Emotional Intelligence and it's Impact on Leadership Styles Essay

Emotional Intelligence and it's Impact on Leadership Styles - Essay Example Emotional intelligence Emotional Intelligence is a collective name for a set of social and emotional abilities which would help people to adapt to the routine demands and it is the ability to be more effective in relationships of varied nature (MacCann, Matthews, Zeidner, & Richards, 2004). Another definition of emotional intelligence is â€Å"the set of abilities that involves perceiving and reasoning abstractly with information that emerges from feelings† (Mandell and Phewanti ,2003) In a team environment, the role of emotional intelligence is turning to be of increased importance. Barling et al (157) has opined that the five characteristics of emotional intelligence includes, understanding other persons emotions; knowing to manage these emotions; emotional self control; empathy and management of relations. The application of these components in management has been a subject of research for several years. Emotional Intelligence and Transformational leadership Transformationa l leadership involves the leader motivating the team members to perform beyond the expected limits of performance (Sivanathan & Fekkan, 198). In general it has been opined that emotional intelligence is a prerequisite for any sustainable leadership model. It must be noted here that transformational leadership has been suggested to have sustained results than transactional leadership which is based on contingent rewards and other tangible benefits. Transformational leadership demands to a large extend the understanding of the followers’ emotions. In this context, the characteristics of emotional intelligence will compliment the functionalities of a transformational leader. According to Ashforth and Humphrey (1995), â€Å"emotions are an integral and inseparable part of everyday organizational life† (p. 97) . Thus a team environment will involve varied range of emotions. The skill to understand the other person’s emotions can be used to analyse the satisfaction an d the motivational requirements of the team members. This argument is supported by George (2000) as he opined that transformational leaders appraise and engage in emotions and they effectively use these emotions for the well being of the team. Moreover, emotional self control would help the leader to establish himself or herself as a role model for other to follow. Goleman (1998) has opined the need of emotional intelligence as a mandatory quality to be successful as leaders and that the transformational behaviors of leaders are directly proportional to the level of their emotional intelligence. Top Management & Emotional Intelligence The importance of emotional intelligence for a professional working at the top management level has been asserted by management experts. It has been opined that the importance of emotional intelligence increases with the increase in managerial responsibilities and one’s professional advances within the organization. The challenges of a leader in creases in multiple disciplines as the person climbs up the managerial ladder. This must be read together with the fact that, as the area of management broadens, the cultural and professional diversity also widens. This limits the scope of transactional style of leadership to be effective to have a sustainable leadership. There are several studies which analysed various levels of top management