Requests for copies should beaddressed to:TGroenewald,Technikon SA, Private Bag X6, Florida,1710 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AS A DETERMINANT OF LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL ANITA D STUART ANDREA PAQUET Department of Psychology Rand Afrikaans University ABSTRACT Emotional intelligence scores of employees of a ¢nancial institution who displayed leadership potential (n = 31) were compared with scores of a group who displayed little leadership potential. Leadership was rated by ascertai- ning the presence of transformational behaviour. All rated employees completed an emotional intelligence scale. Results indicated that the factors of optimism and self-actualisationwere signi¢cantly higher for the leader group. The non-leader group indicated higher scores on the positive impression scale, indicating possible positive ske- wing of results for that group. Generally, the research data indicates a link between the fundamental postulates of transformational leadership theory and emotional intelligence. OPSOMMING Emosionele intelligensie-tellings van’n groep werknemers binne ’n ¢nansie« le instelling wie leierskapspotensiaal getoon het (n = 31) is vergelyk met ’n groep wat min leierskapspotensiaal getoon het. Leierskapspotensiaal is be- paal op grond van die teenwoordigheid van transformasionele gedrag. Alle werknemers wat gemeet is het’n emo- sionele intelligensieskaal voltooi. Resultate toon dat optimisme en selfaktualisasie beduidend hoe« r was vir die leiergroep. Die nie-leiergroep het hoe« r tellings getoon op die positiewe indruk-skaal, wat ’n moontlike positiewe skeefheid van daardie groep se resultate aandui. Die navorsingsdata toon oor die algemeen’n koppeling tussen die fundamentele beginsels van transformasionele leierskapsteorie en emosionele intelligensie. Leadership has been de¢ned as the competencies and processes required to enable and empower ordinary people to do extra- ordinary things in the face of adversity. It is also the ability to constantly deliver superior performance to the bene¢t of on- eself and the organisation. These de¢nitions include being skilled in emotional competencies (Bennis & Nanus, 1985, p. 223; Kelly,1986, p.12; Senge,1991, p.151). This study focused on the emotional intelligence factors con- sidered to be characteristic of e¡ective leaders. Given the cur- rent South African political and business context, Charlton (1993) believes that emotional competencies are vital if organi- sations are to achieve excellence. People who are unable to maintain a degree of control over their emotional life, ¢ght inner battles that sabotage the abili- ty for focused work and clear thoughts (Goleman,1995). Un- clear thinking and a lack of focus may in turn, contribute to decreased productivity and an overall decline in organisational success. Emotionally intelligent leaders with the ability to think clearly whilst being in tune with themselves and others, would thus be required to lead an emotionally intelligent or- ganisation (Cooper & Sawaf,1997). Leaders may not necessari- ly occupy positions of authority in the organisation, yet even at lower organisational levels theylead by example. Otto (1995, p.1) refers to such leaders as‘‘little leaders’’.This study identi¢ed speci¢c emotional competencies that may be characteristic of successful‘‘little leaders’’. Leadership Much of the existing leadership research in these ¢elds (e.g. Situational leadership theory (Hersey & Blanchard, 1982)) emphasise that successful leadership implies the ability to cope with, and adapt e¡ectively to environmental demands. The transactional-transformational paradigmviews leadership as either a matter of contingent reinforcement of followers bya transactional leader, or the moving of followers beyond their self interests for the good of the group, organisation or society by a transformational leader. The transformational leader in- duces in others a greater awareness regarding issues of con- sequence. This heightening of awareness requires a leader with self-con¢dence, vision and inner strength to argue for what is seen by the leader as good and right, rather than an accepted societal norm (Lewis,1996). Leadership has been described as the art of persuading people, rather than dominating them (Charlton,1993; Goleman,1995; Locke,1991). Bass (1990, p. 68) suggests that the personal attri- butes, which enable an individual to exercise transformational leadership, include both ‘‘vision’’ and the capacity to convey that vision to others, even in the face of opposing conventional wisdom.These attributes equip the leader to argue what he or she sees as right and good, not for what is popular oracceptable according to established wisdom of the time (Bass, 1990; Burns,1978). Emotional Intelligence Psychologists have been attempting to categorise and de¢ne intelligence for many years. Emotional intelligence adds new understanding to the concept of human intelligence, as it ex- pands the capacity to measure one’s general and overall intelli- gence (Bar-On, 1992). Broadly speaking, emotional intelligence addresses the emotional, personal, social and sur- vival dimensions of