Emotional Intelligence (EI) Theory

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Emotional Intelligence (EI) has been one of the popular concepts nowadays. However, the EI conceptualization varied between researchers, resulting in distinct types of EI theory proposed. These theories differ in the conceptualization of EI and its measurement instrument. The ability theory proposed by Mayer and Salovey (1997) suggests that EI consists of the ability to appraise and express, regulate and utilize emotion. It proposed four constructs that characterize all the abilities that could add to an individual’s EI. These building blocks are in a chain of command, in which, every level integrate with one another and constructed the competence of the earlier competence. Another perspective on EI is the mixed model EI theory. The mixed model theory proposed that EI includes mental capabilities, dispositions, and characteristics (Bar-On, 1997; Goleman, 1995). For instance, EI is believed to comprise of motivation, emotion and cognition that includes some human characteristics such as faith, positivism and selflessness. However, Mayer and Salovey’s ability model is said to be the most mentioned and be acquainted with by many other scientific researchers compared to any other models as the theoretical foundation of the model is concrete and vindicated (Matthews et al., 2002).
EI has often been linked to leadership. EI was said to benefit leaders by providing some intangible personal characteristics that are essential in the workplace (Ashakansy & Dasborough, 2003; Dulewicz & Higgs, 2010). The early approaches to leadership described leader’s behaviour without paying much attention to the situation. Therefore, it is suggested that leaders should perform certain behaviours and do so in whatever the situation is (Fied...

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... development of leaders with different types of training strategies and longer training duration. Furthermore, future research could replicate this study by using different measurement instruments such as the observer’s measures to gauge if there is any difference in the findings.
In summary, the findings of this study suggest that the training does produce significant improvement to the leaders’ EI. This might provide some theoretical and practical benefits to the field of emotional development. Although further research is needed to gather more information on these areas, it is believed that this study has provided some contribution with valid empirical findings for the use of future studies. Finally, this study might have provided some insights on the emotional aspects of Malaysian leaders, which might in a way differs from leaders in the developed countries.

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