Importance of emotional intelligence in modern day leadership
“Empathic, emotionally intelligent work environments have a good track record of increasing creativity, improving problem solving and raising productivity”
The above quoted lines from the book “Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence” by the authors “Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee” gives an overview of the importance of the concept emotional intelligence and the role which it plays within the framework of the modern leadership. The above mentioned book tries to explore the concept of emotional intelligence and the way it can be utilized by the various modern day leaders for the purpose of effectively leading the diverse entities of the workplace (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013). The concept of emotional intelligence has been a ground work of much critical research as well as contemporary debate in the present times and the book under discussion here can be seen as a culmination of this particular fact. This paper will provide a critical analysis of the book Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence” by the authors “Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee” and will try to explain its different facets.
The authors in this particular book are of the viewpoint that the use of the concept of emotional intelligence has become of paramount importance for the various leaders of the present times not only for the purpose of business but in other fields of life as well (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013). Therefore, it is with this particular purpose the authors try to stress on the importance of the concept of emotional intelligence and the benefits which it provides to the various leaders not only within the framework of the business organizations but also in the other walks of life. Therefore, the authors are of the viewpoint in the present times it is has become paramount for the leaders to take the help of various different kinds of leadership styles and not stay contended with one (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013).
The primary focus of the authors “Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee” in this particular book is to explain the concept of emotional intelligence and the reason for the importance which it holds within the business world in the present times. Furthermore, the authors have also tried to provide an overview of the concept of leadership and how the different leaders of the present times can take the help of this particular concept for leading the different individuals who are belong to the organization and also the organization in particular (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013). The authors at the same time try to apply the concept of emotional intelligence to the different theories as well as the frameworks of leadership (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013). Thus, the authors apart from defining the concept of emotional intelligence also try to show how the different leaders of the present times can benefit from the use of this particular concept for the process of their leadership style (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013).
Exploring emotional intelligence in leadership styles
The main point of the book revolves the concept of emotional intelligence and the way it has come to affect the concept of leadership in the present times (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013). Therefore, the authors are of the opinion that in order to grow as a team all the members of the team needs to take the help of the concept of emotional leadership and to enhance the level of their self-awareness (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013). Furthermore, the use of this particular concept for the process of teamwork will also enable the various individuals to effectively co-ordinate with the other members of the team but also to improve the overall performance level of the team (Mazzon, 2014). Therefore, in the opinion of the authors the main role of the leader is to understand the emotional plane of the different individuals of the team and devise strategies which would be in synchronization with the emotional requirements of each of these individuals (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013).
The authors draw the conclusion that the concept of emotional although a recent one has become one of the major ones within the framework of the leadership in the recent times and therefore the different leaders of the present times need to take the help of this particular concept for the process of effectively leading the different entities of the team (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013). Furthermore, they are of the opinion that the use of this particular concept is likely to enable the leader to understand the requirements of his or her team mates in a much better manner and therefore would enable him or her to lead in a much better manner (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013). The authors are also of the opinion that the use of one particular leadership style no longer fulfills all the requirements of a particular organization or a team and thus the leaders of the present times need to resort to various kinds of leadership styles for the purpose of leading the various entities related to the organization (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013).
As already mentioned the authors try to show the importance of the use of the concept of emotional intelligence within the framework of the various contemporary styles of leadership which are being used by the various leaders of the present times (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013). The authors are of the opinion that the use of the concept of emotional intelligence within the framework of leadership is going to further enhance the leadership skills of the concerned leader. For example, the use of this particular concept becomes especially more important within the framework of the transformational style of leadership. The transformational style of leadership believes in the leading the concerned individuals by means of adequate examples (Chang et al., 2017). Therefore, the use of the concept of emotional intelligence is likely to further enhance the leadership style of the leader and is likely to help the concerned individual to understand the various individuals of the team in a much better (Hyson, 2013). Thus, the leader will be able to devise his or her strategies as per the emotional level or the self-awareness level of the members of the team members.
Impact of emotion intelligence on team performance and productivity
The transactional style of leadership is another which has gained prominence within the framework of the present day business world. The transactional style of leadership is the style of leadership in which the leaders depend on the concept of compliance through the awarding of rewards as well as punishments (Larin & Wessel, 2015). Therefore, if the leader takes the help of the concept of emotional intelligence then he or she will be able to understand the emotional requirements of the people who are working under him and therefore the leader would be provide the kind of reward which would be most appealing to the concerned individual and would motivate the concerned individual to work in a much effective manner (Baksh Baloch et al., 2014).