intelligence, which are often more impor- tant for daily functioning than the more traditional cognitive aspects of intelligence. Emotional intelligence emphasises un- derstanding one’s self and others, relating to people and adap- ting to and coping with environmental demands. Salovey and Mayer (1990) state that emotions are primarily motivating for- ces, which arouse, direct and sustain activity. Emotional life can be handledwith greater orlesser skill and requires a unique set of competencies As emotional intelligence is a vital factor in determining ones ability to succeed in life and is said to directly in£uence one’s psychologicalwell-beingoroverall degree of emotional health (Bar-On, 1996b), it can be postulated that emotional health should also have some impact on the presence or absence of leadership ability. Vision, self-con¢dence and inner strength are also indicators of emotional intelligence. Lewis (1996, p. 801) refers to the transformational leader’s‘‘inner strength’’.Theyargue that only those individuals who have achieved psychological de¢nition, can exercise the independence needed to transcend interperso- nal loyalties and organisational pressures in setting forth a transformational vision (Lewis,1996). It is postulated that more emotionally intelligent individuals, Journal of Industrial Psychology, 2001, 27(3), 30-34 Tydskrif vir Bedryfsielkunde, 2001, 27(3), 30-34 30 are those who are able to recognise and express their emotions, who possess positive self-regard and are able to actualise their potential capacities and lead fairly happy lives.They are able to understand the way others feel and are capable of making and maintaining mutually satisfying and responsible interpersonal relationships without becoming dependent on others (Bar- On,1992,1996b; Goleman,1995; Salovey & Mayer,1990). Such people are generally optimistic, £exible, realistic, and fairly successful in solving problems and coping with stress without losing control. Leadership and Emotional Intelligence The shift in leadership capacity is the result of speci¢c, growing changes in business life in general, and the realities of managing increasingly brief, fast-paced, trusting, collaborative and inno- vative human interactions at work. Excessive emotions can temporarily disrupt reasoning or analysis, but recent research suggests that too little emotion can be even more destructive to a career or company (Damasio,1994). Studies reveal that emotions are a vital ‘‘activating energy’’ for ethical values such as trust, resilience and integrity. Emotions also provide the energy for social capital which represents an individual’s ability to build and maintain trusting, pro¢table business relationships (Whitney, 1996). At the center of these traits is somethingevery leader must have: the capacity to crea- te excitement (Cooper & Sawaf, 1997). This coincides with Goleman’s (1995) observation that emotional intelligence in- cludes the ability to motivate self and others, as well as the ob- servation that charisma is a vital ingredient for successful leadership. It also points to the importance of optimism in leadership. Be- cause optimism is said to protect against depression (Seligman, 1990), it can be speculated that this thinking style has a direct e¡ect on emotions. If optimism raises achievement levels whilst enhancing physical well being, those e¡ects are likely to stimulate positive emotions and produce persistence in the face of setbacks. Persistence also forms part of self actualisation. Bar-On (1992) describes self-actualisation as the ability to realise one’s po- tential capacities which is characterised by becoming involved in pursuits that lead to a meaningful, rich life. This involves working on oneself and persisting to realise individual goals. Persistence is also characteristic of optimists and the literature would support the fact that the optimists also strive for self- actualisation. This means coming to know unique individual purpose by identifying speci¢c talents and aligning them in the service of a calling in life. Research indicates that only when people have discovered their unique potential and pur- pose are they able to overcome obstacles and meet the challen- ges of success (Charlton,1993; Cooper & Sawaf,1997; Munroe, 1993). Objective The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether indi- viduals of non-managerial status who are identi¢ed as leaders, show greater emotional competence than those individuals (of the same organisational level) who display few, if any, leaders- hip qualities. This study aimed to contribute to evidence that may in£uence decision makers, who as yet, remain skeptical about the concept of emotional competence which is not as tangible as capital pro¢t and loss or sales ¢gures, but may have an astounding impact on organisational success. METHOD Participants From a group of 220 employees from lower hierarchical levels of a large bank in Johannesburg, 31 employees, who occupy similar positions, were identi¢ed by their immediate man- agers or supervisors as leaders by means of the Multi Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ).Thirty-one employees we- re also identi¢ed as non-leaders