Differences of emotional intelligence between men and women and its impact on team leadership and effectiveness

DIFFERENCES

OF

EMOTIONAL

INTELLIGENCE

BETWEEN

MEN

AND

WOMEN

AND

ITS

IMPACT

ON

TEAM

LEADERSHIP

AND

EFFECTIVENESS

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Title: Differences of Emotional Intelligence Between Men and Women and its Impact on Team Leadership and Effectiveness

Author: Nadia Mahjoub

The objective of this study is to explore the leader’s Emotional Intelligence (Goleman, 2004) influenceteamleadership (Morgeson et al., 2010)in orderto achieve better Team Effectiveness (Kozlowski & Bell, 2003). The relationship between thesethree variables has not beenidentifiedinthe past, whichisthe reasonthis study has been conducted. A survey has been created based on validated scales and was distributed toteams. After an extensiveliterature review, four hypotheses aboutthese relationships have been created and were all supported after the statistical analysis. This study confirms the link between EmotionalIntelligence, Leadership and Team Effectiveness. Ourfindings showthat Emotional Intelligenceleadsto better Team Effectivenessthrough Leadership Support the Social Climate function. It also shows a higher level of Emotional Intelligence in Women Leaderscomparedto Men Leaders. Takingintoconsideration theseresults,companiesshouldstart paying moreattentionto EmotionalIntelligence values of the candidates during the hiring and promotion processes, in order to achieve higher overall organizational success.

Key Words: Emotional Intelligence, Team Effectiveness, Team Processes, Team Leadership, Gender

Título: As Diferenças naInteligência Emocional Entre homens e Mulherese o Seu Impacto na Liderança e Eficácia das Equipas

Autor: Nadia Mahjoub

O objetivo desta dissertação é o estudo da influência da Inteligência Emocional (Goleman, 2004) na função de Suporte de umlíder (Morgeson et al., 2010), de forma a conseguir uma melhor Eficácia da Equipa(Kozlowski & Bell, 2003). Arelaçãoentre estastrês variáveisainda nãofoiidentificada no passado,sendoa principalrazão da condução deste estudo. Um questionário foi criado baseado em escalas validadas e foi distribuido por equipas. Depois de uma extensarevisão deliteratura,foram criadas quatro hipótesesreferentes a estesrelacionamentos, queforam suportadas por uma análise estatística. Este estudo confirma a ligação entre Inteligência Emocional, Liderança e Eficácia de uma Equipa. As nossas conclusões mostram que a Inteligência Emocional leva a uma melhor Eficácia numa equipa, através da função de Suporte do líder da equipa. As conclusõestambém mostram que há um maior nível de Inteligência Emocional nas mulheres, em comparação com os homens. Considerando estes resultados, as empresas devem prestar mais atenção aos valores da Inteligência Emocional decandidatos nos processos derecrutamentoe de promoção, deformaa chegar a um melhor nível de sucesso organizacional.

Key Words: Inteligência Emocional, Eficácia de uma Equipa, Processos de uma Equipa, Liderança de uma Equipa, Género

Consultingin Universidade Católica Portuguesa, whomIthankforthe knowledge provided duringthesetwo years and for allthe great opportunitiesthat has been offered. This master thesis has been conducted under the supervision of Prof. Patrícia Costa to whom I am very grateful. She has beenthere during allthesteps, motivating and providing solutions and comfort whenever needed.I wouldliketo alsothank and acknowledgethe participation of my four colleagues and who always gave their bestin this crucial collaboration.

I am very grateful for my family who has always been there for me, even when I left Tunisia, by always calling me and sending me food overseas filled withlove. A special thought goesto my dearfriendsandto my boyfriend whoencouraged meand where alwaysthere duringtheselasttough months.

Most of all, I wouldliketo especially thankmy parents who have always beenthere for me, who always believedin me and who dedicatedtheirlife for my happiness.

Abstract ...i

Acknowledgment ...iii List of Tables ...v

List of Figures ...v

Introduction ...1

Teams and Organizations ...3

Defining Teams and Their Context ...3

Understanding Team Processes ...4

Leadership Types and Differencesin Styles ...6

Team Leadership ...9

Leader’s Role Duringthe Transition Phase ...9

Leader’s Role Duringthe Action Phase ...11

Emotional Intelligence and Leadership ...14

The Impact of Sex on Emotional Intelligence ...19

Methodology ...21

Procedure ...21

Measures ...22

Results ...24

Discussion of Results and Future Implications ...29

Limitations and Further Development ...32

Appendix ...35

Appendix 1 Tangram Task ...35

Appendix 2 Variables Dictionary ...38

Appendix 3 Mann Withney U Test ...40

L

ist

of

Tab

les

Table 1 Reliability Analysis of The Scales ...23   Table 2 Correlation Analysis Between Our Variables ...24   Table 3 Regression analysis for Emotional Intelligence and Team Effectiveness ...25   Table 4 Regression Analysis of Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Support Social

Climate function. ...25   Table 5 Results oftheindirect effect of Emotional Intelligence onthe dependent

variable Perceived Team Effectivenessthrough Leadership Support ...27   Table 6 Mann Whitney Test for Emotional Intelligence and Gender ( P < 0.05 ) ...27  

L

ist

of

F

igures

Introduct

ion

Leadershipis a concept as old asthe world. Leaders are what make history but not only. Wecanfindthemeverywhere:in households,in governments or incompanies. They are a main part of ourlives and of what our society’s values are based on. Accordingthe the “Great Man”theory,they are what “make” history (Carlyle, 1888). They are part of allsocietiesand havea greatinfluence on humans’ lives. Asthey havesucha big impact,understanding the different ways of practicingleadership from oneleadertothe otheris crucial (Eerkens, Vaughin & Kantner, 2010).

Nowadays,leaders are keyto organizationalsuccessand they havea greatimpact on team performance. In fact, companies have become moreteam orientedthan ever before. It is now a common belief, based on different studies, that through the division ofthe organizational missionintosmaller team objectives,thefinal companies’ goals will be reached much faster with the insurance of greater organizational achievements (Salas, Sims & Burke, 2005).The concept ofteam managementimprovedthrough time from managingtaskstoleadingindividuals.

Asteams andteamleadershiptook such animportant placeinthe organizational world, researchersstarted digging more deepinto thetopic,seeking tofind howteamscan improvein orderto achieve high performances and howleaders can helpthem.

Asteams are composed of people, and as we are social creatures,itis naturalthatthese individuals develop personnel relationships betweenthemselves. Humanstendto bound with each other in order to cooperate for the sake of a final achievement. This is nota new phenomenon, but dates since thebeginning of humanity.It is extremely important that these relationships are well managed in the organizational context as the management of interpersonal relationships between individuals is critical toward reaching the final goal (Bass & Stodgill, 1990). Leaders with high Emotional intelligence arethose who can create a viable environmentthrough a good management ofinterpersonal relationships, where employees can feel comfortable sharingtheirideas and wheretheyare more willingtocooperatein orderto be abletoreachthe highest team performance(Goleman, 2004).

Moreover, during these past decades, teams became much more diverse and the integration of minoritiesinteams becameanimportantfactorforteameffectiveness.

Theintegration of womenin higher management positionsis a constant debate and even though governmentalregulationsand numerous genderequalitycampaigns have been putintoplaceto encourage companiestowardthis movement,the percentage of women leaders acrossthe globeis stilllow.In fact, accordingto a 2016 Forbes study,the global percentage of women in senior leadership roles account only for 24%. This survey also showedthatthe G7countries onlycount 22% of womeninseniorleadershipanda surprising 39% of companies with no womenin senior management at all.

