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Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 16
The Relevance of Emotional Intelligence in Project Leadership
Genna Preston, Jayet Moon, Ryan Simon, Shayna Allen, Edem Kossi
Project Management program
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected]
Abstract
The Emotional Intelligence School of Leadership Styles major paper invites readers to
uncover the six different styles of leadership that compose the school. The paper identifies and
summarizes the following styles: Visionary, Coaching, Affiliative, Democratic, Pacesetting, and
Commanding. Additionally the paper outlines the positives and negatives associated with each
style of leadership as well as provides an example of those styles in use. Lastly, the paper
concludes with the literature review and synopsis of how these styles can be effectively integrated
into modern project management.
Introduction
Leadership is defined as, the power or ability to lead other people (Bass,1960). Project
leadership is defined as, the ability to persuade others to enthusiastically and diligently pursue the
projects objective (Salovey & Mayer, 1989). A project is always evolving dynamically and
likewise, project leadership is situational. In a project, the leader is required to have cognitive,
social, and emotional intelligence in order to assess the situational and organizational needs and
adjust the pace of leadership accordingly (Mayer, Caruso & Salovey, 1989).
Emotional intelligence is defined by Salovey and Mayer (1989) as the subset of social
intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own, and others feelings and emotions, to
discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s own thinking and actions. For
Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 17
a long time emotional dimension of leadership was associated with the Visionary or Charismatic
School of Leadership (Popper & Zakkai, 1994). Since the mid 1990’s, emotional intelligence has
established itself as a leadership competence in its own right, as well as numerous books,
publications, and exploratory studies, that lend credence and justify its importance. Goleman
(1998) first synthesized and presented this idea of a new school, and it soon found its way into
mainstream acceptance.
Great leaders are the ones who drive people to deliver optimum performance. A critical
way of doing this is by tapping into employees emotions while taking control of self-emotions.
Leading and performing is not easy under pressure, more so in a project with hard deadlines. The
ability to manage self and teams emotions, as well as connect to the emotions that drive their
behaviors is a competency that is necessary in a modern project leader.
According to the proponents of the emotional intelligence school, the emotional
intelligence of the leader has greater impact on leadership skills and consequently the team
performance than his intellectual capacity. Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee (2002) identify four
dimensions of emotional intelligence.
1.
Self-Awareness
2.
Self-Management
3.
Social Awareness
4.
Relationship Management
Of these, 1&2 lie in the domain of personal competence while 3&4 lie in social competence
domain. Personal competence translates to, having understandings of ones strengths, weaknesses,
motives, and values, while at the same time having attributes like transparency, self-control,
Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 18
initiative, and optimism (Avolio & Zakkai,1994). Social competence means empathy, awareness,
and ability to understand and fulfill customer needs. Relationship management is an important part
of social competence which involves influencing people, navigating conflicts, and ensuring team
building and bonding. Based on such a distribution, there are six leadership styles:
1.
Visionary
2.
Coaching
3.
Affiliative
4.
Democratic
5.
Pacesetting
6.
Commanding
Each style of leadership can be matched with a stage, and phase of a project as shown. This is an
indicative generalization, and it is the prerogative of the project manager as to which style he/she
adopts in each phase, such that most efficient performance is realized.
Style
Suggested Phase
Visionary
Initialization
Coaching
Planning
Affiliative
Planning
Democratic
Execution
Pacesetting
Monitoring & Control
Commanding Closure
Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 19
The styles listed above impact the organizational climate and culture since, leadership and
management commitment directly translates to employee commitment, responsibility, task, goal
orientation, and clarity of purpose (Detailed chart available in Appendix A).
The sections below detail each of these styles in detail with their positives and negatives
and examples of implementation. Some examples illustrate versatile leaders who show different
styles, while some use a certain style as base and work within that boundary, transgressing it as
the need dictates.
