Emotional Intelligence
Essays

¶ … build an effective technology support team. There is much more to tech support than understanding the many systems, software, and hardware an organization uses in its daily operations.

Stephen Conner, research director at New York investment banking firm Rubin, Stern and Hertz (RSH) must replace their star semiconductor analyst Peter Thompson quickly in order to ensure revenues form clients continues to be earned by the firm. Stephen is research director and is responsible for a significant proportion of revenue that Peter had been generating. While initially considering a counteroffer, Stephen decided to not pursue that strategy and promote Rina Shea, the junior analyst reporting to Peter, to a senior analyst role to cover semiconductors immediately. Evident from the e-mails and discussions Stephen is having with other analysts, sales and members of the firm, Rina is not meeting expectations. The pressure is on Stephen to hire a replacement quickly to keep the revenue stream moving, make sure one of the most strategically important clients the company has, the PowerChip company, is pleasured, and also keep research moving forward. Case Analysis Stephen Conner faces a litany of problems in solving this problem. First, there are only at maximum 14 to 15 analysts who have the level of expertise, as defined by their resumes, results and rankings in Institutional Investor (II) magazine to even be considered. Of those, many have recently moved, as Craig Robertson of Superior Staffing Services reminds Stephen early in the case. There is also the challenge of finding a candidate that will fit into the culture of the company, which is much more team-based and collegial than many other Wall Street investment banking firms. This will be particularly challenging as the candidates reflect how much the survival instinct kicks in within the industry; analysts tend to be lone wolves and look out for themselves the majority of the time. In addition to all these challenges, there is the issue of Rina Shea and her ongoing role in the company. To completely leave her out of the process would nearly ensure her leaving within a year, losing a significant investment in the semiconductor coverage in the process. Yet as can be seen in the case, other analysts, operations teams and sales people are not happy with her performance. Stephen Conner has to make a decision quickly yet risks making a bad one if he lets all these factors drive him into an urgency mindset instead of a focused one. To have made the best possible hire however Stephen will need to reinvent the recruitment process, concentrating more on a set of criteria and less on intuition (Anders, 2011).

The likeability of a manager will determine how effective they are on transactionally-oriented tasks while also being a very accurate predicator of hwo effective they will be in more transformational roles in an organization. The intent of this analysis is to define likeability from a leadership standpoint, illustrating how this aspect of a leader's personality must be authentic, transparent in approach and genuine in how a leader earns and keeps the trust of subordinates, peers and superiors. A likeable person is by definition one that is known for their friendliness or the ability to create an ongoing dialogue that includes a significant level of self-disclosure and ability to communicate with accuracy, clarity and honesty (George, 1995). A likeable leader is one that has the ability to combine friendliness, relevance of communication to others, empathy or the capacity to feel what others are also feeling ands enunciate those emotions, all unified by a very strong level of authenticity, integrity and realness (Gabriel, Griffiths, 2002). All of these factors together define a likeable person, and add in the willingness of a leader to self-sacrifice, create and stay consistent with roles in an organization that capitalize on the unique strengths of an associate, and a strong foundation of transformational leadership begins to emerge. One of the key findings of this study is that to the extent a manager has the ability to create and sustain a high level of trust with subordinates is the extent to which they are able to also sustain transformational leadership in a team. While leaders have varying levels and depths of skills that contribute to their ability to be transformational in the scope of their work, those with demonstrated high levels of emotional intelligence (EI) combined with the four foundational aspects of transformational leadership skills consistently have a higher level of likeability than their more transaction-oriented counterparts (Gabriel, Griffiths, 2002). In evaluating if likeability leads to greater leadership performance, a model of proposed Likeability and Organizational Transformation has been created and is presented in this analysis. The existing body of research indicates that likeability is one of the foundational elements of effective transformational leadership, yet it does not exist in isolation. The accumulated research completed for this study indicates that likeability of a leader is highly correlated to their level of EI. The dimensions of EI have a direct, predictive effect on how likeable and effective a leader will be. Another finding from this analysis is that likeability by itself does not guarantee a leader will be effective; it is only their ability to translate EI-based skills in conjunction with a very strong foundation of transformational skills that they are able to accomplish challenging goals and propel an organization to fulfill its shared vision. This study also concludes that likeability is also not essential for success either, as the many examples from leaders and CEOs renowned for being very difficult to work with who have propelled their organizations to leadership positions in their industries. Larry Ellison of Oracle, known for being exceptionally demanding and for creating a culture of mistrust and intense internal competition is not likeable according to the dimensions of the research completed for this study. He is however exceptionally effective in driving his organization to attain its vision and mission. What this study has found is that when the triad factors of Emotional Intelligence (EI), trust and transformational leadership are combined, leaders increase the propensity of being liked. These three factors combined provide leaders with a solid foundation of being effective in their roles as well. Likeability does not assure results however. Figure 1, Analysis of Key Factors of Likeability, shows how these three factors must be balanced and in proportion to each other in a leader's management style to be effective. Deficiencies in EI for example could lead to a very collegial work environment yet the leader would not know how and when to define tasks and key strategies to accomplish objectives over time. All three must be balanced in order for a catalyst of continued progress to be formed and stabilized within an organization.

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