The purpose ofthis paperisto explore thelink between emotionalintelligence andteam effectiveness and understand ifthereis a gender differenceinits value, thus,adding another argumenttothe gender equalitydebate.

Teams

and

Organ

izat

ions

Defining Teams and Their Context

Teamwork has become a fundamental part of organizations’ daily activities. Most companies nowadays, structuretheir work on ateam base (Morgeson, DeRue & Karam, 2010). A survey conducted in 2006 by Martin and Bal (cit in. Morgeson et al., 2010), came out with the result that “teams are central to organizational success” according to 91% of high-level managers.

But whatisateam? Workingteamsare defined bytwo or moreindividuals working together; who aim to execute managerial relevant assignments; share a common objective; collaborate and behave as a small community; have mutually exclusivetasks; preserve bounds; and finally are workingin an organizational situationthat putsin place these boundaries, limits the unity and shapes their relationships with the other teams in the same organization (Kozlowski & Bell, 2003).

Teamsfunctioninafragmentedsystemcomposed of numerouslevels. Thissystem works on both bottom-up and top-down interactions between the different members of theteam and other system parts (Kozlowski & Klein, 2000).

Teams performin an environment wherethe organizationitselfis a context fortheteam and where teams represent a context for the individuals composing these teams (Kozlowski & Bell, 2003). Thefirstcontext,the organizational one,isrepresented by technology, management levels, infrastructure, culture, leadership, etc. While the second context,theteam,isformed bytherelationships created between theteam members andthe degree ofinfluence ofthese relationships ontheindividuals. Thislast context is not inherited from the organization but created by the team members themselvesthroughinteractions, manageriallevel distance, andsimilarintellect and knowledge. Theseinfluencetheteam bound, relationships andtheteam processes (Kollowski & Bell, 2003).

Individuals behave,and notteams. Nevertheless, they operateinacoursethatcreates teamlevel context. They areincorporatedinteams andteams ontheir own are part of an organization. Thiscreatesacomplex hierarchicalsystem based onseverallevelsand characterizes organizational structures (Kollowski & Bell, 2003).

Understanding Team Processes

Teams gothrough differenttypes of processesin orderto achievetheirfinal goal. Marks, Mathieu and Zaccaro (2001) propose atypology ofteam processes. They dividedthese processes accordingtotwo main phases being: Transition Phase and Action Phase. During the Transition Phase the team focuses mainly on the assessment of previous action and onthe outlining ofthe future activitiesthat willleadtothe goals. This stepis fragmented intothree main processes being: Mission Analysis Formulation and Planning (1), Goals Specification(2), and Strategy Formulation (3).

Mission Analysis Formulationand Planning(1),consists oninterpretingthe mission that the team has in order to achieve it, highlighting the main assignments and understanding andidentifyingthe environmental conditionsin orderto forecast possible issues. Goals Specification (2), consists ontheidentification of goals and sub goalsthat the team has to reach in order to achieve the main mission. Finally comes the Strategy Formulation (3), whichisthe creation of a planincluding alternative solutionsto possible problemsin orderto accomplishthe goals andthe mission oftheteam (Marks, Mathieu & Zaccaro, 2001).

Thesecondteam phaseidentifiedisthe Action phase.Itis duringthis phasethatthe team will be working and accomplishing tasks in order to achieve the final objectives. This phaseencompasses four different processes. Monitoring Progress Toward Goals (1) consists on following the tasks and improvements toward the final goals and objectives. During this process, it is as well important that the team members communicatetheir progress and give feedbackto each other (Marks et al., 2001). Systems Monitoring (2), aims totrack and recordtheteam’s environment and available resources asthey both arelinkedtothe success oftheteamin reachingthe mission. This processincludes boththeinternal (resources such as equipment and personal skills) and external (taking into consideration environmental elements that may affect the progress oftheteam)factors. Team Monitoringand Backup Behaviour (3) isaboutassisting othersintheirtasks, giving feedbacks and coach wheneveritis necessary. Coordination (4) is crucial in the team working processes, as it impossible to progress or achieve the final goal withoutthe team members coordinating with each other (Marks et al., 2001). Anothertype of processesidentified bytheauthorsarethe Interpersonal Processes. Thesearefundamental processesasthey occurthroughoutthe wholeteam workand

should happen during both of the Transition and Action phases. They are key to team effectiveness as they manage the relationships between the team members. These processes include: Conflict Management (1), Motivation and Confidence Building (2), and Affect Management (3).Itis verycommon duringteamworkto haveconflicting ideasandrivalry. Theseissuesare verycriticaltotheteameffectiveness, particularly whenitis relatedtothe values and attitudes ofthe members, asit slows downthe work andactivities oftheteam members,andaffectthe motivation. Thisis whyitis very importanttosolvetheseissuesand handletheminthe best way possiblein orderto keepthe harmony oftheteam andto keepthe progress (Marks et al., 2001).

There are two types of conflict management. The first, Preemptive Conflict Management,involves settling conditionsin orderto avoid future possible conflicts and mentortheteam before anyissues happen. It suggeststhe creation of norms forthe sake oftheestablishment ofacooperativeenvironmentinstead ofacompetitive one. The second, Reactive Conflict Management, is based on the search for possible solutions to emerging conflicts ((Marks et al., 2001).

Motivation and Confidence Building (2) deals with keeping a high level of motivation as well as confidence andtrustin orderto accomplishthe mission oftheteam. Asteam members may boosteach other’sconfidencelevelsthroughappreciatingeach other’s work, it is often the case in group works that some team members don’t show appreciation for other’s work or may show that they don’t think that others may have the appropriate skillsto helptheteam achieveits final goals (Marks et al., 2001). Finally, Affect Management (3) isabout managing others’emotions(e.g.frustration, stress, happiness) andregulatingthem duringtheteam work activitiesin orderto maintainandimproveteam performance.It mayalso beintheform ofteam building and discussionsin orderto gettheteamclosertoeach other. Nevertheless,ifthese activitiesare not well donethey mayresultinthe opposite desiredeffectandcreate much bigger problems and so have a bigger negative impact on team performance than it was atthe beginning(Marks et al., 2001).

Leadersh

ip

Types

and

D

ifferences

in

Sty

les

Leaders of the past were represented by prophets and kings who were seen and perceived as symbols oftheir societies. Perceiving leaders as heroes and creating myths was veryimportant inthe past in ordertocreate bettercivilizedsocieties. This was much more important in order to justify obeisance to the leader and for better acceptance of dictatorship (Bass& Stodgill, 1990).

Thefirststudies about leadershipstarted bystudying historyandcivilizationsandthe impactthattheirleaders had onthem and howthey shapedthem. Later oninthe history, philosophystartedtaking placeinthestudy ofleadership. Thesestudies gave birthto leadership as weknowit nowadays. Moreover, military studies ofleadership shapedthe creation of management styles (Bass & Stodgill, 1990). Social science studies influenced as well the rise of theoretical concerns about leadership and started identifying differentleadershipstyles. Asthecorporate worldstartedto become more and more complex, more questions were raised. The studies of leadership got even more complex duringthelastcenturyas minoritiesstartedto be part ofthe management of the companies, aslong astheincreasein cultural diversityinteams. Astime passed by, the importance of good leadership and its impact on the employees' efficiency became obvious (Bass & Stodgill,1990).

