When the actor was a negative group member, it disrupted the groups and reduced efficacy. Conversely when the actor played a positive confederate, the teams tended to show increased cooperation, fewer group conflicts, and heightened task performance. 24 Likewise, in a similar study, Alice Isen (1993) assessed radiologists, finding positive mood enhanced their accuracy. Positive mood has a far-reaching effect on work performance, supervision, decision-making, and even on team members voluntarily acting for the good of the organization . 25
Leaders influence the team’s mood.
The team’s mood drives performance.
What’s your conclusion?
The overall mood of the organization could be described as “organizational climate” – and a leader’s EQ skills are a key ingredient in shaping the climate: In a study of randomly selected car manufacturing managers in Iran, emotional intelligence (particularly awareness of own and other’s feelings) predicted the quality of the organizational climate. 26 So EQ skills affect climate – and climate affects performance; in one study, Hakan Ozcelik, Nancy Langton, Howard Aldrich, (2008) assessed 229 entrepreneurs and small business owners in Canada to see if they used emotionally intelligent behaviors in shaping the organizational climate. They followed up 18 months later, and leaders who created more positive climate had more revenue as well as increased growth. 27 The leader’s use of feelings has implications for many areas of performance. For example, the attitude that manager’s display toward employees has a significant effect on employees’ willingness to be entrepreneurial. Managers !"#$"%&'(& )*+,,-& .%/#0+1#2+30#,& 4,+5#2"& 6"%73%5#08"&
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White Paper The Business Case for Emotional Intelligence
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