Emotionally Intelligent Leadership - Essay Example

Running Head: Emotionally Intelligent Leadership Emotionally Intelligent Leadership Inserts His/her Table of Contents 1- Introduction 3 2- Literature Review 3 3- Conclusion 10 4- References 12 Introduction With the evolution of management in the 20th century many leadership styles or themes have surfaced and each has their own efficacy. The different styles of leadership may all be applicable in diverging environmental settings therefore none of them can be considered right or wrong. Different approaches of leadership have surfaced due to the complex dynamics of business world all over the world. Globalization has increased diversity at work place so it is important for a leader to equip him or her with the appropriate skill in order to manage people from different cultures. In this essay we will present a literature review on a leadership approach called emotionally intelligent leadership. The concept of emotional intelligence and its effectiveness in the realm of leadership will be elucidated. Literature on the topic will be evaluated and advantages and disadvantages of this approach of leadership will be presented. Managerial implication of this approach and its effectiveness in real life setting will also be discussed. Literature Review Emotional intelligence is defined as an ability of a person to deal with their own emotions and those of others or it is an ability to perceive information regarding emotions and make use of this information to direct actions and thoughts (Ruderman, Hannum, Leslie, Steed. 2001). It is a phenomenon that deals with understanding of human emotions. This understanding of emotions is then used to elicit responses. An emotionally intelligent leader is someone who uses emotional information in a manner that increases productivity of his or her employees. He or she should be able to connect with employees because he or she can perceive emotions of employees better. Emotionally intelligent leaders are in full control of their emotions as well. They are able to hide their feelings and present themselves in a form that is emotionally desirable. Emotional intelligence and leadership has a very strong relationship because it is important for a leader to understand the moods of employees in the organization and to manage them in a manner that is best suited for the aim of the business (George, J. 2000). It is important for a leader to create a friendly environment in the organization and to set moods that are in line with the core values of the company. It is a leader’s job to motivate people, and without proper understanding of emotions of people this would be impossible. Therefore the link between effective leadership and emotional intelligence is quite strong. This theory emerged after classical management approach was replaced by other approaches like human relations movement and humanistic movement. These approaches of management gave an idea that people are not machines and they should not be treated like machines. People are human beings and they have emotions and feelings, and without taking these things into account no management style could work. But even then this shift of thinking did not immediately highlighted emotional intelligence. The phenomenon of emotionally intelligent leadership is very recent. The term emotional intelligence was coined by Goleman in 1995 and since then much work has been done on the subject (Goleman, 1995). After that work started on role of emotional intelligence on leadership. Previously the focus of leadership was on discipline and rewards. These techniques were used as methods to increase productivity. Involvement of leaders with employees at all levels was also considered an effective way of leadership. Emotions were not given specific attention and the focus was on rewards, punishment and inspirations. Emotionally intelligent leadership was the first leadership approach that focused specifically on emotions. This approach said that usage of emotional information of the people can help leaders create and maintain good interpersonal relations with the employees. The main characteristics of emotionally intelligent leadership are self awareness, self regulation, empathy and trustworthiness (Bliss, S. 2001). Self awareness is important because an emotionally intelligent leader has to know his or her limits and boundaries. It is also important for such a leader to put a check on his or her work. Such a leader would not take decisions himself or herself, rather he or she will consult employees and this is self regulation. Empathy and trustworthiness is also a characteristic of this approach because emotional intelligence involves knowing emotional information of employees. A leader would respond to employees in a manner that they perceive as empathetic. A level of trust is created in order to ensure that relationship between leader and employees is constructive. Without this trust performance of employees will be negatively affected. Emotional intelligence is an approach of leadership that has significant managerial implications. It can help managers in motivating employees in a manner that is not possible by any physical reward or punishment. Organizational outcomes and emotional intelligence are also correlated to each other (Akerjordet & Severinsson, 2008). Emotional needs of a person are very different and no monetary reward can fulfill those needs. It is important that managers understand those needs in order