using the same questionnaire and the same group of 220 people. The 62 subjects comprised of 59 females and 3 males (leader group only). The average age was 33, with a range of 21 to 54 years. Initially the aim of the study was to select only female employees to control for possible di¡erences due to gender. Three males, however, had been forwarded as their managers completed the leadership questionnaires. On scanning the lea- dership questionnaires it was discovered that the high scores of the three males made them ideal candidates for the leader group and contributed to greater discrimination between the leader and non-leader groups. As there was a shortage of lea- ders, the investigator decided to include them in the study. All employees were English-speaking with a minimum educatio- nal level of matric. Only employees between the bands CSS06-CSS08 (i.e. junior employees) were selected, accor- ding to the Hay job evaluation system. The makeup of the groups according to race was random, but did appear to re£ect the makeup of the organisation as awhole. Combined totals of both groups included 42 Whites,5 Indians,12 Coloureds and 3 Black participants. The selected occupants included clerical and administrative occupations and/or customer occupations. Measuring Instruments Selection instrument The Multi Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) provides a systematic means of measuring speci¢c leadership factors (Bass & Avolio, 1997). Although traditionally used for ‘‘label- led’’or senior leaders, this study applied the same principles to lower level employees in organisations. At the ine¡ective end of the range, the Multi Factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) assesses perceptions of leadership behaviours that re- present avoidance of responsibility and action (laissez-faire). At the most e¡ective end of the range, the MLQ assesses per- ceptions of leadership behaviours that generate the higher or- der developed and performance e¡ects, namely transformational leadership. In other research studies (Bass & Avolio, 1997; Gasper, 1992) transformational leadership has been associated with higher levels of e¡ectiveness and greater satisfaction. Such leaders are promoted more frequently, develop associates to higher levels of individual and group potential, generate better pro-ductivi- ty rates, produce more innovative products, receive more pa- tents for work produced by their people, reduce burnout and stress on the job, receive higher levels of volunteer e¡ort from associates, and lead members in units who are more cohesive, who are more committed, and who perform more e¡ectively under stress (Bass & Avolio,1994). As this study was concerned with emotional competence and the quality of leadership, transformational leadership was adopted as a selection criterium to group the leader and non- leader groups. Measuring instrument The Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) (Bar-On, 1996a) measures the following factorial components of emotional in- telligence, namely assertiveness, self regard, self actualisation, inde- pendence, interpersonal relationship, social responsibility, problem solving, reality testing, £exibility, stress tolerance, impulse control and happiness.Three additional factors (emotional self-awareness, emp- athy and optimism) have been added and are presently being studied to see how they relate to each other, to the other factors and to the larger concept of emotional intelligence itself. Two additional subscales to determine faking good and bad namely positive impression and negative impression form part of EQ-i. The results render a total EQ score with a score of 100 as the average with standard deviations increasing and decreasing from 100 by 15 points respectively. The total EQ score is then broken down into 17 di¡erent content scale scores. These can be clustered into ¢ve groups of sub-EQ scores (intra-personal, interpersonal, adaptability, stress management and general mood), but this was not utilised in the present study. 31STUART, PAQUET TABLE 1 SIGNIFICANCE OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LEADERS AND NON-LEADERS REGARDING THE 17 EQ-I TEST SUBSCALES Leaders N = 31 Non-leaders N = 31 F ^ Ratio p ^ Ratio t ^ test for equality of X Variables X SD X SD t df p-value Problem Solving 106.765 12.244 103.084 12.899 0.004 0.953 1.152 60.000 0.254 Social Responsibility 100.587 15.898 101.361 14.777 0.000 0.990 -0.199 60.000 0.843 Happiness 94.690 12.289 98.167 16.021 2.479 0.121 -0.958 60.000 0.342 Independence 102.235 14.620 102.032 12.885 0.758 0.388 0.058 60.000 0.954 Stress Tolerance 104.310 11.898 98.977 15.009 1.623 0.208 1.550 60.000 0.126 Self-Actualisation 98.290 14.873 90.348 14.538 0.343 0.560 2.126 59.969 0.038 * Assertiveness 100.394 15.569 97.923 15.707 0.199 0.657 0.622 60.000 0.536 Reality Testing 98.019 12.601 100.761 11.508 0.012 0.912 -0.895 60.000 0.375 Interpersonal Relationship 95.145 15.845 96.290 17.066 0.122 0.718 -0.274 60.000 0.785 Self-Regard 99.100 11.039 104.129 13.206 1.047 0.310 -1.627 60.000 0.109 Impulse Control 98.526 16.041 102.842 12.748 2.367 0.129 -1.173 60.000 0.245 Flexibility 99.035 12.948 100.897 