Whilestudyingleadershipinthecorporate world,scientists ofthe past havealways focused on the leader only. Today, things have changed and the study of leadership as well. Duringthelast decades, researchers have not only been studyingleaders, but also theirenvironment. Thisincludestheirfollowersand peers,their differentculturesand the incorporation of gender diversity in the high end of corporate management. Leadership is not anymore about an individual but about the whole work context, their relationships with their followers and the whole tangled socio dynamic (Avolio, Walumbwa & Weber, 2009).

Theserelationshipsthatleaders have withtheirfollowers are mainly based onthe exercise of influence from both sides but mainly from the leader’s perspective. In fact, influenceisthe basis on whichleadershiprelies on. Tead(1935) described itasthe influencethatleaders havein orderto push otherstoaccomplishacommon desirable ultimate goal (Bass & Stogdill, 1990). Correspondingly, Tannenbaum, Weschler,and Massarik (1961) explain leadership as “interpersonal influence, exercised in a situation

and directed, through the communication process, toward the attainment of a specified goal or goals” (Bass & Stogdill, 24:1990). Although people differ onthe extent to which they can beinfluenced bythe behaviour of one person,thereis a mutual relationship between both parties, followers and leaders (Bass & Stogdill, 1990). Northouse (2013), describesit as a process by which anindividualis abletoinfluence a group orindividualin orderto achieve a common objective.

While leadership is about influencing others, it also reflects the leadership style of the leader. Two recurrent leadership styles have been identified by Bass (1997): Transformational and Transactional leadership. Regarding transactional leaders, according to Bass (1997), it is based on a punishment-reward system. If the employee behaves well, he hasa promisefrom hisleaderto berewarded witha bonus or other benefits. Most ofthetime,thisis a very harmful system and very unlikelyto be successful. Transactionalleaders play a role of managers and not ofleaders. Their main focus would be to follow the same rules, create a working path with specific rules that are not to be broken. This kind of leadership is described by the author as having these characteristics: “contingent rewards”, “management by exception” (active and passive), “laissez-faire”.This kind ofleader bases himself on reward/punishment systems, he/she would give hisemployeesthefreedomtoaccomplishtheirtasks bythemselves, take their own decisions without assistance and would try to avoid hard decisions. Nevertheless,the extentto whichthethreats work onthe employees andfollowers depends onfirst how muchtheleaderis ableto applythese punishmentthreats or promise ofrewardas usuallythese gotoaseniorlevelandsecondis how muchthe employeereally wantsthereward or how much he/sheisscared ofthe punishment (Bass, 1997).

Transformationalleadersarethose whotrytocaptivatetheinterest oftheirfollowers and engender acceptance ofthe goalsthattheteam haveto reach. They would behavein a way that will make their employees forget about their own benefits and rather focus on the benefits of the team. The characteristics of a Transformational leader according to Bass (1997) are charisma,inspiration,intellectual stimulation andindividualized consideration. This type of leader would show confidence, try to push his followers to think by themselves about possible solutions or why something didn’t work and would give personalized assistanceto each ofthemif needed. He/she hasto showtheir employees how to be positive when encountering issues, help them develop a rational

thinking and pushthemto be more committedto whatthey are doing. Last but notleast, coaching and giving full attentionto every employeeis necessary (Bass, 1997).

Team

Leadersh

ip

Zaccaro, Rittman and Marks (2001) arguethatleadership has aninfluencein the effectiveness of the teams and their achievements. They follow the approach of “functional leadership”, whichhas as key affirmation thatleader’s main objective is to be able to get the work done and fulfil any task that is not appropriately taken care of, forthe sake oftheteam’s needs (Zaccaro, Rittman & Marks, 2001). This putstheleader as a central key in solvingsocialissuesthroughthe analysis and determination of potential problems that may occur during the team processes. He/she is responsible of creating a relevant plan to solve these potential issues and is able to apply them taking into consideration any social complexity (Zaccaro et al, 2001).

While transformational and transactional leadership styles (Bass, 1985), discussed previously, aimtoexplainleadership onthe basis ofspecific behavioursand patterns that a leader may show while leading his/her followers, functional leadership is explained by any mean a leader may use in order to achieve the goal of the team. It is definedasthecreation ofsolutionsthataimtoachieveteam’s goals (Zaccaro etal., 2001). Furthermore, Hackman and Walton(1986) explainthatfunctionalleadership varies fromthe otherleadership models as the definition moves from whatthey must do to what has to be done in order to achieve team efficiency and be able to achieve the target goals.

The functional leadership approach focuses on satisfying the demands and needs of the team in orderto increaseteam effectiveness and achievetheteam’s objectives. To understand howleadership can helptheteamsatisfythese needs, Moregeson et al. (2010) researched onthe functions and activitiesthat a functional leader hastoperform to satisfytheseneeds and helptheteam properly. These leadershipfunctions align with theteam processesand phases that have been discussed previously from Marksetal. (2001).

Leader’s Role Duringthe Transition Phase

This first phase consists on framing the activities of the team and structuring them, as well as arrangingthe work and assessing theteam’s abilitiesin orderto be ableto reach the final objective. This phase does not consist onimmediate and direct assignments but on thestructure ofthefuture work, or onareflection on pastactivities, toinsurea maximum of effectiveness. Here,the mainleadership functions consist on choosingthe

right people;tryto havean appropriateteam size; describethe mission and goals ofthe team as well as the mission of the organization and the expected performance; analyse the team environment;and make sure that everyone understands what is expected from them(Morgeson et al., 2010).

Underthis phase, wecanseethatthereare multiple functions that will helptheteam leader makeit a successful phase(Morgeson et al, 2010). First, we havecomposeteam. This phaseis criticalfortheteam’s future asitisthe basis oftheteam and will determinethelevel of performancethatit can achieve. Differentelementscomeinto consideration whilechoosingateam,fromtheindividuals’ backgroundsandskills,to demographic differences,tothelevel of differencesin personalitiesthat willimpactthe interpersonal processes oftheteam (Dahlin, Wingart & Hinds, 2005).

Second, we have to define mission. Thisisabouttheleaderexplainingand informing his/her followers about the organization’s expectations of their performance, and once thatisclear,createa missionspeciallyfortheteam (Morgeson etal., 2010). This function is as well fundamentalin helpingtheteamcreateits ownidentityandisthe first step towards a flourishing and close relationship between different team members (Dionne, Yamarino & Atwater, 2004). This goesside byside withtheteamfunction discussed before mission analysisformulation and planning wheretheteam willthen analysethe missionthattheirleader explainedtothem and start planning on howto get there.

Thethird leadership functionunderthetransition phase istoestablish expectations and goals whichis aligned withtheteam function goals specification.Here we can observe a dynamic changeintheteam’s individuals’ behaviour asthey are nowthe ones responsible for making the goal achievement happen.The leader in thisfunction works together withtheteamtowardthecreationand development of team objectivesand expectations, aslong asindividual andteam favourable development andlearning (Morgeson et al., 2010).

Thefourth leadershipfunctionthat is structure and plan. Achieving goals does not come out of luck. This function consists on creating a method on how tasks should be accomplished, divided between all members of the team according to skills and knowledge, and fix deadlines. This will result on a structured planthat theteam will be ableto follow and that will create coordination betweenthem(Morgeson et al., 2010).