to effectively deal with employees. For example a person with high self esteem will not tolerate rude behavior or insult. Through this approach of leadership a manager would understand the emotional needs of such a person and will not react in a manner that is perceived as insulting by the person. Advantages of this approach are many. Employees react in a better manner when they are treated with empathy and trust (Bliss, S. 2001). Manager employee relationship is important in order to achieve sustainability in this competitive business environment of today. Innovation cannot prosper without this relationship. This approach focuses on fulfillment of the real desires of the employees. The effect of monetary rewards can easily fade away but effect of a complement lasts for a longer time. Also positive emotions are healthier and they can increase productivity more than negative emotions, and this approach yields positive emotions in employees. One of the main disadvantages of this approach is that it relies too much on the leader. If a leader tries too much to conceal his or feelings or to create an image that is not real then he or she can feel dissatisfied. It is not easy to control one’s emotions always and this approach considers this a must for a leader. This approach can also not take care of free riders in the organization. Participative style of leadership, trait theory of leadership and transformational leadership are leadership perspectives that are similar to emotionally intelligent leadership. Participative style of leadership involves employees in decision making process (Doyle & Smith, 2001). Trait theories focus on specific characteristics that are important in leaders and transformational leadership involves raising awareness of employees regarding goals of the organization and brining personal goals in line with organizational goals (Doyle & Smith, 2001). All these styles and theories somehow or the other are similar to emotionally intelligent leadership because they discuss some characteristics of the approach. Emotionally intelligent leadership approach is directly opposite of bureaucratic style of leadership, behavior theories of leadership and directive style of leadership. All these approaches and styles involve maintaining authority over employees. Behavior theories of leadership focus on behaviors of leaders with employees. They completely ignore the emotional side of a person. Bureaucratic style of leadership focus on discipline of the employees and decision making is highly centralized. Actually all these perspectives show the influence of classical management perspective where leadership was considered strict and stern method of increasing productivity without taking into account any humanistic or emotional factors. Emotional intelligence approach of leadership will actually be very important in future because in future organizations diversity will be very high. With this increase in cultural diversity it is important for leaders to understand the emotional side of their employees. This will be pivotal in order to motivate employees in working hard to achieve organizational goals. Team work will increase greatly in future organizations and in such settings employees will be working in a much decentralized environment. Decision making will also be done at the lowest level so it will be important that leaders trust employees and monitor them in a way that is emotionally acceptable by the leaders (Doyle & Smith, 2001). Trend now a day is that leaders are chosen on the basis of their functional expertise (Caruso & Mayer, 2002). This will not work in future because innovation requires a level of trust between leaders and employees. Also emotions are very important in organization because they have a long lasting effect on performance of employees. All these things have to be kept in mind in future organizations. I believe that emotional intelligence is not a fancy phrase rather it is a mindset that best explains how a leader must act. It is important for every leader to understand himself and his employees. Understanding is a very basic step in leadership. Without knowing someone it is impossible to motivate him or her to work. Emotions, I believe are important, because they have a huge psychological impact on the minds of employees or workers. It is important to assess them and then act on the information because only then aim can be achieved. People are so diverse and they have a range of needs. If these needs are understood correctly then a leader can know how and where to pull strings in order to make this person work. Some people have this need of social approval and acceptance. They feel good when their work is applauded. Now an emotionally intelligent person will quickly assess this and will behave accordingly with such people. Also trust is important for every employee or worker. A relationship of trust can do wonders that full camera surveillance can’t achieve (Bliss, S. 2001). Employees will work as hard as possible if they believe that they are trusted by their superiors. The feeling of trust will also made the employee feel more responsible for his or her actions. Most people do not want to be pushed around by someone. They want to be independent and this is especially true for people belonging to individualistic cultures. This is an emotional need of the people and this is fulfilled under this approach. No other approach of leadership focus specifically on human emotions. It is psychologically