This paper’s theme assesses whether a leader’s emotional intelligence perspective affects organizational management and leadership qualities. A key point of the subject is proposing a future leadership role.
The aspiration of the role includes an exploration of the following topics: the current performance strengths, vulnerabilities and changes contributing to the aspiration of leadership; relationship and changes of emotional intelligence related to leadership aspirations, seminal theorists guiding the aspiration of leadership, and the application of positive change usefulness in strategies and effectiveness in leadership aspirations. The final section is the development of a plan to achieve the leadership role.
Future Leadership Role
After working 30 years for various entertainment, telecommunication, and consulting organizations, I am satisfied with my leadership role. Longer term, my leadership role, will involve retirement from business, but retirement is not a role desired in the preparation of this paper.
Therefore, my future leadership role is to lead a corporate project management department. “Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements” (PMI, 2013, p. 5). The project manager’s role is the leadership of a team, which is responsible to achieving the project’s goal (PMI, 2013). As a project management leader, the key concern is the documenting a change management process including controls, and monitoring, and managing the changes implementation (PMI, 2013).
This leadership role requires transformational leadership qualities. Transformational leadership is an approach resulting in a change, in individuals and social systems, by motivating followers to achieve a higher performance level (Kendrick, 2011).
Current performance strengths, vulnerabilities and changes
In the recent past, I participated in a leadership assessment developed by Pearson. The results of the examination indicate leadership strengths and weaknesses, and provide a gap analysis, which supports various resolution actions. The following assessments include the identification of the gap and its action plan.
Building and leading teams. The building and leading teams assessment measure the management stages of team development, including forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning (Tuckerman & Jensen, 1977). The analysis provides an indication a gap in this assessment type, and need to assist the team in understanding the project’s mission to permit greater team independence and self-management. Leadership style.
This assessment provides a measurement indication of placement along a relationship-orient leader or a task-oriented leader axis. Bass (1999) indicates relationship-orientation is more transformational, strategic, and effective. Without becoming people-oriented, to improve task vigilance is a leadership gap. Conflict handling style.
Various types of conflict avoidance styles include resignation, withdrawal, diffusion, and appeasement (Limbare, 2012). The Project Management Institute, as part of their project management professional certification defines the following types of conflict resolution: confronting, compromising, smoothing, forcing, and avoiding (PMI, 2013). Analysis assessment scores indicate the resultant score is within an acceptable range. The highest score is collaborating and indicating a preference win-win results. The assessment scores are within a proper range for a transformational leader, therefore, developing a gap analysis or correction plan is not required. Form of power.
Influence on team member’s performance is dependent on the form of a leader’s power. The best type of power in technical teams is expert as it provides the most respect by the members (Wren, 1995). The assessment score supports the role as project manager for a client’s team and is within the proper range for a transformational leader. Charismatic assessment. Charismatic leaders provoke trust from and are a follower’s role model (Zagoršek, Dimovski, ; Škerlavaj, 2009). The assessment indicates a balanced charismatic nature.
To gain more meaning from others, critical listening requires improvement. Emotional intelligence. Emotion refers to a state of sensing ones responses to social information (Dulewicz, Young, ; Dulewicz, 2005). Intelligence refers to the capacity to understand information (Dulewicz, Young, ; Dulewicz, 2005).
Therefore, emotional intelligence is the capacity to understand and react to social information (Dulewicz, Young, ; Dulewicz, 2005). The analysis and interpretation section of the assessment indicates balanced emotional intelligence. This assessment indicates the use of emotional intelligence is dependent on the situation and is within a proper range for a transformational leader.
Relationship and changes of emotional intelligence
According to Brown ; Moshavi, (2005), organizational behavior, leadership and social influence of others captures the attention of practitioners, academics, and social commentators throughout history.
The relationship of transformational leadership and desired outcomes of settings and cultures is established in the academic literature. Brown ; Moshavi, (2005), opine “emotionally intelligent people feel more secure in their ability to control and influence life events and, as a result, provide individual focus on others as well as intellectually stimulate and motivate followers. These behavioral outcomes are consistent with three major facets of transformational leadership: individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, and inspirational motivation” (p. 868). Considering this opinion by Brown and Moshavi, (2005) and the emotional intelligence assessment results from Pearson (2007), as a project manager, I am well suited by my intended role. Therefore, other than the changes resulting from the Pearson (2007) assessment, I should continue on my current path.
Although, the examination of the literature indicates in the fields of emotional intelligence and transformational leadership, the two areas are independently linked to job performance (Shahhosseini, Silong ; Ismaill, 2013). Seminal theoristsMeyer and Salovey (1997) first developed the Theory of Emotional Intelligence. According to Meyer and Salovey (1997), emotional intelligence is “the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth” (p. 5).
Bass, (1985), a seminal theorist on transformational leadership indicates, leaders who possess transformational leadership characteristics are known to motivate followers to exert effort to achieve organizational goals. Transformational leaders use emotional relationship with their followers and emotional intelligence is described as establishing functioning interpersonal relationships; therefore, a growing number of leadership scholars indicate a relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership (Lindebaum ; Cartwright, 2010). Although as a project leader, I sometimes become demanding to ensure the completion of tasks. This may suggest a lack of empathy toward team members, although this part of moving the project along. For those team members possessing an issue with a deliverable as project manager, I empathize with the team member and find solutions to help the team member achieve our goals.
Application of positive change
Other than the elements noted earlier, there is not a need to develop position actions to become an emotionally intelligent, transformational leader. The positive action taken at the end of last year was studying and achieving the PMP certification status. This certification establishes from the standpoint of the project management industry the holder of the PMP certification is a professional project manager. An action for positive change is to mentor others in the organization to become more emotionally intelligent and use transformational leadership.
While this may not provide improvement in my organizational position, it will grow others to enhance their level of organizational importance.
Leadership Plan Development
Transference to a higher plane of transformation leadership requires actions on gaps. Additionally, the small issues are not affecting my relationships at home, school, play, or work. It is not necessary to create an implementation timeline for these small issues. The best solution for improving transformational leadership characteristics is recognizing the shortcomings and solving issues. From a planning standpoint, the best measure of success is re-assessing the issues in a year to check the improvement status.
By re-evaluating the assessments and providing small corrective actions, if necessary, this approach becomes a continual improvement process. Additionally, by privately correcting improper behavior in other team members through mentoring start to guide the organization members toward transformational leadership. As organizational members learn to transformational leadership techniques, part of training or mentoring includes guidance in emotional intelligence. Therefore, the organization will have more members who are capable of leadership roles, which will drive the organization’s ability to manage more projects and gain higher revenues.
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