The leaderalso needs to train and develop team.Often during a team task, leaders and team membersexperiencesomeissuesandinabilitiestoachieveandcompletesome tasks. As soon astheteam experiences anyissue,theleader needs to encourage followerstolearn, as well astotrain andimprovetheinterpersonal processesin orderto achieve a betterteam performance and create a unifiedteam (Morgeson et al., 2010). Another important function is sensemaking.Multiple events may affect the way a team functions: change in the size or in the leadership, change in the assignments, environmental changes. Unlesstheteamis prepared and willingto adapt tothese disruptive changes,the functioning and performance oftheteam will go down. Thus,it isimportant fortheleaderto be abletoidentifytheseissues,interpretthem and explain themtotheteam(Morgeson et al., 2010).

Finally, the leader has to always be able to provide feedback. In a social environment like a team, feedback is extremely important and has a big impact on how to keep the team function,maintain and developtheteamthroughout time. Theleader needsto give constructive feedback to his/her followersin order forthemto understand whatthey are doing good or wrongin ordertochangeitand beabletosavetheteamefficiency (Morgeson et al., 2010).

Leader’s Role Duringthe Action Phase

The action phase consists on focusing and completingthetasksthat willleadtothe final goal and achieve the team’s mission (Marks et al., 2001). During this phase the leader has to assist his team in order to achieve a better performance. This can be made by a number of specific functions. Monitor the Team is one of these functions and has as a main purposeto manage and assessteams’ work evolution; handlethe resources offered totheteam (external andinternal); overseethe environment and evaluateteam member performance (Morgeson et al., 2010). Itisthe functionthat supportstheteam functions monitoring progresstoward goals,systems monitoring and coordination.

A leader hasalso toManagethe Team’s Boundaries.This functionis about monitoring therelationships betweentheteam’s context/organization and its membersthrough handlingthe communication betweentheteam and key playersinthe organization (e.g. companies’ board, leaders and other teams) and by the integration of it’s activities and tasks withthe restofthe organization’s projects (Morgeson et al., 2010).

Challengetheteam functionsuggeststhattheteamleader hasto,fromtimetotime, challengetheideas and work methodsthattheteam is usingin orderto reachtheir final goal. Thisisimportant asit will maketheteam questiontheir work and seeif whatthey are doingis right. Thisis alsoimportant asit pushestheindividualstothink about new ways to do things and to be more open to changes in their own work (Morgeson et al., 2010).

Theleadershouldalso perform teamtask. This meansthattheleader hastoengage more withtheteam’s work by helping directlyinthetasks accomplishments and interfering withteam member’s activitiesif necessary. This function representsthe part wheretheleader hasto show much more actionthen before. Itis where heisinthe field and working handin handinstead of just managingfromfarand overlookingatthe work oftheteam (Morgeson et al., 2010).

The key function Solve problems is relevantinleadership generaltheories.As has been defined before, leadership is related to not only managing but also as a crucial element in solving social problems. The leader has to identify the problem, search for relevant solutions andtryto solvetheissues as fast as possible (Morgeson et al., 2010).

Provide Resources is aboutthe provision ofresources, andit can be done through givingrelevantinformationabouttheactivitiesthattheteamis working on. Thisis linkedto informationsearch. Itis mandatoryfortheteamto havethe appropriate resourcesin orderto work ontheirtasks. This functionis keyto success asit showsthe teamthattheir workisimportant forthe organizationthusboostingfortheir motivation in accomplishing andachievingthe final objectives (Morgeson et al., 2010).

Another function is Encourage Team Self-Management. Thisfunction aims to push the teamtorely onitselfto managetheiractivitiesandto performleadershipfunctions when the leader is absent. Manz and Sims (1980) developed a theory on se lf-managementinteamsthat proposesthat by pushingtheteamtosolve problemsand performtheir usual activities bythemselves withoutthe help oftheleader, and by searchingfortheir ownresourcesinstead ofrelying ontheleaderto bring them,the teamgrows into amore flexible and stronger unit (Manz & Sims, 1980).

The finalleadership functionis Support Social Climate.Itis crucial fortheleaderto be ableto managethe socialinteractions oftheteam andto make surethatthe relationships

betweenthe different members stay goodin orderto notimpacttheteam’s performance (Morgesonetal., 2010). Itis possibleto usethisfunctionin multiple ways.Itcan be through the leader showing respect to the team members, showing support and compassion and showing that he/she cares aboutthe socialissuesthat may occur between different teammates (Schminke, Wells, Peyreitte, & Sebora, 2002). Numerous researches have shown the importance of these social interests of the leader toward the team. Leaders who showed to their teams that they are present and caringwere seen as “superior”than others who did not(Morgeson et al., 2010).

Thisfunctionisaligned withthe third group of team processes described beforefrom Marks et al (2001) which are the Interpersonal processes of teams. This is why during theresearch we willconsiderit asafunction of teamleadership relevantthroughout both phases and not only a sub function of the Action Phase. We will so consider three groups of leadershipfunctions: Transition phasefunctions, Action phase functions and Support Social Climate function.

Emot

iona

l

Inte

l

l

igence

and

Leadersh

ip

Intelligence has been definedin multiple ways and has mostly been relatedto a person’s abilitytoact with purpose,to beableto havearationalthinkingand haveasense of logic,as wellastoefficiently beabletointeract withtheenvironmentaround. This definition by Weschsler (1939) isthe most common definition ofintelligence.

This definitionas well as others do not take intoaccountemotions but onlystate that emotions are important to interact with the environment and with other individuals. In fact, emotions have been described asinterruptions and disturbances inindividualslives and should be controlled in order for them to not restrain our lives (Salovey & Mayer, 1990). This definition evolved over time to describe intelligence as a structured response,through different psychological mechanisms. Theyemergeasa response to external orinternaleventsandcan berelatedto moods, eventhoughtheylast much shorter and are more profound (Salovey & Mayer, 1990).

Nevertheless,things have changed duringthe past decades when differenttypes of intelligencestartedto be defined andemotionsstartedtakinganimportant placein defining intelligence. Another type of intelligence called Social Intelligence was developedasaconstruct, defined as “theabilityto understandand manage menand women, boys and girls,to act wiselyin human relations”(Thorndike, 1920, p.228). Itis as well defined as the capacity to discern one own personal and other’s feelings, to be ableto understand other’sintentions andto act accordinglytothem (Thorndike, 1920). Socialintelligenceisthe generaltype ofintelligencethatis relatedto emotions. Within thisconcept,theidea of an Emotional Intelligence was developed.It has been described by Salovey and Mayer (1990, p.5) as:

“The abilityto monitor one’s own and others’feelings andemotions,to discriminate amongthem andto usethisinformationto guide one’sthinking and actions.”

Moreover, Goleman (2004) related emotional intelligence to leadership. He first describedemotionalintelligenceasaset offiveskills. Thefirst being self awareness and is about knowing one self’s own abilities, strengths and weaknesses, being able to define one’s own goalsand valuesand howthey may havea repercussion on others. Thesecondis selfregulation andis based ontheabilitytocontrol one’s moodand excessive negative emotions and be able to change them into productive features. The thirdis motivation and can be described as a person’s passion for his/herjob and

willingnesstoachieve greatthingsinthefuturein ordertoimprove his/hercurrent positionto a much higher one. The fourthis empathy whichis mainly being ableto feel compassion for others andtakeinto account other’s feelings and emotions before making any crucial decision. The fifth and last skill is the social skill.It requires one’s abilityto monitorrelationships with othersandto beabletochangetheir pathsina wished direction (Goleman, 1995).