Visionary
The first style from the emotional intelligence school of leadership that we will analyze is
the visionary leadership style. According to Dictionary.com (n.d), a vision is defined as, an
experience in which a personage, thing, or event appears vividly or credibly to the mind, although
not actually present, often under the influence of a divine or other agency. A vision is something
imagined, and in business, it is where leaders of organizations imagine their organization to be at
some point in the future. The visionary leadership style is defined by Daniel Goleman as, the
leadership style where the “leader is inspiring in vision, and helps others to see how they can
contribute to this vision; allowing the leader and followers to move together toward a shared view
of the future,” (Toren, 2014). Daniel Goleman believes after many of his research studies, the
visionary leadership style is the most effective one (Mersino, 2013).
Visionary Positives
The first advantage is the ability of the project leader to help others see their contribution
in the big picture. This is perhaps the most important aspect of the visionary leadership style; this
can help motivate the project team during the project life cycle, and this motivation can contribute
to the success for the project. Project Team members would have the great benefit of knowing
Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 20
that what they do is important. The second advantage is that, visionaries can describe the end goals
on a project, and leave the individuals plenty of latitude on how to achieve them (Mersino, 2013).
This tactic can be beneficial to a project team that is made of skill workers or experts who are in
this situation, given the ability to use their expertise to successfully complete this project. Lastly,
a project leader with a visionary style can help a project team easily navigate various changes in a
project. In fact, visionary leaders thrive on change and the ability to draw new boundaries (Mark,
2012).
Visionary Negatives
In a project, a visionary leadership style can suffer from poor articulated visions. Because
this style takes advantage of the project team members’ ability to connect personally to the leader’s
vision, there may be a disadvantage if the leader is unable to articulate his or her vision. This may
lead to the opposite results with disconnected and unmotivated team members. Also, a project
manager might face a similar situation if he has many senior people or experts reporting to him.
In this situation, the vision casting by the manager may fall flat to resonate with the project team
(Mersino, 2013). Finally, this style may also have some disadvantages if the project leader is full
of great visions, but lack the necessary details to carry out his visions.
Visionary Example
One example of effective leaders who employ the visionary leadership is Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. Dr. King had a vision that he was able to channel to millions of people decades ago; his
visions are still being deployed today. Through his “I have a dream” speech and his non-violent
acts, he was able to connect his vision to millions people, and to help them understand how they
fit into the end result, when it comes to humanity and human rights (Toren, 2014).
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Visionary Summary
The visionary leadership style, which is a style of leadership that are inspires visions, can
be very effective for project leaders. Visionary leadership qualities help their project teams
understand the true objectives and goals, as well as, how their contributions are important to
achieve these goals. It helps to organically motivate the project team
Pacesetting
The next leadership style that a project manager may use while executing a project is
known as pacesetting. As defined in the Wall Street Journal Online article, Leadership Styles
(Murphy, 2011), the pacesetting style is one in which “the leader sets high standards for
performance. He or she is obsessive about doing things better and faster, and asks the same of
everyone”. The pacesetting method allows for mangers with a mastery of certain tasks to exemplify
his or her mastery over those tasks in the hopes that the supporting project team will gain mastery
through osmosis. When utilized, this type of leadership style presents a variety of positives and
negatives in relation to achieving overall success of a project’s desired outcome. Below is an
examination of those positives and negatives as well as an example of the pacesetting leadership
style in action.
Pacesetting Positives
The pacesetting leadership style is one of fast action. As described in the Money-zine.com
article, Pacesetting Leaders, “one of the pros of the pacesetting leadership style is they are able to
quickly achieve business results” (Money-zine, 2006). The reason behind the fast results of this
style is because the project manager has great aptitude in the work that is being done. Thus, the
project manager embarks on a lead by example approach and, expects that the team has the same
aptitude and motivation for the project as he or she does. Creating a high energy team, that is
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challenged to constantly progress at the rate of the manger and allowing for project results to occur
at a rapid pace. Pacesetting is an excellent leadership style to use at the beginning of a project, as
you are able to build momentum off of the excitement surrounding a new endeavor. It is an
effective style to use to achieve the first few milestones of a project in short order.
