THE FRONT- LINE LEADER S INTERPRETATION OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE SKILLS Tanya O Neill, Psy.D. April 2016
INTRODUCTION Emo<onal Intelligence and the role it plays in Leadership The Front- Line Leader s Impact on a Business s BoHom Line Why focus on the Front- Line Leader
Objec:ves Iden<fy the six cri<cal themes that were unpacked rela<ng emo<onal intelligence front- line leadership and workgroup performance through the study of The Front- Line Leader s Interpreta<on Of Emo<onal Intelligence Skills Describe how skills- based EI approach facilitated workgroup and leadership effec<veness in the study of The Front- Line Leader s Interpreta<on Of Emo<onal Intelligence Skills
THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY To understand how front- line leaders make meaning or sense of their own EI skills and how they perceive the efficacy of their use of EI skills within their own workgroups in <me- sensi<ve and produc<on driven work environments.
IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY WHO: Mail Order Pharmacy Front- Line Leaders Mail- Order Pharma is BIG BUSINESS! The Front- Line Associates (Employees), The importance of what they do The impact of the Front- Line Leader s EI on workgroup effec<veness
Why? As early as 1993 a series of in- depth interviews conducted by researchers to learn more about the requirements of successful teams concluded with evidence that showed front- line leaders are essen:al for establishing strong teams (Berrey et al., 1993). A decade later the Center for Crea<ve Leadership (CLC) documented in their Leadership Skills and Emo:onal Intelligence Execu:ve Summary that career derailment is related to the absence of EI. Effec<ve leadership can guide and transform any organiza<on and the leader s understanding of emo:onal intelligence (EI) is an important part of effec:ve intelligence (Eason, 2009, p. 189)
Why? Effec:ve Leadership describes the essence of emo<onally intelligent leadership (Nelson & Low, 2011) EI was listed as one of the four cri<cal adap<ve leadership skills that set great leaders apart from irrelevant or damaging leadership, based on an intensive study conducted on the difference of leadership that gets results and leadership that is irrelevant or damaging (Bradberry & Greaves, 2012) First- level leaders ability to mo:vate is more important when compared to middle- level management s ability to mo<vate, based on a research study of 150 employees at Kohat University of Science and Technology (Khan & Ahmad, 2012)
RESEARCH QUESTIONS How do mail order pharmacy front- line managers interpret their own emo<onal intelligence skills as used in their <me sensi<ve and produc<on driven workplaces? RQ1: How do mail order pharmacy front- line leaders understand their own emo<onal intelligence skills? RQ2: How do mail order pharmacy front- line leaders understand and perceive the efficacy of their use of emo<onal intelligence skills within their own workgroups?
THE GAP Limited research that focuses on the first level of leadership and the role that EI plays within that most basic level of leadership in an organiza<on. An opportunity to build a new research alliance between researchers and administrators (Hopkins & Swii, 2008) as well as address a gap in the current research of EI and leaderships.
LEADING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Leaders have the greatest influence on their human capital s decisions to stay or leave, career mapping, behaving ethically, desire and ability to excel in performance, customer rela<ons, job fulfillment, and incen<ve to share the establishment s vision and principles (Kouzes & Posner, 2007).
LEADING WITH EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE EI is drawing in merited and con<nuing research ahen<on as an individual difference variable in organiza:onal behavior associated to the way members observe, comprehend, and manage their emo<ons (Ashkanasy and Daus 2005).
METHODOLOGY (IPA) Interpreta<ve Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) The IPA researcher engages in a dual role because the researcher ahempts to make sense of the par<cipant ahemp<ng to make sense of what is happening to them (Smith & Flowers, 2009, p. 80). Chosen because it is interpreta<ve and focuses on the front- line leaders understanding of their own EI skills, their perceived efficacy of their skills, and managing workgroups using EI skills (Smith, et al, 2009).
OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH DESIGN A specific phenomenon in its natural semng, gain insights and describe findings in a real- world semng (Gall et al., 2006) A Qualita<ve Study Interpreta<ve Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith & Flowers, 2009) CommiHed to the examina<on of how people make sense of their experiences Exploring experiences from the study par<cipant s own terms Phenomenological The research par<cipant s ahempt to make sense of what is happening or has happened - Interpreta<ve
METHODOLOGY (IPA) Commi^ed to the examina:on of how people make sense of their experiences Interpreta<ve the study par<cipant s ahempt to make sense of what is happening or what has happened Phenomenology concerns with exploring experiences from the study par<cipant s own terms
METHODOLOGY (IPA) Study Par:cipants Ten Front Line Leaders With at least 1 year of experience in their current front- line leader role Who had not par<cipated in any EI training within the past year Who had at least 5 front- end workers who reported directly to them. In qualita<ve research, only a subset of the popula<on is selected for any given study. The subset of that popula<on is the sample (Mack et al., 2005).