Goleman (2004) also emphasizes the fact that emotional intelligence is what differentiates a good and a badleader. Eventhoughthe maintask oftheleaderisto get theteamtoreachthefinal goal and getthe work done, emotionalintelligenceis, according to Goleman (2004), what makes it possible and is what boosts the performance oftheteam. Teams are created after all onthe basis ofindividuals, anditis in our nature to create relationships between us. The role of the leader is to be able to manage and monitorthese relationshipsinthe best way possible (Goleman, 2004).This goes side by side with what we describedinthe Support Social Climate function, where it is possible to differentiate between a good and a bad leader according to their ability to manage and monitor other’s behaviours and emotions.

Leadersareconstantlyfacingcapital decisionsand self-awareness, forexample, gives theleadertheability to know whatone’s own capacities are and what he can really do. Selfawarenessalsoallows himto beself-confidentand toshowit.Itisextremely important for followers to see self-confidence in their leaders in order to be themselves confident on what they are doing (Goleman, 2004).Moreover, when a leader is able to self-regulate and to control his/her own emotions, he/she will be ableto create a peaceful environment at work and mostimportantly generatetrust amongtheteam (Goleman, 2004). Thistakes offthe fear ofthe followersto be shouted at or be unfairly judged overtheiropinion. Whenit comesto motivation, when aleader puts a high goal for himselfto reach,he/she will dothe same fortheteam andthe organization. Usually, people withthistraitarealways optimisticaboutthefutureandthis optimism will reflect in the other individuals' work. This in turn will lead to a much higher commitment ofthe followers towardthe mission oftheteam(Goleman, 2004).

The last two emotional intelligence skills are both about direct relationships with other individuals.First, a teamleader hasto be ableto understand and perceivethe feelings of othersinthe groupandtotryto understand different viewpointsandtheirreasoning.

This will allowtheteam performancetoincreaseaseveryone willfeelcomfortable expressingthemselvesandsoidea generation will be much higherand diverse. Itcan also allowtheleaderto approach someonethat he/she perceives as beingin need (Goleman, 2004). A leader withempathy will help in retaining good peopleandso retainthe knowledge ofthe company. Thisis a veryimportant elementintoday’s complex organizational life which became much more complex and where competition isincreasing constantly. Thiscompetitionis not only based onthe products and services offered but ontheretentionandtherecruitment ofthe bestemployeesinthe market. Thus,thelowertheturnoverrate ofthecompany,the betterit will beforit’s own employees to feel secure and the more it will be able to attract the best people (Goleman, 2004).

Moreover, coaching and mentoring are very important in leadership and empathy helps in beingableto offera high quality of both.Infact, greatcoaches developa good relationship with their followers and are able to understand what really is happening in their heads. Thisinturn givesthe abilityto deliver suitable feedbacks andto be ableto know whento ask for more and whento refrain (Goleman, 2004).

Second, social skills are not only about aleader being friendly but about being friendly and usingthisfriendshipin orderto direct peopleina desired direction. Thisskillis important as it uses all the emotional intelligence components at once. A great leader will be ableto use his self-awareness, self-regulation and empathyin orderto convince and persuade others to follow his lead. When motivation is perceivable by others, and not onlyinternal,it makestheseleaders amazing partners asthis motivation will become contagious. Social skills give leaders the possibility to express their emotional intelligence andputitinto work (Goleman, 2004).

Emotionalintelligenceis a veryimportant factor when managingteams. It has been believed and argued by various authors, mainly by Salovey and Mayer(1990) and Goleman (2004),thatithas a strong impacton team effectiveness.

Thus, ourfirst goal would beto provethisrelationshipthrough ourfirst hypothesis being:

H1: Emotional Intelligenceleads to better Team Effectiveness H1

Moreover,through ourliteraturereview, differentargumentslead usto believe thata leadershowing higher EmotionalIntelligence hasa higher abilitytoinfluence his/her followers. Thus, wethinkthat EmotionalIntelligence doesn’t only haveanimpact on the effectiveness of the team (H1) but that the more the leader has emotional intelligencethemore he/she will be abletolead.

Thisleads usto our second hypothesis:

H2: Emotional Intelligence positivelyimpacts onleadership •  H2-a: EI positivelyimpacts on Leadership Transition Phase

•  H2-b: EI positivelyimpacts on Leadership Action Phase

•  H2-c: EI positivelyimpacts on Leadership Support Social Climate phase

H2

This study aims to explorethelink betweenthesethreeimportant components of leadership: emotionalintelligence,leadership andteam effectiveness. Throughthis mediation, we aimto understandthe relationship betweenthesethree components. More specifically, if Emotional Intelligence impacts Team Effectiveness through Leadership. This means that we would like to see if the Emotional Intelligence has an influence on leadership, andifthis relationshipis relatedto betterTeam Effectiveness.

EmotionalIntelligence Team Effectiveness

Therefore, we will combine the previous hypotheses in order to link them together and testour thirdhypothesis:

H3: Emotional Intelligenceleads to better Team Effectiveness,through Leadership H4

EmotionalIntelligence Team Effectiveness

The

Impact

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Sex

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Linguists and biologists agree on the fact that the way women and men are communicating is different. These differences are aresult of culture, customs and biological differences (Kelley, 1997). Ithas been proved that male and female brains are differentinthe way ofthinking and inthe waythe right andleft hemispheres arelinked. This link impacts howthey perceiveexternaleventsandthe waytoreacttoit and expressthemselves (Campbell,2002).

Manystudies have beenconducted onthe gender differencesinleadership stylesand that demonstratedthan menand women show different waystoexerciseleadership, eventhoughthe differences noticed were very small. In fact, women have been foundto rank higherin supporting roles (Gregory, 1990). In a study of Eagy and Johnson (1990), it has been shown that women engage more participation and inclusion styles of leadership, while menshowed morestructureandcontrollingstyles. Moreover, Bass and Avolio (1994), demonstrated through a study that women show more transformational characteristics then men. They tend to be more influential and inspirationalthantheir male colleagues. The same study shows thatmen score higherin management-by-exception leadershipstyle then women. Thisstudy was notalonein thesefindings.Infact, Rossand Offerman(1997) relates transformationalleadership characteristicsthat have beenidentified by Bass(1990), to morefeminineattributes ratherthen masculine ones, andtendto be more risk averse andless aggressivethan the transactionalleadership attributes.

Nevertheless, eventhough all ofthese studies showthat womentendto be more transformationalleadersthan men andthatthey may show more supporttotheir followers,theemotionalintelligencelink betweentheseattributes have yet not been justified. In fact, very few studies have been donetowards this subject. Goleman (2004) explains that women tend to perceive more the emotions of the others than men and so rank a bit higher in empathy and social skills, yet men show more self-awareness and self-regulation.

These differences between maleandfemaleinexpressingtheiremotions,lead usto develop a fourth and final, exploratory, hypothesis. This hypothesis intends to explore whether men and women have significantly different values of emotional intelligence, orifthelevel of emotionalintelligenceisindependent oftheindividual’s sex.

H4: Emotional Intelligence values are differently distributedbetween men and women.

H4

Methodo

logy

Procedure

Thisthesis was writteninthecontext ofthe Team Effectiveness Seminar, where we were 5 students working on various subjects relatedto core subject Team Effectiveness. In order for us to work effectively,as our seminar states, we decided to work in group instead ofindividuallyin orderto collect our data and soincrease our sample size.Also, andconsideringtimeconstraintsthatcould prevent usfrom gatheringa meaningful sample of working teams, we decided not only to collect data in real companies (Real Life Teams - RLT) butalsotocollect datainalaboratorystudy, withaconvenience sample recruited from our contacts (Laboratory Study Teams - LST).

