Assessing the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in small organizational leadership

Abstract

Small organizations have not prioritized assessing a manager's level of emotional intelligence before selection or promotion thus they are ill-prepared to provide proper training to bring awareness to the importance of the role of emotional intelligence in leadership. The purpose of this Action Research study was to examine and develop the role of emotional intelligence in leaders at a small financial organization in Massachusetts, USA. Participants and data collected in both cycles of this study consisted of ten employee participants varying in age from 26 to 75 and varying in job role categories between admin, specialist, or executive through individual employee interviews, 2 focus groups, and 10 document reviews. Action steps of establishing a set of core organizational values and using those values to develop a 360-degree performance feedback framework were designed, implemented, and evaluated in Cycle 2 to continually instill the assessment of emotionally intelligent traits and abilities in the organization. Findings included emotional intelligence being assessed as abilities, the perception of effective leadership varying based on employee preferred leadership styles, employee morale maintained or increasing with emotionally intelligent leaders, and training emotional intelligence to improve with a consistent feedback structure through the 360-degree performance review format. Implications for the organization are continued enforcement of organizational core values and evaluating the use of the values-based 360-degree framework to foster continuous feedback.--Author's abstract