Introduction

Emotional intelligence has increasingly been associated with leadership. Previous research on leadership has unveiled several theories such as transformational leadership, trait theory, and the great man theory all focused on giving an insight into the characteristics of an effective leader. However, despite the extensive research, the concept of leadership remains open. That is, it can be defined in different ways based on the experience and interest of the scholar. The current research has focused mainly on transformational and transactional leadership. On one hand, transformational leadership entails the following dimensions; intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence. Transactional leadership, on the other hand, emphasizes more on employee compliance and task completion. The focus has now shifted towards understanding the role of emotional intelligence in leadership.

Daniel Goleman was among the first individuals who wrote concerning emotional intelligence and leadership. Some of his works include ‘Working with Emotional Intelligence’ which was first published in 1998 and ‘The Emotionally Intelligence Workplace’ written in 2001. Goleman maintains that the success and growth of an organization depend more on the level of emotional intelligence of leaders. Similarly, leaders must demonstrate the ability to attend to employees’ feelings at the workplace and intervene whenever an issue comes up. Moreover, it is important for leaders to control their emotions in the effort to gain the confidence and trust of employees as well as in understanding the political and social dimensions of the organization (Goleman, 2001).

Overview of Emotional Intelligence

There exist different definitions of emotional intelligence that have been put forth by researchers.Every author that came up with a model on emotional intelligence also developed his or her definition of the same. For instance, the theory of multiple intelligences proposed by Sternberg’s (2003) posits that interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence is entirely different from the logical and mathematical ones which are widely known today as IQ. In 1998, Goleman presented EI as the theory of organizational and job performance. According to him, although the primary objective of a leader is to get results, this cannot be achieved exclusively through training alone. This is because most of the training programs are based on inference but not on quantitative data.

            In general, the commonly applied definition of emotional intelligence revolves around the ability to identify, assess, and control both individual’s emotions and the feelings of those around. This is necessary for the effort to achieve individual goals and that of the group. Glossop and Mitchell (2005) further define emotional intelligence as a concept which entails “the ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotions.” Emotional intelligence also refers to the ability to form a clear understanding of emotions as well as emotional knowledge. Moreover, it may be defined as the ability to control feelings in the aim of promoting emotional and intellectual growth and development.

            Some authors also define emotional intelligent in terms of reason and the reasoning of emotion as it relates to an individual. Others define it as an emerging new type of knowledge. Emotional intelligence, in this case, is defined as “individual capability to apply reasoning to emotions, and of emotions to improve on thinking”(Goleman, 2001).These includethe ability to perceive emotions accurately, generate emotion to help with thought, and understand emotional knowledge. It, therefore, follows that emotion acts as an important source of information that determines the way people view and interpret the social environment and how to best lead while in it. The authors agree that people have different approaches in the way they lead and that a style that might be successful in one environment might not work in a different surrounding.This view on different approaches to leadership put emotional intelligence at the center where it is surrounded by other concepts such as practical intelligence, social intelligence, and personal intelligence.

Initially, more emphasis was placed on intellectual quotient (IQ); it was widely regarded as the only predictor of personal success. Critics of IQ argue that the way it is defined (ability to do abstract thinking, learn, and adjust to the environment)mentions very little about individual’s results and the success or failure of the decision adopted. Goleman (2004) argued that IQ does not in any way account for 76 percent of professional success. The test score regarding an individual’s professional performance only indicates a 24 percent as the maximum weight of IQ. From this, Goleman concluded that IQ does not care who fails or succeeds. This is where emotional intelligence comes in to fill the 76 percent indicated above. Emotional intelligence emphasizes more on the following skills;the ability to empathize, socialize and adjust to change, all of which play an important role in the success of the organization. A manager must strive to possess the following qualities; ability to control emotions by not allowing them to interfere with one’s work, the power to refrain from blocking emotions as well as keeping an open mind.

What is even more interesting is that researches in this field all agree to the fact that the level of intelligence cannot be genetically defined. They claimed that emotional intelligence is acquired through learning. EQ, unlike IQ, which is based on the predetermined narrowly-focused parameters, can be developed, modified, and enhanced. In essence, “empathy and capacity to learn more about others can easily be nurtured” (Glossop and Mitchell, 2005). Furthermore, emotional competencies can be acquired through learning in the effort to achieve the desired outcome. This is because they are not innate talents. As Goleman rightly puts it, people only have the capacity to innate general emotional intelligence which, in turn, helps in learning emotional competences.

Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

            The discoveries made in recent years on emotional intelligence have paid special attention to a leader’s emotional competencies (which will be discussed later) and its overall impact on the organizational overall success. Emotional competencies also emerged to have had a major contributionto employee motivations and customer relations. It was later agreed that the establishment of models of emotional intelligence coupled with emotional competencies works best when it comes to improving the whole area of leadership. The authors agreed that the emotional intelligence should increase as one ascends the level of the hierarchy. Emotional skills also emerged to be more important to individuals who are in managerial positions because they must get quality output from employees.As Goleman rightly points out, those at the highest level of hierarchy require less technical or cognitive competencies but more of emotional intelligence. For those at the top level management, high IQ or specialization may not achieve the desired outcomes but alternatively act as barriers (Goleman, 2004).The ability of the leader to communicate and develop interpersonal relationships, be friendly and create an environment where motivation thrives is all qualities of a leader who has high intellectual intelligence.