Pacesetting Negatives
While pacesetting is excellent at achieving short-term goals, this leadership style can have
a long-term negative impact on a project team. Primarily, this style of leadership is conducive for
employees to burn out. Burn out occurs from the team being unable to sustain the same enthusiasm,
drive, and competency of the project manager. The Changing Minds.org article, Six Emotional
Leadership Styles, points out that pacesetting leaders, “tend to be low on guidance, expecting
people to know what to do” (Goleman, 2002). Thus the pacesetting style not only demands
constant amounts of high energy from its team but also it demands self-correction and selfsufficiency of its team. This type of environment causes increased stress levels as any member
who struggles in a task will quickly fall behind the pace of the remainder of the team and will not
have any guidance on how to take corrective measures.
Pacesetting Example
Pacesetting leaders are typically found in military settings, however, the Money-zine.com
article, Pacesetting Leadership, provides businessman Jack Welch as an example of person who
primarily implemented this leadership style (Pacesetting Leaders, 2006). Welch served as CEO for
General Electric from 1981 to 2001. During his time as CEO, Welch would interact with
employees at all levels of the organization as he believed “that leaders should avoid micromanaging, and spend their time inspiring others”(Pacesetting Leaders, 2006). Welch was
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accessible to his employees, however, he was also demanding of them expecting the highest of
results while disposing of those who were unable to keep up.
Pacesetting Summary
In conclusion the pacesetting leadership style is one that is best served in small doses. It
serves to help launch a project or to help complete a project within a tight time frame. However,
the style will wear thin on the team if utilized to often, as pressure builds and people are left feeling
burnt out and left behind.
Coaching
The next leadership style from the emotional intelligence school of leadership to be
examined is coaching. The coaching style as defined in the Jeff Hodgkinson article, Leadership
Styles for Program and Project Managers, is when the project manager “instructs and motivates
others to enhance their skills to achieve maximum impact for the team and project” (Hodgkinson,
2009). The coaching style puts the project manager in a mentoring role in relation to the project
team. However, the coaching style isn’t mentoring in the truest sense; the needs of the project
outweigh the needs of personal development or growth of a project team member. That being said,
ideally the coaching style would be implemented with a team member that is inexperienced in a
certain aspect of a project, which he or she is assigned so that the goals of the project, and the
personal growth objects of the team member are aligned.
Coaching Positives
The coaching style is designed to cultivate a project member’s professional skill set. It is a
relationship that is very similar to that of a teacher and student, with the project manager serving
in the role of the teacher. Deidre Harris’ article, Project Leadership Styles notes, a project manager
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utilizing the coaching technique “challenges all to do better and is encouraging when any failure
is present” (Harris, 2009). By utilizing this technique an environment that is based on
encouragement and empathy is created, allowing for team members to approach project goals
without trepidation. The warm working environment that is born from this leadership style spurs
the creation of more substantial inter-personal relationship amongst manger and team member.
Trust is thus established within this style, and a trusting environment leads to productive
environment, working towards self-improvement, as well as project success.
Coaching Negatives
The drawbacks behind utilizing the coaching leadership style are that it is very time
consuming and that it runs the risk of being viewed as micromanagement, if not executed properly
with the proper audience. In order to create a high level of trust and to teach in a project
management setting, a large quantity of time is required for the project manager to devote to
individual members. This time commitment isn’t feasible for projects with hard and fast deadlines,
nor is it feasible on a project with a large project team. Additionally, this style is only conducive
with a project member that is willing to learn and improve his or her craft. A Money-zine.com
article aptly details, “if someone is managing employees that are extremely resistant to change, or
are not interested in learning new things, the manager will struggle if they choose this style”
(Coaching Leadership, 2006). Thus it is essential for a project manager to understand the make-up
of the team, and the time constraints of the project before implementing this strategy.