For the RLT, we chose to usecontacts who were working in different companies, in a teamenvironment. Theseteamsare variedinsize between 3 and 13individuals. We sentthem our questionnaire by email or personally, based on validated scales,to fillitin individually.

Whileforthe LST, we createdteams based on 5to 6individuals, where 79% of participants knew theirteammates from beforethe experiment. Theseteams hadto first accomplish atask, represented by a game called Tangram. The goal ofthis game wasto form the maximum number of shapes, in 20 minutes. Firstthe outline of the game was solelyexplained totheleaders, giving themasense ofresponsibility. Thentheleader hadto go and explainin the shortesttime possible, howthe game works and dividethe tasks among the team members. These teams also filled the same individual questionnairesas RLTs. Inthe appendix, we presentthe gameinstructions,asthey were giventothe participants.

Both the RLT and LST had in common an appointed leader, as it is the case in many organizationalteams.

We had 243individual participants, with 97 professionals from different sectors (health, oil gas, education, defence sector, foodindustry, and airlines) and 146individualsinthe LST teams. These participantscreatedasample of 49teams. The sample´s meanage was 32 years old, witha minimum of 18anda maximum of 68 years old, witha standard deviation of (σ= 13,14). Concerningthe sex ofthe participants, we had atotal of 108 males and 135 females.

Measures

Forthisthesis sake, the scalesthat will be usedare: 1.  Emotional Intelligence scale

2.  Team Leadership Scale

3.  Team Effectiveness Perception Scale

The first scaleis Emotional Intelligence and isadapted from Rego & Fernandes (2005a, 2005b), Rego, Godinho etal.(2010)and Rego Sousaetal.(2007) work. Thisscale contains 23 itemsindividuals answerin a7 points scale, with 1 being “Does not apply at all” and 7 being “Totally Applies”. The participants hadto answer whether or notthese statements applied to them(e.g “I rarely think about what I am feeling”, “I understand the causes of my emotions”, “I can understand the emotions and feelings of my friends bylooking attheir behaviour”).The Chronbachs alpha ofthis scale was α = 0.81. The second scaleis Team Leadership Functions scale.It is based on the work of Morgeson et al. (2010) andis divided onthe basis ofthe threeleadershipfunctions that were discussed previously, being Transition, Action and Support Social Climate functions. Itis answered ona 7 pointsscale with 1 being“Strongly Disagree”and 7 being “Strongly Agree”. The Transition phase functions includes 8 items (e.g The leader of my team… “Communicates what is expected of the team”, “Ensures that the teams has clear performance goals”, “Monitors team and team member performance”) and has a reliable Chronbachs alpha (α = 0.94). The Action phase functions has 9 items (e.g Theleader of myteam… “Challengesthestatue quo”,“Participatesin problem solving with the team”, “Requests task-relevant information from team members”) and has a reliable chronbachs alpha of α = 0.93. Finally,the Support Social Climate function subscale was composed of 3 items (e.g “Engages in actions that demonstrate respect and concern forteam members”, “Looks out forthe personal well being ofteam members”, “Does things to make it pleasant to be a team member”) and has a reliable Chronbachs alpha (α = 0.90).

Thethird scale isthe Effectiveness Perception scalethat aimsto know aboutthe individuals´ perception on howeffective wastheirleader. Thisscale will be usedto determine the team effectiveness perception of the leaders. It is a 7 points scale with 1 being “Strongly Disagree” and 7 being “Strongly Agree”.Moreover,it has 4 items(e.g

“Myteamis effective”, “Myteam has a good performance, “ Myteam has high quality performance”) and hasareliablechronbachsalpha (α = 0.96). All ofthescalesare presentedin Appendix 2.

After the collection of all the answers we created a final dataset including all the team member’s answers, with 243 answers.

As the main subject of this thesis is the impact of the use of emotional intelligence on leadershipandteameffectiveness,andemotionalintelligence measureisaself-report one,we tested our hypothesis considering the leaders’ responses only. This sub-dataset includes all49 leaderswho participatedinthis experiment.Thetotal number ofleaders was 49 and included 31 female leaders and 18 male,and had an age mean of 35 years old with a standard deviation of σ= 13,4.

Table 1 summarizes the reliability analysis results for the scales used in our questionnaire.

Scales Number of Items Chronbachs Alpha Team Leadership -Transition 8 0.94 Teamleadership - Action 9 0.93 Team Leadership - Support 3 0.90 Emotional Intelligence 23 0.81 Perceived Effectiveness 4 0.96

Table 1 Reliability Analysis of The Scales

Thetable contains the mostimportantfactorto determineifascaleisreliable or not, whichis Chronbachs Alpha. Thereliabilitylevelstartsat 0.7andas wecansee from above,all ofthescalesthat will be usedarereliable(thelowest valueis 0.807 tothe highest with 0.903). Thus, we can continue usingthemin ordertotest our hypothesis.

Resu

lts

Inthe next section, we will be describing step by stepthe way analyses have been made and which analysis options were chosen in ordertotest our hypothesis.

Our first step will beto run a Bivariate Correlation analysis in SPSSin orderto seehow our variables are related to each other, tosee if they covary. In Table 2 we present the descriptive statistics and the correlations between allthe study variables.

Table 2 Correlation Analysis Between Our Variables

Thistable showsthatthereis a positive correlation between Emotional Intelligence and Perceived Team Effectiveness, withr(46) = 0.334*and p= 0.023. Therefore, wecan saythatthere isa positiverelationship between EmotionalIntelligenceand Perceived Team Effectiveness

We can also see that there is a positive correlation between Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Support Social climate function, with r (44) =.364*, p= 0.015. This means that the probability to have a coefficient as big in this small sample if the null hypothesis wastrue (no relationship betweenthetwoitems)islow (closeto zero). Thus, we can be confidentsayingthatthere is a positiverelationship between Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Support Social Climate function.

Whatis moreinterestingisthattheseresultsshow as well that leaders’ Emotional Intelligence only correlates significantly with one function ofleadership: Support Social Climate. It doesn’t correlatesignificantly withthetwo otherleadership functions which are Action(withinsignificantcoefficient of r(42) = 0,216, p = 0.169) and Transition (with aninsignificant coefficient r (42) =0.242, p =0.123). Therefore, our H2a and H2b were not supported. Accordingly, the rest of our analyses were conducted only considering Leadership Support Social Climate function.

Mean _DevStandard_{iation In}Emo_telt_liona_{igenceLeadersh}l ip Leadersh_TransitionipLeadersh_Actionip_SupporLeadersh_tipPerce_Effectived_ivene Emotional Intelligence 5.59 0.493 1

Leadership 5.33 1.205 0.241 1

Leadership Transition Phase 5.32 1.256 0.242 0.978** 1

Leadership Action Phase 5.91 1.363 0.216 0.975** 0.919** 1

Leadership Support Phase 5.65 1.279 0.364* 0.902** 0.868** 0.828** 1

While correlation analyses help us measure relationships between two items, they still don't tell usif one variable predictsthe other one.Infact,regressions help usfita modeltothe dataset available and sotryto predict a dependent variablethrough one or multiple variables. In our case, we aretryingto understandif Emotionalintelligence (as a "predictor variable") predicts Leadership Support (beingthe "outcome variable"). Totest our first hypothesis, a simplelinear regression was run. The results are displayed in Table 3bellow. Data Set Independent Variable Dependent Variable R2 _{SE p F-Ratio β}

Leaders Emotional Intelligence

Perceived Effectiveness

0.111 1.212 0.023 5.508 0.334

Table 3 Regression analysis for Emotional Intelligence and Team Effectiveness

This regression was calculated to see whether we could predict Perceived Team Effectiveness based on EmotionalIntelligence oftheleader. This regression has been foundto be significant (F (1, 44) = 5.508, p = 0.023,β = 0.334). This regression shows as well an R2_{of 0.111 meaningthat Emotional Intelligence predicts 11.1% of perceived}

team Effectiveness. This means that we can be confident saying that our H1 is supported: Emotional Intelligence predicts Perceived Team Effectiveness.