In this context, leadership focuses mainly on the interaction between leaders and other people (i.e. workers). When involved in such an interaction, it has been long found that emotional awareness and regulation becomes critical components that affect the outcome and quality of such interactions. Social intelligence, for instance, can impact the way leaders work and function in a workplace as compared to the way mental intelligence does. Effective leadership behaviors, to a large extent, depend on the capacity of the leader to find solutions to complex social problems that occur daily within the organization. This means that effective leaders are those who strive to ensure they have a clear understanding of their emotions and it does not affect those around them.Similarly, such leaders ensure they understand the emotions of those around them and learn how to control theirs during social interactions.

Emotional intelligence has emerged as an important component in determining how leaders approach and address the complexities of the challenges that they encounter on a daily basis. Leaders who embrace emotional intelligence, in most cases, have a competitive advantage over others. It is important to note that emotional intelligence does not “fall within the classical models of leadership” which view leaders in terms of how charismatic they are. Today, employees are increasingly being aware of their rights and, therefore, some leadership styles such as autocratic and retaliation can nolonger be accepted. Therefore, leaders have no other option but to ensure they put into consideration the rights of the workforce by adopting consultative and democratic styles of leadership.

The above literature has discussed at a greater length the importance of emotion. Even Plato, at one point, argued that everything that an individual learns and adopts has an emotional basis. This is important because when work is based on passion, positive feelings on activities being completed emerges. This makes the concerned parties achieve better outcomes. The literature further indicated that individuals with high IQ alone failed greatly to obtain the needed outcomes while at the workplace. This is because there are some aspects of intelligence that do not merely manifest but have a great impact on workplace performance and social success. The researchers reached an agreement that there are more other human qualities that aid in achieving the intended outcomes other than giving a high intelligence quotient a big role in the organization. This is what led to the development of the notion of emotional acumen. It has been shown in many forums that emotional intelligence helps a lot in attaining high performance, especially in sales and leadership. In such a situation, success has always been linked to aperson’s ability to comprehend and understand the best way of using interpersonal relationships.

This concept has emerged as an important instrument that is used to measure modern business leadership in an environment that requires human interaction. Following the reality that emotional skills play an essential role in a workplace setting, several learning programs have been developed targeting to identify and control the negative emotional states such as anger, depression, and danger, all of which give rise to leadership styles that demotivate employees. This, in the end, results in the decline in the morale of the organizational workforce and in return leads to stress. This makes members react negatively whenever they feel something is not right.

Therefore, self-knowledge emerges as the very first step in the effort to achieve emotional intelligence and effective leadership. This is necessary because when individuals are unstable and cannot balance their emotions and control their reactions, they, in the end, become dysfunctional. This makes it difficult for them to lead others. Therefore, it is vital to reinforce affective states in the effort to lead to the desired goal and avoid conflicting with other people. Mood regulation emerges to be of particular importance for leaders because when they fail to take control of their emotional state (becomes filled with rage),they end up destroying their relationship with the juniors. This often creates cascading effects which are felt throughout the organization. However, in the effort to attain self-knowledge, leaders must recognize what causes them a feeling of overflow. They can use this to discover the situations where they feel they have done their best and their performance has reached the maximum.

Overflow happens when emotional intelligence is at its best which is the opposite of depression. Therefore, overflow occurs when individuals are fully immersed in what they do best and can relate well to any situation. It happens where people put passion in everything they do and focus all their attention towards meeting the organizational goals. This is also where sensitive actions are interconnected. It acts as a prerequisite of achieving performance in an organization. This calls for leaders to consider developing the ability to interpret and using their emotional states of self and others to improve situations. Any failure to achieve this ends up destroying the relationship that exists between people. The negative emotions often alienate an individual from others. They also produce physical and mental stress. Moreover, they make people favor others. Positive emotions, on the other hand, improve interpersonal relationships and cultivate adventure attitude which motivates people to explore the unknown.

Similarly, high levels of emotional intelligence lead to the creation of stronger and solid self-motivation as well as increasing inspiration for those around us. Emotional intelligence also promotes innovation, creativity, and high performance as it ensures leaders learn to work under pressure, easily adapt to changes, and on top of it all, self-reconciliation.The high level of authority that a person commands in an organization also demands the high level of emotional intelligence. A leader will equally be in a better position to offer challenges to employees so that they can focus their attention on completing the assigned tasks within the specified timeframe. In return, leaders should offer feedback through appreciation.Making workers feel as part of the organization ensures that they focus much of their attention to meet the set goals.

Goleman used the example of a head hunter stationed at South American region at Egon Zehnder International in Buenos Aires to help create a proper understanding of the link between EQ and performance.In this study, Goleman focused his attention on comparing 277 highly efficient managers with 26 others who were found to be inefficient at work. From this, Goleman concluded that the service managers who performed poorly were good specialists with high IQ levels. The most important fact is that they all had low levels of emotional intelligence they were arrogant and had difficulties adapting to the changes within the environment of their operations.

