Title: Emotional Intelligence and Transformational Leadership in Social Work
1Emotional Intelligence and Transformational
Leadership in Social Work
- Dr Natalie Kenely PhDUniversity of Malta
2 Outline
- A brief description of the organisation in which
the study was carried out - The Research Question
- Emotional Intelligence Transformational
Leadership - The Research Design
- The Studys Timeline
- Main findings of the study on leadership in
social work - Recommendations for practice
3The Organisation
- Agency - the main social work services provider
in Malta. - Services aimed at addressing the current and
emerging needs of the persons it encounters in
the course of conducting its duties. - Priority to and focus on children, their families
and the community at large thus ensuring that
social networks are strengthened and are more
equipped in dealing with the real issues that
members of our society, especially children and
families, are facing.
4The Research Question
- Do the structures and human resource functions
in place at the Agency, create a climate that is
conducive to an emotionally intelligent
workplace? - Thus, the issues of organisational climate,
human resource functions and leadership are
explored in the light of their effect on
relationships within the Agency, and therefore
their influence on the levels of emotional
intelligence within the Agency.
5A MODEL OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND
ORGANISATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS (Taken from
Cherniss, C. Goleman, D., 2001, pp 8)
6Emotional Intelligence
- The ability to
- accurately perceive emotions in oneself and
others - use emotions to facilitate thinking
- understand emotional meanings and
- manage emotions.
- (Mayer, Salovey, Caruso, 2002)
7Emotional Intelligence Leadership
- The most effective managers are those who have
the ability to sense how their employees feel
about their work situation and to intervene when
those employees begin to feel dissatisfied or
discouraged. Effective managers are also able to
manage their own emotions, with the result that
employees trust them and feel good about working
with them (Cherniss, 2000).
8Transformational Leaders
- Clearly see themselves as change agents. They
set out to make a difference and to transform the
organisation for which they are responsible - Are courageous. They can deal with resistance,
take a stand, take risks, and confront reality - They believe in people. They have well-developed
beliefs about motivation, trust and empowerment - They are driven by a strong set of values
- They are life-long learners. They view mistakes
their own as well as other peoples as learning
opportunities - They can cope with complexity, uncertainty and
ambiguity and - They are visionaries.
- Sadler (2003, pp 25)
9- Although providing leadership is only one
aspect of what the manager does, it is the most
visible particularly when it is lacking
(Coulshed et al, 2006, pp 89).
10Research Design
- Action Research Approach
- - deliberately incorporates an action component
into the research design - Grounded Theory Approach in its analysis of data
collected - - these two approaches complement each other as
an effective tool for amplifying the voices of
the participants in the study.
11Timeline
- October 2004 - Cultural Analysis of the Agency
(74 return) reveals areas of growth that need
tackling - 1. A vast majority of staff do not feel that
their input is appreciated - and encouraged by management.
- 2. A discrepancy is apparent in the way staff
and management view - - leadership within the Agency
- - the effectiveness of teamwork within the
Agency - - conflict resolution in the Agency and
- - the effectiveness of training offered to the
staff (especially the newer ones). - 3. A vast majority of staff maintain that the
Agency makes very few - formal or informal employee
recognition efforts.
12Timeline
- August 2005 - In conjunction with Agency
Management team - 1. decided to focus on and target the leadership
team of - the agency.
- 2. launched the MSCEIT (Mayer, Salovey, Caruso
- Emotional Intelligence Test, 2002).
- October 2005 All the Managers took the MSCEIT.
13A MODEL OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND
ORGANISATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS (Taken from
Cherniss, C. Goleman, D., 2001, pp 8)
14Timeline
- February 2006 - A Training Day with Agency
Managers - a programme created and developed by
the Researcher, based on the training and
development needs identified through previous
stages of research. - May 2006 - Follow-up meeting on a one-to-one
basis for a more personalised feedback briefing
session on MSCEIT results using the MSCEIT
Resource Reports (May 2006). - August 2006 - Managers re-took the MSCEIT.
-
-
151 Consider development69 or less 2 Consider
Improvement 70-89 3 Low Average Score 90-99 4
High Average Score 100-109 5Competent
110-119 6 Strength 120-129 7 Significant
Strength 130
161 Consider development69 or less 2 Consider
Improvement 70-89 3 Low Average Score 90-99 4
High Average Score 100-109 5Competent
110-119 6 Strength 120-129 7 Significant
Strength 130
17Analysis of qualitative data
- A qualitative analysis of the data collected
using the Grounded Theory Approach (Strauss and
Corbin, 1990) - the recorded observations kept during the
Training Day - the individual briefing sessions with the
Managers - the Resource Reports issued for each participant
in the study.
18Five key variables
- Management Training / Preparedness
- Gender
- Organisational Culture
- Workload
- Nature of the Team
19Management Training Preparedness
- I was thinking how much this concept of
emotional intelligence has been told to managers.
Im thinking of managers, men, who are basically
taught or have been cultured to take decisions,
and if someone says something, they are told not
to be emotional.
20Management Training Preparedness
- I am thinking about the type of training we
received. Should we as social work managers be
given the same training as managers in a factory?
21Gender
- Newell (2007) maintains that while research
suggests that, in much of the European Union,
women and men now comprise equal numbers in many
professions such as law and medicine, and equally
occupy junior to middle management positions, the
top rungs of most professions and organisations
remain heavily male dominated. She quotes the
European Labour Force Survey (Eurostat) for 2006
which shows that in Europe, 70 of managers are
men and only 30 are women. - In Malta the proportion of female managers are
well below average at 13.
22Gender
- a significant gender gap still persists at
senior levels in organisations, even within those
sectors predominantly occupied by women
notably, the education and health and social
services sectors - (Newell, 2007, pp 1).
