Emotional Intelligence: The Challenge for Effective School Leadership

The purpose of the paper is to guise available variables around Emotional Intelligence and School Leadership Effectiveness. Emotions are our state of being or mood, how we feel at a particular time. Intelligence is the ability to think and reason; therefore, emotional intelligence is to be aware of one’s state of being or moods and to also be cognizant of the mood of others (Mayer et al 2007). Thus being emotionally intelligent can lead to better decision making, better managing which leads to better leadership (Blell 2011).Thorndike defined social intelligence as “the ability to understand and manage men and women, boys and girls – to act wisely in human relations”. Gardner included interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences that are closely related to social intelligence in his theory of, multiple intelligences.

The theory of emotional intelligence is relatively new, however the psychological theory has become prevalent and many entities have adapted the principles of this theory in order to enhance relations within the professional environment as well as increase performance which ultimately lead to a positive place of work. (Allan Chapman 2014)

The term Emotional Intelligence was phrased by Salovey and Mayer in 1990. Though research on intelligence had been carried out years before and the value of cognitive emotion was first studied by psychologists from as early as 1940. David Wechsler was one of the first pioneers who recognized the importance of non-cognitive aspects of humans and proposed that non-intellective abilities are essential for predicting one’s ability to succeed in life. (Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations 2000)

Background to the Study

The central idea in Primal Leadership...

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