Abstract
M.A.
Leadership has been defined as the competencies and processes required to enable and
empower ordinary people to do extraordinary things in the face of adversity. It is also the
ability to constantly turn in superior performance to the benefit of oneself and the
organisation (Bennis & Nanus, 1985; Charlton, 1993; Kelly, 1986; Senge, 1991). This
definition includes being skilled in emotional competencies. Emotional competence
results in being attuned to those one is dealing with, as well as being self-aware. This
study focusses on the emotional intelligence factors considered to be characteristic of
effective leaders. The link between the management of emotions and leadership ability is
gaining increasing interest in business. People who are unable to maintain a degree of
control over their emotional life, fight inner battles that sabotage the ability for focussed
work and clear thoughts (Goleman, 1995). Unclear 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
self and others, would thus be required to lead an emotionally intelligent organisation
(Cooper & Sawaf, 1997). Leaders may not necessarily occupy positions of authority in
the organisation, yet even at lower organisational levels they lead others by example. Otto
(1995) refers to such leaders as "little leaders". It is the purpose of this study, to identify
specific emotional competencies that may be characteristic of successful "little leaders".
The question to be addressed, is: Is their a statistically significant difference in factors of
emotional intelligence, between a group of identified "little leaders" and a group of nonleaders
at the same level in an organisational context?
A leadership questionnaire (The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), (Bass &
Avolio, 1990b)) consisting of 45 items was administered to managers of a large financial
institution. They were asked to rate their subordinates using this scale as it identifies the
presence of transformational and transactional leadership behaviour (Bass, 1985). Only
the transformational leadership scores were used to identify two groups. Based on the
transformational leadership scores of the MLQ, rated employees were grouped into leader
and non-leader groups. Of the 220 (N=220) rating forms returned, 31 subjects fell into the
leader group and 31 fell into the non-leader group based on the cutoff scores provided by
the authors of the questionnaire. The middle ratings were not utilised for the present
study. No participant in the study was made aware of the grouping procedure. The employee group was all English speaking, with a minimum educational level of matric.
They occupied similar positions within the hierarchy and were all of non-managerial
status.
All 220 employees were asked to complete the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i)
inorder to ensure privacy regarding the group ratings (Bar-On, 1996a). The EQ-i assesses
15 factors said to be important indicators of emotional intelligence. These include;
problem solving ability, social responsibility, happiness, independence, stress tolerance,
self-actualisation, assertiveness, reality testing, interpersonal relationship, self regard, impulse control, flexibility, self awareness, empathy and optimism. Two additional
factors, namely, positive and negative impression provide assistance in score validation.
Comparative statistics (Wilks' coefficient lambda and Students t-test) were used to
analyse the data. A stepwise discriminant analysis was also conducted.
A comparison of EQ-i scores between the leader group and the non-leader group indicates
that the factors of optimism and self-actualisation are significantly higher for the leader
group than for the non-leader group. The non-leader group had significantly higher
scores on the positive impression scale, indicating a possible skewing of results for that
group. A total of four variables was extracted following the stepwise discriminant
analysis namely, positive impression, self-actualisation, self-regard and optimism. Generally, the research data appear to support the fundamental postulates of
transformational leadership theory. Transformational leaders are able to raise awareness
in both self and others regarding issues of consequence (Bass, 1997). This heightening of
awareness requires a leader with vision, self-confidence, and inner strength to argue
successfully for what he or she sees as right or good (Bass, 1997; Charlton, 1993; Senge,
1991). The factors of self-actualisation and optimism indicate an awareness of self and an
ability to influence others (Seligman, 1990).
The research findings indicate that the application of emotional intelligence theory to
leadership identification may assist those in the fields of recruitment, selection and training and development. Future empirical research within the same empirical
framework as this investigation, may benefit from greater standardisation and broader
application of the assessment instrument used, the use of larger experimental populations
and a possible replication of the findings of the present investigation. A comprehensive
exploration of the interaction of Emotional Intelligence factors and the contribution of
other possible factors to emotional intelligence in leadership may also contribute to the
accuracy of future identification of potential leaders.