FIT - BUS 5450
Assignment 1: Research Analysis and Proposal

The Affect of Emotional Intelligence on Effective Leadership
“Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage one’s own and others’ in order to guide one’s behavior and achieve goals” (Salovey, & Mayer, 2005). In simple words, EI is the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions, that is, to regulate your own emotions, and the ability to cheer up or calm down another person. Building on the work of Mayor and Salovey (1997) and others, Goleman (1998) further suggested that there are five critical pillars or competencies of EI, namely self-awareness; self-regulation; self-motivation; social awareness (empathy); and social skills. According to Merriam-Webster website …show more content…

The ability to accurately assess and respond to others’ feelings enables a leader to implement significant change within an organization and to influence the emotions and opinions of its members (George, 2000, p1044). The positive correlation between transformational leadership and emotional intelligence is proven in the study conducted by Younghee et al (2011) whereby the characteristic traits of transformational leaders, such as active listening, inspiring motivation, sharing of ideas and values and individualized consideration, are exhibited in leaders high in emotional intelligence. Emotions are actively involved in the formation of judgment and the management of one’s own emotions is essential to effective leadership as it is through an emotional self-understanding that an empathic approach can be taken when managing an employee who has been confronted with an emotionally challenging situation. These leaders are able to consequently predict the emotional responses of employees in different circumstances or events; this capacity to recognize and use emotions and to respond appropriately directs the cognitive processes in decision-making and problem solving, hence allowing for emotionally informed decisions to be made and, by extension, allowing for positive and creative