Coaching Example
Not surprisingly, the best examples of the coaching leadership style come from the realm
of sports. Being that all sport teams require a manger or coach in order to execute a strategy to
meet an objective through a temporary endeavor; the match or game. It is easy to make the
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connection between sports and project management. That is not to say that all sports coaches or
managers utilize the leadership style of coaching, as they in fact do not, but it is meant to set the
stage for a true example of this leadership style in action. Red Holzman was an NBA coach that
achieved success in the league by winning multiple NBA titles, but perhaps his greatest success
was his mentoring and development of his one-time player Phil Jackson. Jackson developed into
one of the NBA’s all-time greatest coaches. The article Inspired by Holzman, Jackson Arrives in
Springfield, beautifully depicts the Holzman-Jackson relationship, and provides the following
quote from Jackson regarding his former coach; “Red took me under his wing, he didn't have an
assistant coach, he made me his assistant coach and taught the game to me and taught me a lot
about the game and encouraged me to go into coaching” (Hareas, 2007).
Coaching Summary
In summation, the coaching leadership style is a one that can be applied in any type of
situation but is most beneficial in situations that have loose time constraints and eager team
members. Coaching aims to give a team member the skills to succeed in a current project as well
as cultivate skills that will serve beyond the context of a project, granted that it doesn’t divert too
much attention away from the project. It aligns personal goals with project goals and provides
constructive feedback, but has the potential to be viewed as overbearing to members unreceptive
to change and constant feedback. It is a leadership style that should be implemented when possible,
but will not always be appropriate, especially within highly demanding situations that have short
deadlines and oversized teams.
Democratic
Another leadership style within this school is the democratic leadership style, also known
as the participative style. This style is, “an open approach to leading, where decision making is
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shared and the views of a team or group are valued and contribute to the vison, goals and decision
that are made” (Democratic Leadership Style, 2013). This allows members of the teams to feel
included and impactful in several stages of a project. With this style of leadership offering equality
of power, and group decision making, it is imperative that it is used in the right situation or task
(Detailed example available in Appendix B).
Democratic Positives
Democratic leadership brings teams together. With technology capabilities many
organizations are outsourcing or working remotely. Democratic leaders bring individuals together
in order for everyone to give their thoughts, ask questions, and be involved in the entire project
and its processes. The inclusion of many opinions may offer a different insight or thought that you
may have missed. This shows team members they are valued, and allows for everyone to have a
clear understanding of the vision and goals of the project (Democratic Leadership Style, 2013).
A democratic leader provides intrinsic motivation for their team. Research has proven that
intrinsic motivation is a precursor to creativity and innovation, and by offering democratic
leadership, individuals will satisfy their four motivators; sense of meaningfulness, sense of choice,
sense of competence, and sense of progress. By satisfying these needs, individuals will be
intrinsically motivated to go above and beyond any project or task assigned, as well as assist their
organization in becoming front runners within their industry (Mahmood A. Bodla, 2014).
Democratic Negatives
A democratic leader is a great assets to any team however, the democratic leadership style
comes with some negatives as well. One of the major problems with this style is that is very time
consuming. With the inclusion of many different people it may take a longer period of time to
Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 27
come to an agreement, receive a response, or communicate effectively. This also effects crisis
management. During crises especially, time is of the essence, and in situations where decision need
to be made right then and there, it just is not possible to lead democratically and include everyone
in the plans (Ryan, 2015).
When applying democratic leadership, it is important to still identify yourself as the leader.
Unfortunately, sometimes group members may misinterpret this style with lack of leadership or
bad job performance. Individuals may also feel it is not their place to make decisions, or they do
not have enough experience offering suggestions or their opinions. Also, sometimes when opinions
are offered time after time, but never implemented or acted upon, team members may feel deceived
or manipulated, which will ultimately negatively affect employee morale, outcomes, and success
(Cosmato, 2011). If managerial boundaries, and roles are not followed and respected, democratic
leaders may experience negative results using this method of leadership.