23Gender
- We are expected to put aside our emotions and
in order to show people that I am a good manager
I cannot decide with my heart but only with my
mind.
24Gender
- Even if I believe that emotions are important
in my role, someone, an echo behind me tells me
that if I want to be a good manager, I must not
let my emotions interfere, I must decide with my
mind only, just see the obstacles, the financial
difficulties
25Leadership Characteristics
- Humility
- Humanity
- Trustworthiness
- In tune
- Simplicity
- Charisma
- Ability to create a comfortable environment
- Genuineness
- Strength of character
- Influential
- Integrity
- Availability
- Strength of values
- Encouraging
- Discipline
- Considerateness
- Ability to bring out the best in people
- Comfortable with self and achievements
26Gender
- I am thinking about our perception of managers
and the perception we were given of what a
manager should be and how this influences
others. - I feel I am going against my own nature. I am
expected to be a manager, detached from emotions
in myself and in others. But that is not me.
27Organisational Culture
- The participants shared deeply the noticeable
and perceptible suffering they are enduring in
having to de-nude themselves of and shed the
emotional competencies they had internalised as
front line workers. They feel that the passage
from front line workers to managers and leaders
places on them the expectation of discarding the
very essence and spirit of what they had become.
28Organisational Culture
- The Agencys core identity or corporate culture
seems to be based on the belief that moving into
a leadership position intrinsically requires of
the new incumbent the need to put aside the
emotional competencies previously used when the
individual was still practising as a front-line
social worker and behaving differently.
29Workload
- The demands are always on the increase.
Expectations are increasing from all sides, not
just from managementmaybe this is a time of
change to a different strategy or system. This
is what I am focusing on as we discuss these
results.
30Nature of the Team
- Through our interventions with clients, we must
manage to create a space that is different our
process doesnt have to make a difference simply
because a task is achieved, but also because we
would have created a space through the helping
relationship that makes a difference to the other
person. -
31Nature of the Team
- It is true that we cannot be humane only,
however if above all the constraints that we
have, we manage to be humane as well, I think
that that is the only thing that will keep people
working. If we remove this human aspect of
management we are going to lose more people. I
believe this strongly.
32Effects on Team Climate
- I think that one of the major consequences is
that emotions are contagious, and if we are not
managing our emotions well, our teams are not
managing them and probably not even the way they
are transferring them to the client.
33Effects on Team Climate
- If a person, who is a front liner, is angry and
is not able to manage this frustration, and then
during supervision finds a manager who is not
able to contain this, what service are we giving
to clients at the end of the dayif we are not
even able to go through this process?
34Effects on Team Climate
- We become alienated and lose our sense of
awareness we start linking our emotions to our
vulnerabilities and this can be dangerous because
it can create a block which results in extensive
consequences.
35Effects on Team Climate
- One of the major consequences of all this is
staff turnover, which we already suffer from
maybe in particular services more than in others.
Of course this does not reflect only on leaders,
there are other factors, however I feel that
leadership is an important factor.
36Some Recommendations
- A complete culture change in the organisation,
with the focus on valuing, developing and caring
for the workforce, as well as on organising work
more sensibly - Thorough preparation towards becoming emotionally
intelligent transformational leaders would result
in the combination of leadership expertise of a
superior manager with the people-centred focus
that these managers bring with them into their
new role - Increase awareness that just as outcomes in
social work are important, the very processes
employed to bring about change in people are also
pivotal
37Some Recommendations
- Create a climate which allows social workers the
freedom and space to be what they really want to
be emotionally competent and positive about the
effect of their service to clients. - Focus on management training with a
concentration on transformational leadership - Focus on career development for women managers
this group has proved to be frequently isolated
yet highly visible within a male-dominated
management culture that is preventing them from
placing their particular strengths at the service
of the organisation.
38Concluding thought
- Those human service organisations that serve
people best, understand effective management and
ensure that its practice is grounded in the
humanitarian ethics and principles that should
guide management and practice alike (Coulshed et
al, 2006, pp 221).
39Concluding quotation
- What made me reflect more was the statement
when you decide, dont decide as a social
worker, decide as a manager. It is as if a
manager cannot have feelings or refer to her
peoples emotional state. I was made to throw all
the emotions that had been expressed to the back
of my mind or even forget them and not use them.
Now as I am reflecting, I understand that once
emotions are out, those emotions are there, they
reflect what I and my staff are feeling that is
what we brought with us. What I need to do, is
that in a less-emotionally charged moment, I must
decide and I need to use those emotions and not
put them aside or ignore them any longer.
40- References
- Cherniss, C. (2000). Emotional Intelligence What
it is and why it matters, Paper presented at the
Annual Meeting of the Society for Industrial and
Organisational Psychology, New Orleans, LA
available at www.eiconsortium.org - Cherniss, C., and Goleman, D., (editors) (2001).
The Emotionally Intelligent Workplace. San
Francisco Jossey-Bass. - Coulshed, V., Mullender, A., David, J., and
Thompson, N., (2006). Management in social work.
UK Palgrave Macmillan. - Mayer, J., Salovey, P., Caruso, D., (2002).
Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test
(MSCEIT) Users manual. Toronto Multi Health
Systems. - Newell, H., (2007). The Glass Ceiling Effect.
Gender and Career Development. Available on the
web at http//www.eurofound.europa.eu/eiro/studies
/tn0612019s/tn0612019s_2.html - Sadler, P. (2003). Leadership. London Kogan
Page. - Strauss, A., and Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of
qualitative research Grounded theory procedures
and techniques. UK Sage Publications.
41-
- Thank you
- natalie.kenely_at_um.edu.mt