METHODOLOGY (IPA) Sample Sizes Creswell (2002) has suggested that 3-5 par:cipants be used for case study inves<ga<on. Phenomenological studies, sample size recommenda<ons range from 6 (Morse, 1994) to 10 (Creswell, 1998). Grounded theory research, sample size guiding principles have ranged from 15-20 par:cipants (Creswell, 2002) to 20-30 par:cipants (Creswell, 1998). Ethnographic research, Morse (1994) has suggested that 30-50 interviews be conducted. Smith, et al (2009) determined that IPA studies usually have small par:cipant size and since the focus is to disclose something of each par<cipant s individual experience, IPA studies are conducted on rela:vely small sample sizes.
METHODOLOGY (IPA) Sample Size Smith, Flowers and Larkin (2009) recommend the number of par<cipants for doctoral studies to be approximately 4 to 10. a small, homogeneous group of mail order front- line leaders who volunteer for the study, meet the researcher s previously men<oned characteris<cs, and complete the en<re study.
DATA COLLECTION Semi- structured interview schedule used flexibly and the par<cipant had an important stake in what was covered (Smith et al., 2009). Open, expansive with minimal verbal input from the researcher in order to encourage the par<cipant to talk at length descrip<vely and comfortably (Smith, et al., 2009).
PROCEDURES (IPA) Approximately one hour in length 10 par<cipants Interviewed via telephone Recurring paherns, themes, and descrip<ons gleaned from the actual words and experiences of the research par<cipants
PROCEDURES (IPA) Reading and re- reading the transcripts to ensure the analysis focused on the par<cipant, and listening to the audio- recorded interview at least once during the first reading of the transcript. Ini:al nota:ons made while maintaining an open mind and making nota<ons of anything of interest within the transcript to ensure enhancing familiarity with iden:fica:on of specific ways the study par:cipants thoughts, percep:ons, explana:ons and understanding about EI. Emergent themes from chunks of transcript Connec:ons across emergent themes and char:ng and mapping of how the themes fit together Bracke:ng the ideas from the previous par<cipant s transcript as much as possible Pa^erns
IPA Interpreta<ve phenomenological analysis = a systema<c search for themes. The establishment of superordinate themes by following the interpreta<ve phenomenological analy<cal steps The capture of the rich account- lived experience of the mail order pharmacy front- line leaders.
Results: Pilot Study A pilot study was done with one front- line manager outside of MOP department To iden<fy ambigui<es and assess for ques<ons requiring further follow- up ques<ons To test the interview instrument To confirm that the instrument captured essen<al informa<on required to complete the research
Results Data Collec:on 70 front line leaders were purposively invited to par<cipate 10 declined because they did not meet the criteria of length of <me in their current leadership role. 6 declined, expressing discomfort with par<cipa<ng No response was received from 50 of the originally invited front line leaders Only 4 front line leaders posi<vely responded to the invita<on to par<cipate ini<ally The pilot par<cipant was added to the sample Another 2 front line leaders were recruited several months later to support the analysis Aier the recruiter moved to another organiza<on, addi<onal front line leaders were willing to volunteer, making a total of 10 front line leaders who par<cipated in this study, including the pilot study par<cipant
Data Collec:on - Interviews 60 minute interviews conducted via telephone outside of work hours Brief pre- interview of approximately 30 minutes to give the par<cipants ask ques<ons, clarify and confirm their agreement and understanding of the research procedures before scheduling the interview Interviews were audio- recorded Semi- structured open- ended ques<ons directly related to the research ques<ons allowed for follow- up probing ques<ons and allow for the study par<cipants to share their stories
Data Collec:on - Interviews The researcher kept a reflec:ve journal during the research process to capture any biases, preconcep<ons, ideas, and comparison of the interpreta<on of par<cipant s meaning behind their spoken words. Transcripts were returned to each par<cipant to check for accuracy of the interview content and that their experiences were reflected accurately (LeHs et al., 2007). In addi<on to logically connec<ng the study s purpose to the analyses and interpreta<ons with the par<cipant, a professional colleague of the researcher s agreed to review the research process and check the interpreta:on of the data.
