Development of competencies needed to be effective managers and leaders requires research and theory that can drive future scholarship and application. This introductory essay to…
Abstract
Purpose
Development of competencies needed to be effective managers and leaders requires research and theory that can drive future scholarship and application. This introductory essay to this special issue of JMD seeks to focus on competencies in organizations in Europe and a broader conceptualization of emotional intelligence.
Design/methodology/approach
Competencies are defined and an overview is provided for the papers that will follow with original research on competencies, their link to performance in various occupations, and their development.
Findings
Emotional, social and cognitive intelligence competencies predict effectiveness in professional, management and leadership roles in many sectors of society. It addition, these competencies can be developed in adults.
Research limitations/implications
As an introductory essay, the paper lays the foundation for the following papers in this issue.
Practical implications
Competencies needed in order to be effective can be developed.
Originality/value
Despite widespread application, there are few published studies of the empirical link between competencies and performance. There are even fewer published studies showing that they can be developed. The special issue will add to both literatures. There is widespread confusion as to the definition of emotional intelligence; the paper offers some clarification.
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Richard Boyatzis, Kylie Rochford and Kevin V. Cavanagh
Little research has explored the importance of interpersonal skills, and more specifically, emotional and social intelligence (ESI) competencies for an engineer’s effectiveness or…
Abstract
Purpose
Little research has explored the importance of interpersonal skills, and more specifically, emotional and social intelligence (ESI) competencies for an engineer’s effectiveness or engagement. Furthermore, to the knowledge, no studies have explored the explanatory power of ESI over and above general mental ability and personality for engineers. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study the authors gathered multi-source data for 40 engineers in a multi-national manufacturing company.
Findings
The authors found that ESI as observed by their peers significantly predicted engineer effectiveness (ΔR2=0.313), while general mental ability (g) and personality did not. In the same study, an engineer’s engagement in their work was significantly predicted by the degree of shared vision within their teams, while g, personality and ESI did not predict engagement.
Research limitations/implications
The authors explore the implications of the findings for corporate training and development, undergraduate education, and graduate education of engineers.
Originality/value
The authors draw on 30 years of longitudinal studies showing ESI and quality of relationships can be significantly improved with the appropriate pedagogy emphasizing the building of one’s vision, developmental approaches to ESI, developing a shared vision with others, and inspirational coaching.
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Richard E. Boyatzis and Argun Saatcioglu
Development of competencies needed to be effective managers and leaders requires program design and teaching methods focused on learning. The paper presents an update and a view…
Abstract
Purpose
Development of competencies needed to be effective managers and leaders requires program design and teaching methods focused on learning. The paper presents an update and a view of 20 years of attempting to develop these competencies.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 14 longitudinal studies of the impact of a particular MBA program on developing emotional, social and cognitive intelligence competencies are reviewed. Three new studies are to complete a 20‐year perspective. This is a value added design. It asks how are the graduates different from when they entered the program?
Findings
Emotional, social and cognitive intelligence competencies that predict effectiveness in management and leadership can be developed in adults through a graduate management program. These improvements can sustain out as far as seven years. But this degree of value added can be eroded by a tumultuous organizational climate.
Research limitations/implications
It is a series of 17 longitudinal studies on one school. With support from four studies of a program for 45‐65 year‐old executives.
Practical implications
Competencies needed to be effective can be developed. But that development can be eroded without continuous improvement and renewal.
Originality/value
Few sets of multiyear, multi‐cohort, multi‐method, multitrait studies exist. This helps to build a new literature on learning and development, as well as focusing on development of competencies.
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Richard E. Boyatzis and Franco Ratti
The purpose of this study is to report data showing competencies that distinguish effective managers and leaders in a large Italian company and in Italian cooperatives.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to report data showing competencies that distinguish effective managers and leaders in a large Italian company and in Italian cooperatives.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach takes the form of analysis competencies coded from 51 interviews and 53,360 assessments of managers and leaders comparing more and less effective managers and leaders.
Findings
Emotional, social and cognitive intelligence competencies predict effectiveness in management and leadership roles in a variety of Italian organizations.
Research limitations/implications
Although each sample is small, together they create a basis for future confirmatory research.
Practical implications
Competencies needed to be effective can be identified.
Originality/value
The paper and the studies reported are the first to be published showing competencies that distinguish effectiveness in Italian managers and leaders.
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Richard Boyatzis and Udayan Dhar
The ideal self has had a place in management literature in recent years with reference to identity and role change. However, except for a JMD article in 2006, there has been…
Abstract
Purpose
The ideal self has had a place in management literature in recent years with reference to identity and role change. However, except for a JMD article in 2006, there has been little theorizing on the ideal self, which is often treated as a static construct. The purpose of this article is to update and refine the concept and explain the dynamic nature of the construct.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper is based on a review of the recent management and psychology literature related to the ideal self and its components.