17.007 4.307 0.042 -0.485 60.000 0.630 Self Awareness 96.213 11.656 95.455 15.899 2.109 0.152 0.214 60.000 0.831 Empathy 99.526 17.364 97.277 14.594 0.828 0.367 0.552 60.000 0.583 Optimism 102.710 14.551 93.865 14.905 0.007 0.934 2.324 57.889 0.024 * Positive Impression 99.530 11.504 106.484 9.907 1.231 0.272 -2.551 58.709 0.013 * Negative Impression 102.568 12.535 99.613 11.608 0.106 0.745 0.963 60.000 0.339 * = Signi¢cant at 5% level p Value = 0.045 Wilks’ coe⁄cient lambda value = 0.564 DF = 17.42 F Value = 1.192 TABLE 2 VARIABLES EXTRACTED IN ORDER OF INCLUSION ACCORDING TO THE DISCRIMINANTANALYSIS TECHNIQUE Variables Tolerance F to remove Wilks’ lambda Degrees of Freedom Signi¢cance Positive Impression 0.962 2.880 0.708 1.580 0.015 Self-Actualisation 0.729 4.796 0.731 2.570 0.003 Self-Regard 0.604 9.922 0.794 3.560 0.001 Optimism 0.633 6.075 0.747 4.550 0.000 TABLE 3 CLASSIFICATION RESULTS Group Correctly classi¢ed % Incorrectly classi¢ed % Total % Group 1 75,9 24,1 100.0 Group 2 25,8 74,2 100.0 Procedure The Multi Factor Leadership Questionnaire was distributed to 250 junior managers and supervisors. The Human Resource representatives for the divisions participating in the study, briefed senior management as to the purposes of the study and obtained permission for the distribution of the question- naires. The questionnaire was accompanied by a cover letter, which brie£y explained how to complete the questionnaire and to whom to return it.These managers and supervisors ra- ted their immediate subordinates and returned the question- naires to their Human Resources representatives. Complete con¢dentiality and anonymity was guaranteed. Of the 250 questionnaires distributed, 220 were completed and returned. All 220 employees rated by their superiors on the leadership questionnaire were asked to complete the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-I) (Bar-On,1996a). Employees attended a group session (approximately15 people in a group), where the investi- gator supervised the completion of the 45-minute EQ-I ques- tionnaire. Groups were selected through the identi¢cation of the highest scores or strongest indicators of transformational leadership behaviour (in the case of the 31 leaders) and the lowest scores or lack of transformational leadership behaviour (in the case of the 31non-leaders). RESULTS The results of this study indicated statistically signi¢cant di¡e- rences between Leaders and Non-leaders on the following EQ test subscales, namely; optimism self-actualisation and positive im- pression as indicated inTable 1. Results of a stepwise discriminant analysis indicated that four variables, namely positive impression, self-actualisation, self-regard, and optimism, were the only variables out of a total of 17 varia- bles which statistically signi¢cantly contributed to the discri- mination between the two criterion groups. In order to ascertain the contribution prediction of the varia- bles to the two criterium groups, a discriminant classi¢cation function was calculated. A total of 75,9% of the subjects for Group 1 (leaders) was correctly classi¢ed by the four variables. DISCUSSION As expected from previous research, a statistically signi¢cant di¡erence in the degree of optimism between leaders and non-leaders was found. Although speci¢c studies regarding the relationship between leadership ability and optimism do not appear to have been conducted, other research indicates that optimists perform much better in school, college/univer- sity, at work and on the sports ¢eld (Seligman, 1990). Opti- mists are said to constantly exceed aptitude test predictions, their health is usually better, they age well, and, according to evidence, may even live longer (Seligman,1990). As leaders are often achievers at work, an attitude of optimism would appear to be an important indicator of potential for suc- cess at the lower levels in organisations. Self-actualisation ranked signi¢cantly higher amongst the lea- der group. Despite wide individual and group di¡erences in human motives, there does appear to be a common core of psychological strivings related to maintenance and actuali- sation (Locke,1991). Striving for in£uence through leadership may be one way of meeting self-actualisation needs. Self- actualisation involves creating order and predictability in an environment in order to work out an intelligent response to EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE32 it. Leaders may perceive themselves to have greater control over their environment.When a person is recognised as being a leader this maycontribute to and meet the needs of adequacy, competency and security. One could argue then, that the process of empowering em- ployees through allowing them greater control and mastery at work assists individuals in their own self-actualisation pro- cess, thus giving them the opportunity to display previously undemonstrated leadership behaviours. Emotional intellige- nce involves tuning in to the higher needs of others as well as tuning in to ones own personal growth needs. Part of self-ac- tualisation may be the ability to ¢nd one’s own unique poten- tial and purpose. Once one has a purpose, motivation and