Emotions and Leadership: The Role of Emotional Intelligence

Abstract

This paper suggests that feelings (moods and emotions) play a central role in the leadership process. More specifically, it is proposed that emotional intelligence, the ability to understand and manage moods and emotions in the self and others, contributes to effective leadership in organizations. Four major aspects of emotional intelligence, the appraisal and expression of emotion, the use of emotion to enhance cognitive processes and decision making, knowledge about emotions, and management of emotions, are described. Then, I propose how emotional intelligence contributes to effective leadership by focusing on five essential elements of leader effectiveness: development of collective goals and objectives; instilling in others an appreciation of the importance of work activities; generating and maintaining enthusiasm, confidence, optimism, cooperation, and trust; encouraging flexibility in decision making and change; and establishing and maintaining a meaningful identity for an organization.

The Impact of Trait Emotional Intelligence on Nursing Team Performance and Cohesiveness

“…In such a positive ambiance, rigorously respecting safety and hygiene procedures could be perceived in a less constraining manner, and team members would therefore be more willing to make extra efforts. This hypothesis is akin to recent perspective on the role of emotion management on emergent leadership (George, 2000;Gond & Mignonac, 2002).…”

“…Thoits (1989) described empathy as a prosocial behavior, which is crucial to cohesive team function. The establishment of empathetic behaviors as a team norm will cause relationships to be built and the social network of the team to be formed (George, 2000). Finally, Rapisarda (2002) found significant positive correlations between the EI skills "empathy," "influence," and "achievement orientation" of Goleman's model and cohesiveness in students' teams.…”

“…Moreover, empathy that shares close relationships with EI (Miville, Carlozzi, Gushue, Schara, & Ueda, 2006) also has been argued to be an important characteristic necessary for team cohesion. Empathy can be defined as the sensitivity of an individual to the feelings and concerns of other social members (Abraham, 1999;George, 2000;Thoits, 1989). Thoits (1989) described empathy as a prosocial behavior, which is crucial to cohesive team function.…”

Uncovering the role of emotional abilities in leadership emergence. A longitudinal analysis of leadership networks

“…Each leadership style fulfills a particular role within a group (Burke et al, 2006): relationship leaders provide leadership through reinforcing group behavior, creating satisfying social interactions, and enhancing collaboration among group members, while task leaders provide leadership through organizing, planning, and improving activities (Yukl, 2009). Emotional abilities can enhance skills and behaviors associated with each leadership style (George, 2000). As emotionally intelligent individuals exhibit leadership behaviors, they are more likely to be perceived as leaders by their group.…”

“…Such emotional knowledge, combined with their ability to express emotional information appropriately, allows them to provide social support, maintain positive relationships within the group (Côté et al, 2010), enhance collaboration (George, 2000) and, ultimately, influence the group's social dynamics . Individuals with greater emotional recognition are therefore more likely to fulfill the role of relationship leader.…”