Democratic Example
Civil Rights activist Rosa parks is a great example of a democratic leader. Although many
people before Parks were arrested for ignoring racial boundaries and laws, Rosa Parks became the
face of the civil rights movement. Supporters followed her as she led, collaborated, and acted upon
change within the United States. She valued other people’s opinions, challenges, and treated
everyone as an equal. Not only did she help change American law and policies, she did it
effortlessly and democratically.
Democratic Summary
When used properly and productively, the democratic leadership style has many positive
qualities and attributes. By allowing individuals to participate in the entire project and processes,
it offers a sense of satisfaction, belonging, and accomplishment. This leadership style has been
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directly connected to organizational success and achieved goals. As leaders continue to engage in
this style, projects and organizations continue to excel and achieve successful outcomes.
Commanding
The commanding leader is a strong, authoritative individual who forcefully commands
orders and tasks. A commanding leader will communicate honestly, and let you know if you are
not progressing or working satisfactory (Larry Richard, 2008). This person holds all of the power,
and will make changes and decisions without his or her subordinate’s. Although this leadership
style has some positives attributes, it is comprised of more negative effects, and should be used
with caution and only during demanding times (Coercive Leadership, 2014).
Commanding Positives
This leader gets the job done! Fear is instilled upon team members which drives them to
use their full potential; ultimately achieving their goals. This leadership style is most effective
during times of crises; internal or external (Six Emotional Leadership Styles, 2015). Because this
leader gets the job, it will allow organizations to bounce back in times of crisis. This leadership
style is also beneficial during organizational change, because he or she is the leader, and
“encourages action, activity, and work” (Sloane, 2013). Leaders that command, extrinsically
motivate their staff by offering rewards, based on performance and outcomes (Sloane, 2013).
Commanding Negatives
The commanding leader may negatively affect creativity and innovation. Team members
do not feel a sense of meaningfulness or a sense of choice. This lack of inclusion will hinder
intrinsic motivation; intrinsic motivation encourages individuals to succeed through selfsatisfaction. Commanding limits intelligent thinking, team work, and disregards team experience
Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 29
and capabilities (Hughes, 2013). Team members will respond negatively to this style, if it used all
of the time. If leaders are feared and unapproachable, team members may feel insubordinate to
offer information that may be valuable or beneficial to a particular situation. "Beware that in the
long run it may result in employees passively resisting, rebelling or leaving altogether”
(Leadership Style, 2015).
•
•
•
Today’s workforce does not accept the autocratic style often adopted by leaders following
historical models of leadership.
Leadership has had to evolve to match a growing sense of democracy and independence in
the workforce
Employees now have far more options and choices than the foot soldiers of yesterday,
(Childs, 2004).
With that said, we can see why it is imperative to only use the commanding leadership style during
necessary times of crises. Also, because of ever-changing times, and a diverse group of team
members, practicing emotional intelligence will only benefit your team’s organization and
outcomes.
Commanding Example
A great example of a commanding leader is America’s military organizations; army, navy,
air force, national guard, etc. Depending on their rank and institutional standing within the
organization, individuals control, direct, and order groups and teams daily. Commanders,
sergeants, and lieutenants disregard their subordinates and demand authority and cooperation.
Fear, respect, and obedience are demanded in the beginning, and these principals are passed
throughout the different divisions of the military.
Commanding Summary
Although this leader will get the job done, it is important to use this method sparingly.
Demanding and commanding attitudes will benefit your organization in times or change and crises.
Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 30
Leaders of the world use this style while when they want to quickly establish authority and
organizational goals.
Affiliative
The affiliative leadership style is another style within the emotional intelligence group of
leadership styles. Affiliative leaders create emotional bonds and harmony (Leadership That Gets
Results, 2000). This particular style of leadership works best when there are disagreements among
team members. This leadership style is also most effective when team members need motivation
during stressful circumstances.
