Managing emotions : a key to informal power

Abstract

Can Managers draw power from their Emotional Intelligence in the workplace? Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Power in a professional environment are prominent topics in recent research. The purpose of this study is to extend the existing literature by examining whether leaders can draw informal power from the use of their emotional control abilities, specifically through mood management, independently of their score on traditional Emotional Intelligence scales. A secondary goal is to look for distinctions between the managerial style of Lebanese professionals and that of non-Lebanese managers along the dimensions of mood management and EI. 123 responses to a self-administered online survey were collected and analyzed. Several statistical techniques were employed using SPSS including descriptive frequencies pivot tables, spearman correlations, linear correlations, and factor analysis. The focus of the questions administered was on the ability of managers to either improve or worsen their subordinates’ mood, independently of their own mood with the aim of obtaining informal power and hence achieving the organizational goals. An important results derived from the analysis are that high EI managers are not necessarily perceived as more powerful by their subordinates. The contrary is rather correct: manager who use unregulated mood management are generally perceived as more powerful. Another important conclusion is that Lebanese managers are better at applying unregulated mood worsening and regulated mood improvement when managing their subordinates’ mood compared to non-Lebanese Managers.