Social and Emotional Intelligence
Effectiveness of Boyatzis core competency clusters in determining effective leadership
Michael Dean
Abstract
Richard Boyatzis (2008) has provided us with what has been since classified as the 21st century competencies of managers and leaders. The competencies that he has outlined are specifically matched to suit the needs of the highly differentiated roles management plays in an increasingly complex globalised environment. Boyatzis has further stated that many of these competencies should be considered to have a threshold point, where their impact on the effectiveness of a manager plateaus. Boyatzis identifies some higher plan cognitive competencies, including systems thinking and pattern recognition, as well as emotional and social intelligence as the defining factors to lead to the development of extraordinary managers. The purpose of this article, is to critically evaluate these statements, and with the support of noted academics, provide contextualisation of the issues at hand.
In the past, it has been stated that managerial effectiveness is directly correlated to cognitive ability. The works of such scholars as Mintzberg (1973), infer that capabilities including, but not limited to technical skill, experience and exposure to base line operations as well as memory and deductive reasoning are the corner stone skills of a highly effective manager. Richard Boyatzis’ 1982 publication (The Competent Manager) brought to the forefront the concept of threshold competencies and high performance competencies. However, the publication of the noted work, “Emotional Intelligence†(Goleman, 1995), which was later added to and popularised by Boyatzis (2001) criticizes this narrow view on the contributors to effectiveness, stating that these theories fail to recognise the importance of internal and external social and emotional awareness. This research is based heavily on empirical analysis and has provided a scientifically measured basis for its
Michael Dean
Abstract
Richard Boyatzis (2008) has provided us with what has been since classified as the 21st century competencies of managers and leaders. The competencies that he has outlined are specifically matched to suit the needs of the highly differentiated roles management plays in an increasingly complex globalised environment. Boyatzis has further stated that many of these competencies should be considered to have a threshold point, where their impact on the effectiveness of a manager plateaus. Boyatzis identifies some higher plan cognitive competencies, including systems thinking and pattern recognition, as well as emotional and social intelligence as the defining factors to lead to the development of extraordinary managers. The purpose of this article, is to critically evaluate these statements, and with the support of noted academics, provide contextualisation of the issues at hand.
In the past, it has been stated that managerial effectiveness is directly correlated to cognitive ability. The works of such scholars as Mintzberg (1973), infer that capabilities including, but not limited to technical skill, experience and exposure to base line operations as well as memory and deductive reasoning are the corner stone skills of a highly effective manager. Richard Boyatzis’ 1982 publication (The Competent Manager) brought to the forefront the concept of threshold competencies and high performance competencies. However, the publication of the noted work, “Emotional Intelligence†(Goleman, 1995), which was later added to and popularised by Boyatzis (2001) criticizes this narrow view on the contributors to effectiveness, stating that these theories fail to recognise the importance of internal and external social and emotional awareness. This research is based heavily on empirical analysis and has provided a scientifically measured basis for its
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