The Role Of Emotion In Leadership

1.0. Background of the Study

Emotion is an important factor and plays a significant role in the success of a leader. Fitness (2000) opined that the work environment is “one of the most interpersonally frustrating context that people have to deal with”. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is often measured as an Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ). Thorndike (1920) introduced the term ‘social intelligence and defined it, as the ability to understand and manage people to act wisely in human relations. Emotional intelligence grew out of this particular definition and influenced the understanding and conceptualization of the term.

Emotional Intelligence as a concept was first introduced by John D. Salovey and Peter Mayer in a series of articles between

Therefore influence is the sine qua non of leadership (Northouse, 2010). The earliest theorists of leadership (Machiavelli: 1468-1527) described certain effective techniques for manipulation and remaining in power. This gave him a mucky reputation in the later centuries. Leaders may decide to control or manipulate followers through such mechanisms like fear or coercion, but in most cases it becomes more beneficial to work with their followers in a co-operative approach. As a result several mechanisms are adopted by leaders in the quest to influence followers towards the attainment of the desired goals of the organisation or group. In the organisational setting keen attention is given to other predictors of employee performance such as job satisfaction, motivation and compensations and benefits in the bid to boost employee performance. But leaders must have the capacity to sense employees' feelings about their work environments, to intervene when problems arise, to manage their own emotions in order to gain the trust of the employees, and to understand the political and social conventions within an organization. In addition, a leader must have the capacity to impact organizational performance by setting a particular work climate as close to 90 percent of success in leadership positions is attributable to emotional intelligence (Chen et al, 1998). Effective leaders are

Projects and programmes of these organisations address wide variety of problems including social, economic, and political and in some cases spiritual. In this sector, there is great emphasis on results and impacts as positive results serves as a justification for continuous access to funding. This and other demands bring great challenges to leaders in the nonprofit sector. It is evidence that these challenges are highly demanding, and distinct from those faced by governments or the for-profit