Affiliative Positives
The affiliative leadership style places an emphasis on placing value on individuals, rather
than centering on goals and objectives. An affiliative leader has the innate ability to forge strong
emotional bonds with others, leading to immense loyalty from the individual. Building strong
relationships between others, sets a solid foundation to establish positive team chemistry
(Leadership That Gets Results, 2000). With a harmonious group, communication becomes smooth
and amiable; members are willing to engage in productive conversation with one another, ideas
are traded back and forth, companionship increases, and positive feedback becomes abundant and
consistent. A sense of belonging is felt, and this allows for a positive work environment, strong
loyalty and very high-spirited employees (Leadership That Gets Results, 2014).
Along with this style, autonomy amongst workers is increased, predominantly driven by
the trust that members have with one another that the work and task will get done no matter the
process used. Affiliative leaders help harbor that flexibility as unnecessary rigid structures are not
imposed on the employees (Smith, 2014). Workers have the ability to use the most efficient method
Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 31
for them in order to complete their work, which, in turn can lead to reduced pressure and more
favorable performance results.
One of the greatest qualities of an affiliative leader is the ability to drive motivation among
members through solid and consistent feedback. Although commentary remains largely
constructive and positive, this empowers the workers and increases their sense of value. This is
very imperative today as Millennials begin to take over the corporate landscape. Per a 2014 article
by Business Insider, CEO of Twilio, Jeff Lawson, discusses how Millennials enjoys consistent
feedback (Smith, 2014). This generation is accustomed to quick gratification given the world of
technology they were raised in, and the ample feedback provided allows them to keep tabs on their
performance so there aren’t any surprises (Smith, 2014). Combining that with an Affiliative leader
who will communicate nothing but positive and encouraging remarks, the motivational level with
employees will soar.
Affiliative Negatives
While this leadership style is very effective at building a positive work environment and
group culture, there are some downfalls when this style is over utilized. Since Affiliative leaders
predominately remain constructive in the feedback they provide, under-performing workers tend
to go unrecognized, which thereafter, fosters mediocrity. These deficient workers will start to
become content with their performance, as affiliative leaders leave these issues unaddressed, and
indirectly, their poor output is condoned (Money-zine n.d.). Deficient workers lack the clear
direction that is needed in order to course-correct, thus they must rely on themselves in order to
improve their performance. This can lead to an overall drag on the group’s performance, cause a
disruption in the harmony, and ultimately lead to failure.
Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 32
The affiliative leadership style should mainly be reserved when building a team together
to create a harmonious balance and positive chemistry amongst members. This style is ideal when
there is a lack of communication or when trusts needs to be mended. Leaders who rely on this style
will run eventually into issues with meeting overall performance targets since it focuses on the
mental and emotional health of the group. In order to appropriately sustain a healthy and productive
team, it is suggested that this style be combined with other styles, such as the authoritative
leadership style (Leadership That Gets Results, 2000). An authoritative leader will establish clear
direction in order to maintain goals, and help workers understand their role in helping the
organization meet its objectives. With appropriate execution on combining the affiliative and
authoritative leadership styles, the stage is set for establishing an environment of committed and
driven workers producing outsized performance (Smith, 2014).
Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 33
Affiliative Example
A classic example of an affiliative leader is the ex-manager of the New York Yankees, Joe
Torre. As manager for such a prominent team in baseball, Joe Torre had many ego-centric players
to manage. Through all of this Joe Torre managed to hold the team together while building a sense
of harmony among the teammates (Money-zine, n.d.). Joe Torre would recognize the contributions
of individual players and express his gratitude for them. This method of leading created an overall
cohesiveness that allowed the Yankees to be as successful as they were (Money-zine, 2014).