Data Analysis The following steps were followed as offered by Smith et al., (2009) Researcher immersion in the data by reading and re- reading the transcript to ensure the analysis focuses on the par<cipant, and listening to the audio- recorded interview at least once during the first reading of the transcript. Making the most of the ini:al nota:ons while maintaining an open mind and making nota<ons of anything of interest within the transcript to ensure enhancing familiarity with the transcript and the iden<fica<on of specific ways the study par<cipants think about, understand and talk about EI. Developing emergent themes from chunks of transcript and maintaining complexity while simultaneously reducing the volume of detail of the extracted data.
Data Analysis Searching for the connec:ons across emergent themes and developing char<ng or mapping of how the researcher thinks the themes fit together. Moving to the next par<cipant s transcript, but bracke:ng the ideas from the previous par:cipant s transcript as much as possible. Looking for pa^erns across the cases and ques:oning those connec:ons. This step led to reconfigura<ons and relabeling of themes.
Data Analysis Qualita<ve Data Analysis (QDA) soiware was used to help the researcher organize, code, analyze paherns from the collected data. A combina<on of the following soiware tools: The Network Editor The Text Search Tool The Auto Coder The Object Crawler The Word Cruncher The Query Tool Systema<c search for themes. Establish the connec<ons between the emerging themes. Any data correc<ons or changes made were based on the feedback from the study par:cipants review of the transcript.
Major Themes The interpreta<ve phenomenological analysis of the interview transcripts generated eight themes: Theme 1: Emo<onal intelligence is the conscious knowledge of one s own and others emo:ons that is necessary in socializa:on as well as in professional development. Theme 2: Emo<onal intelligence is the ability of a person to understand meanings of unspoken words. Theme 3: Achievement of EI is a con:nuous learning process learned from strategic applica<on experiences. Theme 4: EI is the key to people management. Theme 5: EI is an essen:al element of effec:ve management in rela:onship- building, establishing teamwork, and influencing employees posi:ve work values. Theme 6: A leader with high EI interacts and tailors his or her ac:ons and responses to his or her followers. Theme 7: Applica<on of EI harmonizes working rela:onship, facilitates work efficiency, and enhances employees level of par:cipa:on in the decision- making process. Theme 8: Interac:ons at individual and group levels are opportuni:es that improve EI.
Findings Front line leaders understand EI as self- awareness and a con:nuous learning process. The awareness of one s emo<ons and the emo<ons of others allow individuals to manage and regulate emo:ons that could hinder the forma<on of quality rela<onships. The ability to socialize with individuals in the work environment reflects skills in communica:on and rela:onship building which is crucial among first- level leaders, as they are entrusted to communicate and resolve opera<onal issues with subordinates (Khan & Ahmad, 2012)
Findings The applica<on of EI is a path to effec:ve leadership. Applica:on of EI harmonizes working rela<onships, facilitates work efficiency, and enhances employees level of par<cipa<on in the decision- making process, which support several studies on transforma:ve leadership theory and its rela:onship to EI. Efficacy of the use of EI is dependent on a) the leader s high level of EI skills the ability to interact and tailor- fit his or her ac<ons and responses to followers; and b) con:nuous interac:ons at individual and group levels to improve EI.
Limita:ons The researcher s role in the organiza<on at the start of the study Inability of the researcher to complete the interviews face- to- face with the par<cipants The researcher did not provide or explore the possible contribu<on of organiza<onal culture to the responses of the par<cipants concerning EI The results of this study are limited to the lived experiences, percep<ons, and meanings of the experiences verbalized by the front- line leaders
Implica:ons of Prac:ce EI is a conscious awareness of one s self and others, which determines his or her maturity and guides his or her socializa:on engagement. EI development should be supported by the organiza<on inves:ng in professional development programs to build posi<ve rela<onships between leaders and followers, establish teamwork, and influence employee s posi<ve work values and produc<vity. Implemen:ng EI training programs and follow- up coaching of leaders on their use of EI skills could directly influence leadership maturity and managerial skills of leaders. Ini<al training program required for novice leaders in interpersonal rela<onships and communica<on. EI, in its core meaning, centers on understanding the emo:ons of others and empathizing with their desire to ac:vely par:cipate in the achievement of shared goals. Emo<onal intelligence skills are cri<cal skills that leaders must develop in order to take care of the people who take care of the business.
Ques:ons?