Abstract
M.Phil.
The major socio-political, technical and global changes in the world have
placed increased demands on managers in the corporate environment to
develop people orientated skills.
In this study emotional leadership was offered as a possible solution to
this problem. This essay researched the problem from a personal and
professional leadership perspective with the aim to:
• investigate the nature of emotional leadership;
• investigate the role and contribution of emotional leadership in the
corporate workplace; and
• identify ways in which managers can apply emotional leadership in
the workplace to enhance their effectiveness as managers.
In chapter two a word and concept analysis was done and it was found
that emotional leadership is the ability to think logically with emotion in
four areas: to perceive emotion; to integrate it in thought; to understand
it; and to manage it. This ability begins with the self and evolves to
include others. Emotional leadership implies to be aware of the
messages emotions are conveying, and to manage them effectively,
instead of being controlled by emotions. Furthermore it was found that
emotional leadership is an ability consisting of hierarchical building
blocks with every level bringing together and building on the capabilities
of all the preceding ones. In order of hierarchical importance, emotional
leadership can be interpreted as:
• self-awareness or the ability to monitor the self, observe self in action,
and to influence personal actions;
• the ability to manage own emotions to personal benefit;
• the ability to read, recognise, and discern the emotions of others, and
to respond appropriately; and
• the ability to assist others to manage their emotions and to respond
effectively;
It was also found that emotional leadership is not the sole predictor of
workplace success. There is, however, agreement and evidence to
conclude that emotional leadership can assist with workplace
effectiveness and can be effectively used to improve individual, as well as
organisational performance.
There is also widespread agreement that with the correct training and
experiences, managers in the corporate environment can improve their
knowledge on emotions and how to manage it effectively, and thus
enhance personal effectiveness. It is thus recommended that
organisations, in developing people skills, should ensure that an effective
balance exists between emotional leadership training and functional
skills training. The training should focus on the lymbic system, which
facilitates effective emotional leadership development. To ensure holistic
training of managers, the training should include all aspects of personal
development, as well as interpersonal effectiveness.