Emotional Intelligence and Leadership (Term Paper Sample)

Emotional Intelligence and Leadership
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Introduction
Emotional intelligence can be perceived as the capacity to monitor both one's and other people's emotions and feelings, to deduce their meaning, and then use the information gathered, in the process, to guide one's actions and thought process (Bracket, Rivers, and Salovey, 2010: 89). Emotional intelligence can be manifested in a number of leadership behaviours. For example, in participative management, individuals or leaders who are open to listening to the ideas forwarded by other people or members of the organisation before implementing change are usually perceived as being good leaders. Another example of the concept is the ability to strike a balance between one's work and personal life, in such a way that no single activity is neglected. The ability of an individual or employee to control his impulse, be socially responsible, have empathy reflects his or her ability to contribute to a [work] group and understand other people's emotions (Centre for Creative Leadership, 2003)
Section A.
Intelligence can be viewed as the mental ability to handle information of different kinds. The before-mentioned abilities may encompass anything between simple perceptual processes, including information processing and generalised forms of problem-solving skills. Some theories have been developed to conceptualise intelligence. These theories fall into one of two categories: lumpers or splitters. Lumpers theorise intelligence within the context of an all-encompassing ability to acquire knowledge, solve problems and reason. This type of thinking is perceivable as the traditional view of intelligence: Intelligence Quotient (IQ) (Ghabanchi and Rastegar, 2014).
Contrary to the above argument, Emotional Quotient (EQ) encompasses four factors of intelligence: reflecting on the emotions of others, understanding these emotions, assimilating them in one's thoughts, and then perceiving and expressing one's emotions. These four factors are arranged from the more basic psychological processes to higher, more sophisticated psychologically connected processes. The first level involves a person's ability to understand his own emotions, in addition to other people's feelings. The second level is where the same individual employs the information he or she deduces from his encounter with other people to inform his actions or decisions. The third level involves learning, interpreting and examining these emotions. The final level involves the ability of an individual to control his own behaviour, in addition to other people's actions, by reacting in a manner that is appropriate, depending on the circumstances beforehand (Ghabanchi and Rastegar, 2014).
Section B
Recent years have necessitated the use of emotional intelligence, by leaders, in the workplace. For example, the ability to put people at ease has been insisted by the corporate world increasingly. Leaders who have the capacity to resist the impulse to act are perceived as invaluable assets to organisations. Reason being, the ability to put people at ease has been associated with happiness, suggesting that the more comfortable a leader's disposition is, relates to how comfortable his followers will be in his presence. Another example is self-awareness. Managers who have the ability to understand their strengths and weaknesses are more likely to perform better in stressful and challenging situations (Centre for Creative Leadership, 2003).
The lack of emotional intelligence can also lead to some negative consequences. For example, deducing from the above discussion, if a leader cannot resist an impulse, he will certainly create anxiety in the organisation's employees and stakeholders. Thus, bringing into being inefficiency, and, in some cases, the loss of key investors. Also, leaders who are not self-aware may not inspire the confidence that they should from their employees and stakeholders (Centre for Creative Leadership, 2003).
Section C
To ensure effectiveness is realised within an organisation, leaders must keep some elements in mind. For instance, when confronted with failure, leaders should inspire "learned optimism" in their followers or employees. Optimists usually make attributions that are temporary, specific, and external in nature, as opposed to pessimists, who, more often than not, make attributions that are global, permanent, and internal in nature. Second, leaders should also concentrate on empathy. Studies indicate that individuals who can understand other people's emotions or concerns are usually more successful in the workplace (Chernis, 2000).
To inspire emotional intelligence in organisations, managers should be trained to feel responsible for their subordinates. Reason being, leaders who do not feel res...