The servant theory of leadership is a theory which was much popular in the ancient however in the present times with the emergence of the various new theories of leadership it has become kind of obsolete in the present times (Preston et al., 2015). This particular style of leadership believes that the leader of a particular organization is supposed to act as a master and the employees of the same organization as the servants of him or her (Luedi et al., 2017). Therefore, it becomes very imperative for the employees to respond to the tasks or the jobs which have been allocated to them by their leaders in a positive manner. However, the major reason for which this particular style of leadership was criticized is the fact that many people are of the opinion that this particular style of leadership tended to promote the dictatorial tendencies of the leader and did not even take into consideration the emotional requirements of the individuals concerned (Nezhad, Marjani & Najafi, 2015). Therefore, the authors of the book under discussion here are of the opinion that if the concerned leader uses the concept of emotional leadership for the process of effectively leading the different entities of the team then he or she will have a better understanding of the emotional requirements of the individuals and will be able to allocate the tasks or the jobs accordingly. Furthermore, the understanding of the emotional requirements of the employees is also likely to help the leader understand the employees in a much better and this is going to have a positive impact on the leadership of the concerned individual (Khan, Masrek & Nadzar, 2015). Moreover, the author are also of the opinion that the use of one particular style of leadership does not suffices all the needs of the present day organizations and therefore it has become imperative for the organizations as well as the leaders related to them need the help of diverse kinds of leadership styles depending on the requirements of the organizations and also the demands of the situations. The authors are of the opinion that the use of the concept of emotional leadership is likely to further enhance the understanding of the situation by the different leader and will help them to work in a much manner and deliver better kind of results (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2013).
The dynamic nature of the present day business world has made it imperative for the various organizations as well as the leaders related to the them to take the help of innovative leadership techniques in a more effective manner so that they can enhance not only the individual performance level of the employees but also the overall productivity of the organization (Shankman, Allen & Haber-Curran, 2015). Thus, the viewpoints of the authors in this particular book are completely relevant in the context of the modern day business context. The use of the concept of emotional intelligence is likely to not only further enhance the leadership qualities as well as the traits of the concerned leader but would at the same time help them to understand the needs of the employees in the most effective manner (Till et al., 2014). Furthermore, the concept of self-awareness which is related to the concept of emotional intelligence is likely to further enhance the leadership skills of the leaders and help them to reward or punish the concerned employees in the most effective so that their performance level can be enhanced. Furthermore, a thorough knowledge about the emotional requirements of the employees is at the same time likely to help the leader to understand the most effective skills which the leader needs to utilize for the purpose of motivating the concerned employees (Singh, 2013). The major area of focus of the business organizations in the current times is on the enhancement of their productivity and therefore the concept of emotional intelligence which is likely to further enhance the understanding of the emotional requirements of the employees is likely to help the leader to motivate the employees as per the factors which affects them the most. Therefore, it can be said the concept of emotional intelligence on which the major focus of the book is very relevant in the present day context.
The concept of emotional intelligence which the authors articulate can be used not only in the specific context of the business world but in the other walks of life as well. The concept of emotional intelligence can be utilized by the individuals to develop the factor of self-awareness which is another concept which is likely to help the individuals to achieve success every walk of life. The concept of emotional intelligence is likely to help the individuals to understand the emotional requirements of the other individuals and therefore will help them to work in a much manner with the other individuals (Lumpkin, 2016).
To conclude, the concept of emotional intelligence has gained much popularity within the framework of leadership. Furthermore, it is seen that the concept is being used by the various leaders to effectively understand the emotional requirements of the individuals of the team and therefore develop strategies in a much better so that they can enhance the performance level of the individuals related to them.
References
Baksh Baloch, Q., Saleem, M., Zaman, G., & Fida, A. (2014). The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Employees’ Performance. Journal of Managerial Sciences, 8(2).
Chang, B. P., Vacanti, J. C., Michaud, Y., Flanagan, H., & Urman, R. D. (2017). Emotional intelligence in the operating room: analysis from the Boston Marathon bombing. American journal of disaster medicine, 9(2), 77-85.
Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R. E., & McKee, A. (2013). Primal leadership: Unleashing the power of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press.
Hyson, P. (2013). The spirited leader: the potential of spiritual intelligence to improve leadership. The International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, 9(3/4), 109-115.
Khan, A., Masrek, M. N., & Nadzar, F. M. (2015). An investigation of the training needs on emotional intelligence of academic librarians. Library Review, 64(8/9), 597-613.
Larin, H. M., & Wessel, J. (2015). Do emotional-social intelligence, caring, moral judgment and leadership of physical therapy students predict their clinical performance?. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 10(4).
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Lumpkin, A. (2016). Key characteristics of teacher leaders in schools. Administrative Issues Journal: Connecting Education, Practice, and Research, 4(2).
Mazzon, D. (2014). Primal Leadership: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence. Army Lawyer, 37-41.
Nezhad, H., Marjani, M., & Najafi, A. (2015). A study on relationship between emotional intelligence and entrepreneurship of trainees in vocational and technical organization. Management Science Letters, 5(5), 501-506.
Preston, G., Moon, J., Simon, R., Allen, S., & Kossi, E. (2015). The relevance of emotional intelligence in project leadership. Journal of Information Technology and Economic Development, 6(1), 16.
Shankman, M. L., Allen, S. J., & Haber-Curran, P. (2015). Emotionally intelligent leadership: A guide for students. John Wiley & Sons.
Singh, P. (2013). Transforming traditional bureaucratic management practices by employing the Collegial Leadership Model of Emancipation. The International Business & Economics Research Journal (Online), 12(8), 953.
Till, A., Pettifer, G., O’Sullivan, H., & McKimm, J. (2014). Developing and harnessing the leadership potential of doctors in training. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 75(9), 523-527
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