energy are generated and form foundations for leading other (Cooper & Sawaf,1997). In order to understand the process of self-actualisation in ot- hers, the leader would need to have understood and experienc- ed his/her own self-actualisation process. Follower support maycontribute to the leader meeting needs of be-longing, ap- proval and love. Maslow’s (1971; 1978) well-known need hie- rarchy states that the lowest level of unmet needs at a given time in the motivational repertoire occupies the person’s prin- ciple attention and e¡orts, until that particular frustration is resolved. Maslow (1978) extended this conception to the idea that the highest level of human motives, those associated with self-actualisation, are attained only by those individuals who have successfully resolved needs, both biological and self-deri- ved, at lower levels.This would imply that the leader group of the study might have been able to satisfy more lower order needs than the non-leader group. Leadership requires constantly meeting challenges and over- coming obstacles. It may be expected that the leader group must have been able to identify at least one speci¢c, unique strength and talent as the de¢nition of self-actualisation states (Bar-On, 1992). Having a clear career and life plan is also an indicator of a developing actualisation process. If a leader is to deploy and maximize his/her full potential a deep guiding purpose, vision, and sense of destiny for one’s existence should be present (Munroe,1993). The need to portray a positive impression (i.e. a tendency to display social desirability) was signi¢cantly higher among the non-leader group than among the leader group. Given these results, it may be postulated that all the results for the non- leader group may be positively skewed as the positive im- pression score indicates an overall positive skewing of results. This need to please or impress others may be indicative of an external locus of control. The individuals may not be able to go with the courage of their convictions, preferring to con- form to the accepted organisational norms. Leaders, on the ot- her hand, are seen as creative non-conformists who are at times prepared to‘buck the system’ (Bass,1990; Charlton,1985; Otto, 1995; Senge,1991). This study has considered the emotional intelligence of identi- ¢ed leaders and compared themwiththe emotional intelligence of identi¢ed non-leaders. Transformational leadership includes the conceptions of leadership as exchanges of reinforcements by the leader that are contingent on followers’ performance. This type of leadership requires knowing the self whilst having the ability to empathise with and grow followers. Emotional intelligence involves being aware of one’s feelings as they occur. This awareness of emotions is the main emo- tional competency on which others, like self-control, build. This study identi¢ed the factors of optimism and self-actua- lisation as being signi¢cant determinants of leadership po- tential, succeeding as well to identify emotional intelligence factors which would 75,9% successfully discriminate between leaders and non-leaders. However, this study is subject to some important limitations. Firstly, the selection and measuring instruments are subject to some criticisms. The EQ-I is the ¢rst and only instrument to measure factors of emotional intelligence and its psychometric soundness can only be improved over time and with conti- nuous use. Furthermore, the Multi factor Leadership Ques- tionnaire was originally developed to measure leadership qualities of people in leadership positions. However, as there does not appear to be a psychometrically sound instrument to measure leadership independent of current leadership status, it was decided to apply the MLQ to this study.The data then ge- nerated by the present investigation may be limited and indi- cative, rather than imperative. Secondly, the group make-up did not control for many biograp- hical factors and the sample remain small. The data is therefore limited to the demographic con¢nes of the population. Given the limitations, it would be expected that in a larger stu- dy, other signi¢cant factors might be identi¢ed to link emo- tional intelligence and leadership. Areas for future research include veri¢cation of the EQ-I and an investigation into interrelationships between sub-scales. Future research should also include other industries and en- vironments to test possible generalisation of this study. Corporations have gone through a radical revolution in this century, where the rigid hierarchy and managerial domination and manipulation of the past are no longer rewarded (Bass, 1997; Charlton, 1993). The key to future corporate success lies in the utilisation of interpersonal skills. This requires being skilled in the basic emotional competencies of being attuned to those one is dealing with, being able to handle disagree- ments so they don’t escalate and having the ability to move in- to intuitive £ow states whilst working (Goleman,1995). Even employees who are not in labeled positions of authority, have a responsibility to themselves and others. 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