for diverse concepts and individuals. Power Distance: to what extent there is equal distribution of power. High power distance means inequality in society with more economic, social and political strata. Uncertainty avoidance: those who prefer to avoid uncertainty have more rules and regulations governing them than others (Javidan et al., 2006). Understanding Power. This entails a study of the nature of power and how it is used to accomplish tasks, to affect subconscious attitudes and perceptions in personal relationships and influencing people to perform as desired. This concept is utilised by effective leaders to accomplish their goals because an understanding of power leads to success. It can also be inspirational to others and remove obstacles in the path to success (Vanino, 2005). Hede’s (2001) model of Total Behaviour Leadership examines patterns of leadership throughout several behavioural dimensions. The first one being power as seen across five types that is coercive power, reward, position power, expert and referent. Clearly power is crucial to all elements of leadership although a study carried out by Hede (2005) found that one third of women and a quarter of men displayed low levels of all power types. The most effective patterns of power were discovered to be those which involved referent power that is commanding respect or admiration. Leadership Style According to Hersey and Blanchard (1977), there are four types of leadership style: Telling: which is high on tasks, low on relationship behaviour. Involves extensive instruction and is suitable for new employees or those who are unmotivated. Selling: is a high task and relationship behaviour style. Subordinates are encouraged to get involved in the task although most instruction is still left to the leader. Is suitable for motivated people with limited ability or maturity. Participating: a high relationship but low task behaviour style. The leader is a facilitator; the followers may have ability but not motivation. Delegating: is a low relationship and task behaviour style. The leader is remote and lets subordinates identify the problem and come up with solutions. Is suitable for individuals of high maturity and competence. Conclusion The discussion above outlines the opinions of various researchers and theories on what makes a good leader. When all is said and done, the importance of Emotional Intelligence in leadership cannot be gainsaid. Although there are flaws in the theory as pointed out by Antonakis, and confirmed by Harms and Credé, the fact remains that it is emotional intelligence that governs all the other attributes that make a good leader. An examination of the traits recommended in personality, charisma, conflict resolution, cross cultural competencies, understanding power and leadership style have a common vein running through them; the ability to manage one’s emotions and the emotions of others in order to evoke the desired response. It therefore seems that Emotional Intelligence is the backbone of any effective leader. References Antonakis, J, Ashkanasy, N.M, and Dasborough, M.T. (2009). Does leadership need emotional intelligence? The Leadership Quarterly 20 247–261 Business Leadership Qualities. (2011). Leadership Traits - Impact of Personality. Retrieved 6th October, 2011 from http://business-leadership-qualities.com/privacy.html Dasborough, M. T. (2006). Cognitive asymmetry in employee emotional reactions to leadership behaviours. The Leadership Quarterly, 17, 163−178 Doyle, M. E. and Smith, M. K. (2001) ‘Classical leadership’, the encyclopaedia of informal education. Retrieved 6th October, 2011 from http://www.infed.org/leadership/traditional_leadership.htm George, J. M. (2000). Emotions and leadership: The role of emotional intelligence. Human Relations, 53, 1027−1055 Gerth, H. H. and Mills, C. Wright (Eds.). (1991). From Max Weber. Essays in Sociology, London: Routledge. Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence. New York, NY. Bantam Books Goleman, D. (1998). What Makes a Leader? Harvard Business Review Harms, P. D and Credé, M. (2010). Emotional Intelligence and Transformational and Transactional Leadership: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 17 (1): 5–17 Harms, P. D.; Credé, M. (2010). "Remaining Issues in Emotional Intelligence Research: Construct Overlap, Method Artifacts, and Lack of Incremental Validity". Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice 3 (2): 154–158. Hede, A.J. (2001). Integrated leadership: Multiple styles for maximal effectiveness, in K. Parry (Eds), Leadership in the Antipodes: Findings, Implications and a Leader Profile, Institute of Policy Studies, Wellington, New Zealand. Hede, A.J. (2005) Patterns of Power and Leadership: Understanding Total Behaviour Leadership. White Paper. Australian Institute of Management. University of the Sunshine Coast. Queensland, Australia. Hersey, P. and Blanchard, K. H. (1977). The Management of Organizational Behaviour 3e, Upper Saddle River N. J.: Prentice Hall. Javidan, M., Dorfman, P.W., de Luque, M.S. and House, R.J. (2006) In the Eye of the Beholder: Cross Cultural Lessons in Leadership from Project GLOBE. Academy of Management Perspectives Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. (2000). Models of emotional intelligence. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.). Handbook of Intelligence (pp. 396-420). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. McClelland, David C. (1998). Identifying competencies with behavioural-event interviews. Psychological Science, 9(5), 331-340. Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. (1990). Emotional intelligence. Imagination, cognition, and personality, 9(3), 185-211 Segal, J. and Smith, M. (2010). Five Key Skills for Raising Your Emotional Intelligence. Retrieved 6th October, 2011 from http://www.helpguide.org/eq5_raising_emotional_intelligence_files Sun Tzu. (Undated). The Art of War Retrieved 6th October, 2011 from http://kappeli.ton.tut.fi/aow/main.html Vanino, A.E. (2005). Understanding People and Power: An Important Key to Business Leadership. Moving Forward, Coaching & Consultancy. Ann Vanino. All media Williams, Daniel. (1994). Leadership for the 21st Century: Life Insurance Leadership Study. Boston: Hay Group. Wright, P. (1996). Managerial Leadership, London: Routledge. Read More