Affiliative Summary
This leadership style is one that relies on emotions of the individual, rather than task. The
affiliative leader strives to keep their employees happy and create harmony among them (Moneyzine, 2014). This style focuses on the culture of the group in order to create unity. Although this
style of leading seems ideal, the lack of constructive criticism for the employees can lead to poor
performance and project failure.
Literature Review
Most cited definitions of emotional intelligence can be found in (Salovey, 1989). More
modern and refined versions can be found at (Mayer, 1999) and (Salovey, 2001). The literature on
the effect of Emotional Intelligence on leadership styles is vast; however, an interpretation of the
term itself is manifold. The early interpretation of emotional style can be found in (Avolio, 1991)
and (Popper, 1994), these papers start to identify values of emotional intelligence, but do not assign
a separate school of leadership to it, rather, it is considered an important but subsidiary aspect of
Visionary or Charismatic School of Leadership. They focus more on influencing the emotions and
behavior, rather than on understanding them. The seminal publication that birthed a new school of
Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 34
leadership solely based on emotional intelligence was (Goleman, 1998). (Goleman, 1998) and
(Cooper, 1998), together popularized and identified emotional intelligence as a leadership
competency, and defined its dimensions and styles. Further publications like (Goleman, 2002)
presented a detailed analysis of sub-styles within the emotional school and established emotional
intelligence as a critical leadership competency separate from cognitive and social intelligence.
The pioneer proponent of this school is Daniel Goleman, who has published numerous papers and
books; his most recent being (Goleman, 2013).
Conclusion
Attempts have been made to identify various competencies that define a successful leader. Authors
have identified these as cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and motivational (Dulewicz, 2003) but
has been shown that emotional competence accounts for 36% of the leadership performance
(Dulewicz, 2000) greatest amongst all competencies. Literature, lists numerous schools of
leadership, but its clear emotional intelligence finds relevance in each of them (Turner, 2005).
From a project viewpoint with fixed start and end dates, project managers often tend to be more
task oriented than people oriented, which may hamper the leadership role (Turner, 2005). This
division was propounded by the contingency school of leadership (Turner, 2005) and, emotional
competence in a leader is crucial to bridge this gap.
Another factor is the global nature of projects in modern times. Increasingly remote teams
are being used and a leader has to be competent enough to identify, cope up with, and even utilize
the cultural and lingual differences. Literature has identified personality traits for coping with the
cultural differences (Selmer 2002), and they heavily involve social awareness and relationship
management dimensions from which the emotional competencies arise.
The emergence of agile project management and self-organizing and managed teams in
recent years has presented a new situational analysis of leadership styles. Leaders do emerge in
Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 35
such teams, either formally and informally, even if no leadership need has been defined. Again, an
emotional competency of empathy in this case has been found to play a significant role and
influence task focused and socio-emotional goals (Wolff, 2002).
While emotional dimensions have been largely nebulous and debated aspects of leadership,
through theory and examples in this paper, we have tried to define emotional competencies that
underlie the leadership styles and predict which style will be appropriate in relevant phases of the
project. However there is an unanimous agreement that leadership always lies in the situation. This
can demand dynamic shuffling of the various competencies for a leader to emerge successfully.
Acknowledgement
We are grateful for the encouragement and mentorship of Dr. Victor Sohmen, Project
Management Program, Drexel University, and for his useful comments and editorial guidance in
this paper.
Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 36
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Appendix A
Figure A. Adopted : Comindwork Weekly / Work Productivity Tricks The Six Leadership Styles
(Goleman).(n.d.).RetrievedMarch11,2015,from
http://www.comindwork.com/weekly/2013-08-12/productivity/the-six-leadership
styles-goleman
Journal of IT and Economic Development 6(1), 16-40, April 2015 40
Appendix B
Figure B. Adopted- Democratic Leadership. The Democratic Leadership Style is Perhaps the…
Images-Frompo (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2015, from
http://image.frompo.com/48b406395fe324cdd0967081ab9f75f0