Impacts of Emotional Intelligence on Work Outcomes

Onceleaders understand the need to control their emotions and improve their interaction with others, they will be in a better position to achieve success. Leaders operate in environments that require interpersonal relationships. However, such interactions are not only limited to employees but also extends to customers. That isattending to their needs and interacting with them. Employees, in most cases, depend on leaders for direction. This means that they will strive to develop high levels of emotional intelligence to ensure they are on the same wavelength as their leaders.Those with high levels of emotional intelligence can use regularization as per the history and understand how to interact with others with the objective of meeting the organizational needs. Emotional commitment to others is considered a key component to positive interaction as it ensures great expression of positive emotions thatrelate directly to the high level of performance. It is often suggested that emotional intelligence needs to be connected to other elements such as professional satisfaction, commitment to the organization, and the intention to leave the enterprise.

Emotional Competencies

            Several authors proposed different models of emotional intelligence. These models were given different names. Some of the authors (Goleman, McKee, and Boyatzis, 2002) referred them as competencies while others (Salovey and Mayer, 1990) termed them as features. All these contributed towards shaping and defining emotional intelligence. Therefore, the existing differences between these models are not necessary. For clarity, this paper will focus on the four dimensions of emotional skills as proposed by Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee (2002). These four dimensions are self-knowledge, self-control, social awareness, and relationship management.

The first emotional intelligence area deals with personal competencies.This entails skills that relate to the manner in which individuals manage their relationship. An example here is self-awareness which puts into consideration emotional self-knowledge (ability to understand one’s emotions and recognize how these emotions impact others). Similarly, self-awareness considers correct self-assessment and self-confidence. Self-management is yet another example of a skill that falls in the category of personal competencies. Self-management focuses mainly on emotional self-control, transparency, adaptability, and optimism.

The second emotional intelligence area deals with social competencies which entail skills that relate to how individuals manage relationships. The first dimension, in this category, as proposed by Goleman Boyatzis and McKee is social awareness, which looks at how leaders perceive the emotions of others and understand their perspectives (empathy). It also outlineshow leaders make executive decisions and policies (organizational consciousness) and their ability to observe and meet the wishes of others. The second dimension is relationship management which considers the ability of leaders to motivate employees through vision (inspired leadership) and the use of persuasive tactics.

However, in practice, it is rare to find a leader who has outstanding competencies in all the identified skills of emotional intelligence. Even the few exceptional leaders only excel in some of these skills. This is the case because there is no well-structured recipe that is used to determine successful management. A leadership style that is successful in a certain environment may not necessarily succeed in a different setting. Scholars who have attempted to compare emotional qualities with leaders’ success have come to recognize how the two complements each other. For instance, in the study conducted in 1997 by Hay Research and Innovation Group observed that the insurance companies that had the deficiency of emotional intelligence and lacked confidence sold only about 54, 000 dollars while those with at least three-quarters of the skills identified sold policies worth $114, 000.

Kasapi and Mihiotis (2014) focused their study on Coca-Cola. They observed that “those leaders who developed emotional intelligence competencies surpassed their targets by more than 15 percent”. The division leaders who failed to improve on the emotional intelligence levels did not reach their target by the same margin of 15 percent. It, therefore, means that those leaders who develop skills in most of the spheres of emotional intelligence showed improved performance in their work. The most preferred concepts include the ability of the leader to blend well with the feelings of others, operating on the same emotional wavelength, and emotional synchronization.

Conclusion

Despite the extensive research that has been conducted in the field of emotional intelligence, leaders continue to make costly errors. Leaders have also failed to recognize their emotions and weaknesses, and their impulses affect their performance and the overall organizational growth. In the end, most businesses are struggling to work in an environment where employees are unmotivated while customers are unsatisfied. As seen from the above discussion, emotional intelligence should increase as one ascends to the top management if the organization is considering maintaining its competitive advantage. It is imperative for leaders to pay close attention to how their emotions impact their relationships.

References

Goleman, D. (2001). An EI-based theory of performance. The emotionally intelligent workplace:

            How to select for, measure, and improve emotional intelligence in individuals, groups,

            and organizations, 1, 27-44.

Goleman, D. (2004). What makes a leader?. Harvard business review, 82(1), 82-91.

Glossop, R., & Mitchell, A. (2005). Contemporary Family Trends.

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2002). The emotional reality of teams. Journal of

            Organizational Excellence, 21(2), 55-65.

Kasapi, Z., & Mihiotis, A. (2014). Emotional intelligence quotient and leadership effectiveness

in the pharmaceutical industry: A new template. International Journal of Business

            Administration, 5(1), 15.

Sternberg, R. J., & COUNTERPARTS, C. (2003). Contemporary theories of

intelligence. William M. Reynolds, 23.

Salovey, P, Mayer, J (1990), “Emotional intelligence,” Imagination, Cognition and Personality,

Vol. 9 pp.185-211.

Do you need high quality Custom Essay Writing Services?