the best approach to leadership because it aims at understanding of human mind and then acting accordingly with the information available. This is why emotionally intelligent leadership is starting to get famous among corporate leaders and in future this will increase more rapidly. Imagine an organization that has a manager who rarely listens to employees. He throws his weight around the company and trusts no one. Decisions are also made by the manager without any consultation with employees. He also scolds everyone for any mistake and is very focused on goals. Such a leadership style may work in the short run and company may achieve goals but employees will not be satisfied and company will experience an overall high turnover rate. Now if we replace manager with a leader following emotional intelligence leadership perspective then things will improve greatly. Firstly employees will be involved in the decision making process. This will boost their confidence and on the other hand will also bring new ideas. Because employees operate at the basic level their ideas can help a company in problem cutting cost and producing better quality product or service. The benefits of the emotional intelligence leadership perspective are very clear in the real business settings. A leader cannot operate without giving consideration for the emotional capacities of the employees. Workers need encouragement, confidence and trust. If all these needs are fulfilled then they can produce great results. The cons of such a perspective in the real life business setting are that some employees may miss use the trust and may not work hard. There are people who do not want to work and they cannot be motivated through this process. They need material benefits and not trust and encouragement. For such people this leadership perspective will not work. Also a leader may not be able to understand the needs of every employee because all of them are from different background. These are the few downsides of this perspective when we apply it to a real life business setting. Leadership is an ever changing phenomenon and there are many questions that are still to be answered. Researchers have yet to identify which leadership style or perspective is the best for any business. Every sector may have different requirements and different leadership styles may work in different sectors. One example is of the construction industry where workers are hired for a project. These workers cannot be motivated by emotional intelligence leadership perspective or participative or transformational leadership theories and they will not encourage them work harder. Strong surveillance will be required to make them work. This problem is still not solved by leadership research. Another major problem in assessing the effective styles of leadership is that information is collected from managers and employees. It is very difficult for managers to identify specific leadership styles and often transformational and emotional intelligence leadership perspective is mixed. This problem has to be resolved if proper insight is required on the subject. Emotional intelligence perspective of leadership is an area where more research is needed. The phenomenon is still not well researched so it effectiveness is still questionable. There are studies that show the positive nature of this perspective but more data will have to confirm this. Also firm performance cannot be set as a standard for effectiveness of leadership styles. There are many forces that act on a firm’s performance so this cannot tell anything about the effectiveness of the leadership style. Conclusion Emotionally intelligent leadership is a new approach of leadership that calls for understanding of human emotions. By assessing emotions of others decisions are made accordingly. The main characteristics of this approach include trustworthiness, self awareness, self regulation, and empathy. An emotionally intelligent leader is supposed to have all these characteristics. The perspective has great benefits for managers as they can learn how to motivate workers and in turn increase organizational performances especially in the future where work places will be diverse. The downside of this perspective is that it does not deal with free riders and people who are not willing to work at all cost. The efficacy of this leadership style may be different for different sectors so more research is required on the subject. References Akerjordet & Severinsson. (2008). Emotionally intelligent nurse leadership: a literature review study, Journal of Nursing Management, 16(5): 565-577 Bliss, S. (2001). The Affect of Emotional Intelligence on a Modern Organizational Leader’s Ability to Make Effective Decisions, Bellevue University. Retrieved from http://eqi.org/mgtpaper.htm Caruso & Mayer. (2002). Multiple intelligences and leadership, LEAs organization and management series, APA PsycNet, 55-74 Doyle & Smith. (2001). Classical Leadership, Infed. Retrieved from http://www.infed.org/leadership/traditional_leadership.htm George, J. (2000). Emotions and Leadership: The Role of Emotional Intelligence, Human Relations, 53(8): 1027-1055 Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books. Ruderman, Hannum, Leslie, Steed. (2001). Making the connection Leadership Skills and Emotional Intelligence, LIA 21(5). Retrieved from http://timurdhaka.weebly.com/uploads/5/4/0/2/5402479/leadership_skills_and_emotional_intelligence_pdf_unencrypted.pdf Word Count= 2399 Read More