Findings
The authors propose a dynamic theory of the emerging ideal self and delineate how its components evolve over time.
Research limitations/implications
The ideal self, or one's personal vision, is a major motivator of learning and change and the sustainability of such efforts. The time dynamic theory would encourage and guide longitudinal research using better variables and measures as well as help in conceptualizing the role of socialization, social identity and life/career stages.
Practical implications
With a better theory of the ideal self, trainers, consultants, coaches and teachers can help people update their deep sense of purpose and the sustaining driver of learning and change the ideal self. It could help people and organizations address a major determinant of engagement.
Originality/value
This theory offers a temporal understanding of how the ideal self can motivate learning and change at different life and career eras, which can help in designing future research on identity-related transitions.
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Change, and in particular intentional or desired change, has not been understood nor systematically studied. By applying concepts from complexity theory to intentional change…
Abstract
Purpose
Change, and in particular intentional or desired change, has not been understood nor systematically studied. By applying concepts from complexity theory to intentional change theory, the purpose of this paper is to provide a new level of insight into why and how sustainable desired change can occur at all levels of human/social interaction, from individual to teams to organizations to communities, countries and the globe.
Design/methodology/approach
Using research from over 30 years of longitudinal studies of individual and organizational change, the concepts are explored and implications proposed.
Findings
Sustainable, intentional change is on the whole discontinuous. It occurs through a series of five discoveries or emergence conditions. It is driven by the interplay of the positive and negative emotional attractor. It follows the described process at all fractals of human organization.
Research limitations/implications
Extensive empirical research has been done at the individual level, but only case studies at the organization and country levels.
Practical implications
Every person seeking to explore, understand, or facilitate sustainable, desired change can be helped by the model and understanding how it functions.
Originality/value
The theory of intentional change is relatively new to the literature, as is the use of complexity theory.
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The purpose of this paper is to show that development of competencies needed to be effective managers and leaders requires program design and teaching methods focused on learning…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show that development of competencies needed to be effective managers and leaders requires program design and teaching methods focused on learning. This is the introductory essay to this special issue of JMD.
Design/methodology/approach
Competencies are defined and an overview is provided for the eight papers that will follow with original research on competencies, their link to performance in various occupations, and their development.
Findings
Emotional, social and cognitive intelligence competencies predict effectiveness in professional, management and leadership roles in many sectors of society. In addition, these competencies can be developed in adults.
Research limitations/implications
As an introductory essay, this lays the foundation for the papers in this issue.
Practical implications
Competencies needed to be effective can be developed.
Originality/value
Despite widespread application, there are few published studies of the empirical link between competencies and performance. There are even fewer published studies showing that they can be developed. This special issue will add to both literatures.
Details
Keywords
Richard E. Boyatzis and Kleio Akrivou
If the ideal self is the emotional driver of intentional change, the purpose of this paper is to explore the components of a person's personal vision and how it comes from their…
Abstract
Purpose
If the ideal self is the emotional driver of intentional change, the purpose of this paper is to explore the components of a person's personal vision and how it comes from their ideal self.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the concept of the ideal self from intentional change theory, the paper examines a variety of theoretical foundations, from psychoanalytic to positive psychology. Each views the ideal self and its components as deficiencies needing therapeutic intervention or the heights of human experience and intrinsic motivation.
Findings
The ideal self is a primary source of positive affect and psychophysiological arousal helping provide the drive for intentional change. Many current frameworks or theories examine only portions of this model and, therefore, leave major components unaddressed. The ideal self is composed of three major components: an image of a desired future; hope (and its constituents, self‐efficacy and optimism); and a comprehensive sense of one's core identity (past strengths, traits, and other enduring dispositions).
Originality/value
Intentional change is hard work and often fails because of lack of sufficient drive and the proper intrinsic motivation for it. This model of the ideal self creates a comprehensive context within which a person (or at other fractals, a group or system) can formulate why they want to adapt, evolve, or maintain their current desired state.
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Udayan Dhar and Richard Boyatzis
Modern careers are marked by periods of feeling betwixt, or “in-between,” – yet, there is no validated measure of this experience, recognized as subjective liminality. The present…
Abstract
Purpose
Modern careers are marked by periods of feeling betwixt, or “in-between,” – yet, there is no validated measure of this experience, recognized as subjective liminality. The present research aims to (1) operationalize subjective liminality and (2) develop and validate a scale to measure it.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review was used to operationalize subjective liminality, and the scale validation was performed using four separate samples: 150 workers on M-Turk, 151 graduate and professional students at a large Midwestern University, 252 unemployed individuals in the US and Canada, and 416 full-time employed individuals in the US.
Findings
Subjective liminality was conceptualized as a second-order latent construct reflected by three dimensions: feelings of anxiety, ambiguity and reduced group identification. A 9-item scale was developed and validated to measure it.
Originality/value
This study clarifies and measures an emergent construct in the career transition and organizational change literature.