We next ran anothersimple regression in ordertotest our H2-c. Table 5 showsthe results ofthis regression.

Independent Variable Dependent Variable R2 SE p F-Ratio β Emotional Intelligence Leadership Support 0.132 0.112 0.015 6.399 0.364

Table 4 Regression Analysis of Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Support Social Climate function.

This table summarizes the results of the regression analyses testing H2-c. This regression is significant with (F (1,42) = 6.399, p = 0.015,β= 0.37). It also shows that it’s R2= 0.132 meaningthatinthis set, EmotionalIntelligence predicts 13.2% of Leadership Support. This meansthat our H2-cis supported.

Afterfindinga positiverelationship between EmotionalIntelligenceand Leadership Support Social Climatefunction, we wouldliketotrytofindifitisthroughthis relationshipthat Emotional Intelligence affectTeam Effectiveness (H3).

This hypothesis concernsthe mediationrole of Leadership Support Social Climate function between one predictor (Emotional Intelligence) and Team Effectiveness.Hays and Preacher (2008) created an SPSS macro that aims to assess the significance of one variable’sindirecteffect onanother variablethroughtheimpact ofa mediator. This macro was created in order to be used for statistical mediation, moderation and conditional process analysis.

This macroisabletoestimate theindirecteffectandthesignificance of models with multipleindependent variables, we will onlytakeintoaccount only oneindependent variable: Emotional Intelligence. This indirect method created by these authors has the abilitytotestindirect effectsin asample assumedto have no normal distribution, throughthe use of bootstrapping whichisa non-parametricresample method which repeats multiple times the creation of k samples from the original dataset (in this case the: Leaders, Women Leaderand Men Leaders datasets) andcalculatestheindirect effectin our modelin each one ofthese samples. This testwill generate an output with confidenceintervalsfortheindirect effects. As the authorsrecommendthe use of bootstrap, and as our sample was rather small (N = 49) our analysis will be based onit. Our model, as describedinthe previous scheme,is determined by:

X: Emotional Intelligence Y: Perceived Effectiveness

M: Leadership Support Social Climate function

Dependent

Variable IndependenVariable t

Bootstrapping (10000 samples) Indirect effect

with

bootstrapping (ab-path)

Percentile 95% Bias Corectedand

Accelerated CI’s Lower Upper Perceived

Effectiveness InEmoteltlionaigence l 0.4801 0.435 1.3553

Table 5 Results oftheindirect effect of Emotional Intelligence onthe dependent variable Perceived Team Effectivenessthrough Leadership Support

These results on Table 5 represent the indirect effect for our model with a confidence interval of 95% aiming to testthe significance of the indirect effect.The indirect effect of EmotionalIntelligence on Teameffectivenessthrough Leadership Support Social Climate function has been foundto be significant with 0 falling outside theinterval. The intervalfound was {0.435, 1. 3553}. Thissignificantinterval supports our hypothesis H3: EmotionalIntelligenceleadsto better Team Effectivenessthrough Leadership, more specifically,throughthe function of Supportingthe Social Climate.

Finally, we wantedto understandif there are differencesin EmotionalIntelligence levels across gender (H4), with values for Female Leaders of(Mean= 5.7, SD= 0.534) and for Male Leaders of (Mean = 5.4, SD= 0.355).

In ordertotest ourfourth hypothesis(H4), considering oursmallsamplesizeandthe differences in the two samples (man leaders’ n = 18, female leaders’ n = 31), we ran a non-parametrictest: the Mann Whitneytest. Thistestis used toseeif our variable’s leveldistributionisthe same across both categories.

Table 6 Mann Whitney Test for Emotional Intelligence and Gender ( P < 0.05 )

The results of ourtest can be seeninthe Table 6. These showthat our null hypothesisin thistest, whichis EmotionalIntelligence level distribution isthesame across both

Null Hypothesis Test Sig. Decision The Mediation of Emotional

Intelligence are the same across categories of Leaders

Independent

Samples _0.108 Re_nuta_llin the hypothesis Median Test

The Distribution of Emotional Intelligence is the same across categories of Leaders

Independent Samples 0.033 Renujecllt the hypothesis Mann Whitney U Test

categories of Leaders, is rejected. Therefore, H3 is supported: EI is differently distributed across male and femaleleaders.

We can also observe these results through the histogram in the next page, showing the differences of distribution ofthe EI means across male and femaleleaders.

Figure 1 Histogram of Emotional Intelligence across Sex

We can seeinthe previous histogramthat for femaleleaders,the ratestendtothe right; which representthe highest values. Whileinthe male chart wecan seethatthe results are more concentratedinthe middle.

To see whetherthis difference was also significant fortheleadership and perceptions of effectiveness, we ran further Mann Whitneytests. However,the results were non significant: women and menleaders do not differ significantlyintheirleadership functions’ or perceptions ofteam effectiveness’ values (Appendix 3).

D

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Future

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Throughthe analyses done andtheresultsfound, wefirst concludedthat H1 was supported. We foundthatthereis a positive relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Perceived Team Effectiveness. This means thathaving a leader with higher values ofemotionalintelligence mayleadto higherteam effectiveness. So whileleadinga team, the leader needs to show support, to coach and to motivate, and show that he is there for his followers.He/she also needsto be self aware,to be ableto self-regulate,to feel empathy, motivate and to have social skills. This may give the individuals a more secure feeling. In fact,it will makethem feelthatthereis someone readyto helpin case of emergencies and that there is always someone to count on. It is very important that peoplefeelthis way,asaconstantfeeling offearisextremely negativetowardthe performance oftheindividualsandso oftheteam. This goesside byside withthe feeling of beinglostinthe stepsthattheleader arrangedin advance, without controlling howthingsare going. Ifteam members don’tfeelthattheir workisappreciated or recognized, orthattheinformationthey are providingis misused,they may stop sharing information(Bandow, 2001). All oftheseemotionscan berelated to trust. Trustin teams can be defined as a mutual perception between the individuals of the team, that the other members will behaveinaspecific wayin ordertosecureand defendthe benefits and interests of alltheteammates (Webber, 2002).

Indeed, trust affects multiple group works aspects as: participation, exchange of information, quality ofthe work and output, and mostimportantlythe retention ofteam members and so ofthe employees (Bandow, 2001).For example,if atrust environment is not set within ateam,itis verylikelythatteam members startto miss-interpret other's behaviours and will start feelingthatthingslike missing a deadline, or being absentin a meetingis done on purposeand hasa hiddenintention(Salas, Sims & Burke, 2005). Thus werecommendthatcompaniesshouldstartemphasizing ontheimportance of team building,in orderto bring employeestogether and create a peaceful environment. Moreover, our findings suggest that Emotionalintelligence has a major rolein only one oftheleadership functions: supportthesocialclimate (H2-c). Thisisinline with our literature as both Interpersonalprocesses (Marks et al., 2001) and Support social climate function (Morgeson et al., 2009) arethe moments when the emotionalintelligence dimensions described by Goleman (2004) might be more relevant forleaders andteams. In fact, during those processes, that occur both in the transition and action phases, the

leader’s main role is to manage the social interactions and relationships that have been created betweenthe members oftheteam. As ourliteraturesuggest,theinterpersonal processes that the team and leader are involved in, are relevant during all the time the team will be workingtogether. So eventhoughthe results don’t show a directimpact of emotionalintelligence onthetransition and action functions oftheleader,it may influenceboth transition and action processes bythe support ofthe social climate. Furthermore, wetriedtolinkthe first hypothesestogether whichled usto H3. Through this hypothesis and its analytical results, we found that emotional intelligence impacts team effectivenessthroughtheleadershipfunction of supportingthe social climate. This does make sense asleaders use emotionalintelligence skillsin orderto promote a good social climate within the team, that allows them to work better toward their final goal andtryto achieve higher performances. We could see thatthereis a correlation between emotionalintelligence and perceived teameffectiveness, butthis doesn’ttell usthrough whatthisimpactis done. This third hypothesis makesthelink betweenthethree variables, enhancingthefactthatleaders’ emotionalintelligence isrelevantforthe function ofsupportingthesocialclimate. The moretheleaderis supportive for his followers,the higherthe performance oftheteam will be.

Finally, what is also interesting forour topic is the findings of H4. Indeed, H1, H2and H3 give us results that should be applied for all leaders, regardless of them being male orfemale. H4 showsthat menand women don’t haveequivalent values of emotional intelligence, and that women leaders showed higher emotional intelligence values than men leaders. These results don’t mean that men don’t have emotional intelligence but that they have it in different degrees.We believe that women interpret better their own and others’ emotions. They are more willing to coach and to try to deal with personal relationships andinterpersonal matters.

This studyleads ustothink,that the emotionalintelligence ofleadersin generalis most relevant for the functions that are related to the management of interpersonal relationships. Moreover,that womenleaders scorehigher then menleaders in emotional intelligence. Nevertheless,itis possiblethatsome men may have higher emotional intelligence than women (Figure 1). Thus companies should consider their leaders not exclusively based on their sex but on their level of Emotional Intelligence. This means thatEmotional Intelligence should be seen as a main skill for goodleadership.

For example,in the selection process,group dynamics and grouptasks can be createdin orderto see howindividualsinteract with others and howthey behavein specific scenarios.

The good newsisthat EmotionalIntelligencecan betoughand practicedin orderto improveit. Thesetrainings consist on helpingthe employees get rid oftheir old practices and start developing new ones. This process takes a lot of time as it is not a grouptraining butanindividual one. Yet,iftakenseriously bythe participant,it may lead to amazing results in the log run and to the change of bad habits. This process is verycomplexand very personal. Onlyattendingalecture orlisteningtoacoachfor couple of hours, won't help changing thesethings. It is all about the willingness of the individualtochange (Goleman 2004). Companies maytryto boosttheemployeesto recognize the need through events and conferences where they can invite inspirational leaderstotalkaboutthemselves, orinviteleaders whorecognizedthis willingness to change and decidedto shareit with othersin orderto motivate othersto followthelead. These results will hopefully be taken more into account in organizations while appointing high managers andtopleaders. We hopethatinthe future, theimportance of Emotional Intelligencein Leadership will betaken moreinto account, andthatthe high levels of Emotional Intelligence of women will be more recognized and sothatthey will be more empoweredthenthey are now.

L

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Eventhoughthisstudy contributedtothestudy of the leaders’ emotionalintelligence anditsimportance forteam effectiveness, for both men and women,it has some limitationsthat haveto be mentioned. Thefirstlimitationisthesamplesize ofthis study.Infact,theinitial number of participants was 249individuals who werethen assembledin 49teams, giving 49leaders. Thisstudy basesitself not ontheteamand individual results, but only the leaders’ results. This is good for a study as this one in ordertoanalyseleaders’ perspectives butfuturestudiesshouldalsotakeintoaccount the wholeteamin ordertotake both perspectives.

Furthermore, as this study wanted to examine the impact of sex in emotional intelligence, we hadconsideredanalysing the 49leaders separately: maleandfemale leaders. The problem here is that the female number of leaders was much higher then the male number ofleaders, with 18 maleleaders comparedto 31 femaleleaders.Also, this number of participants is below the recommended for running regression analysis (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2013). Thus,itisimportanttostatethatifthe number of male leaders was a higher or equivalent, the results could have been different. Furthermore, as the leaders’ sample is small, it is not really possible to make generalizations of the results for the whole population. Thus, we would recommend future researchers with a higher number of teamleaders,to go deeper and search for more results.

Moreover, the surveys that have been designed were based on self-evaluation, meaning thatindividuals hadto auto-reportthemselves. This type ofsurvey can give biased resultsinterms oftheevaluation oftheeffectiveness oftheteam.Infact,evenifthe perception of effectiveness of the leader is very important, it is also important that the teamfeelsthesameassometimesthis perceptioncan becompletely different. While some leaders feel that their teams are very effective or the opposite that their teams are not performing well, other members oftheteamcanfeelthatactuallytheteamis not doing so great or that the leader has a pessimistic perception of their work. So, future studies should usethe perceptions oftheteam members as a dependent variable, as well as objective measures of performance.

Future studies could also address the possibility that different dimensions of emotional intelligence arerelatedto differentleadershipfunctions.Infact, wethinkthat sel f-awareness, self-regulation and motivation could be veryimportantinthefirsttwo

leadership functions, which are the Transition and Action functions, described by Morgeson et al. (2010). Nevertheless, these skills might be more important during the Action phase rather then the Transition phase, as the later one is based on the leader’s abilityto frame and monitortheteam’s structure and future activities whilethe formeris about direct actions of the leader while guiding the team to the final goal. During this action phase,theteam will be working onachieving objectivesandtasksandso will needthefull attention oftheleader. Thus,theleader should show: self-awareness through showing confidence about the direction of the team; self-regulation by monitoring his/her own emotions and those of the followers; and finally provide motivation fortheteamto dotheir bestin ordertoachievethe highest performance possible. Moreover,thetwo remaining Emotional Intelligence skills, which are empathy and socialskills areinline with whatis expectedfromtheleader consideringthe Support Social Climatefunction, wheretheleaderisexpectedtoshowemotionaland personnel support.

Finally, future researches should focus more on real world teams that have been workingtogether for alongertime, which will bring more relevant and stronger results. In fact, this study included 49 teams with real world teams from companies and others that have beencreatedforthe purpose ofthisstudy(“laboratorystudy teams”)asthe time was restrictedtoincreasethe number oflong-termteams.

Append

ix

Appendix 1 Tangram Task

TANGRAM

Tangramis a puzzle-like gamethat consistsin 7 shapes, called tans,that can be organizedintofigures. The goal ofthe puzzleistoconstructfigures usingallthe 7 shapes, without overlapping them.

You have a representation ofthe shapesinthe next page.

Your task is to build the maximum of figures possible, from the list provided in page 3,in 20 minutes.

Intheend ofthose 20 minutes, you haveto decide,fromthefiguresthat you have actually build, which one will bethelogo for yourteam and why.

In the end of the study, the team who builds the highest number of figures in less time will winthe 30€ voucher.

Rules:

-   Do not usetheinternet – you will be disclassifyed

-   Oneteam member canleavethe room once duringthe 20 minutes, providedthat he/she does nottake anything with him/her

-   You can use any materials you wantto

-   Pleaseinformtheresearcher when youfinishsothat he/shecancheckifthe figureis ok