Impact of Team Leaders' Emotional Intelligence Competence on Teams' Emotional Intelligence

This paper intends to examine the relationship between team leaders' Emotional Intelligence competence and their teams' emotional intelligence. Based on exisiting literature reviews, it is assumed that a team leader's Emotional Intelligence (EI) will influence the development of Group Emotional Intelligence (GEI). The primary data was collected for this study by using two instruments. The emotional intelligence of the team leaders was assessed using Emotional Social Competency Inventory (ESCI). The permission for using Emotional S ocial Competency Inventory was obtained from the Hay Group (Boston). The group Emotional Intelligence was measured using the inventory Emotional Competent Group Norms (ECGNs). The Emotional Intelligence of the teams was measured as norms instead of competency. The instrument was designed and tested by Druskat, Wolff, Koman and Messer. All participants in this study were team leaders, members, managers or supervisors for a particular team in the call centre. The data was collected from over 100 teams from call centers in Sutherland, Jeppiaar Technologies, Airnos, Ael Data, FSS, Mobinus, Infoflex&Quiescent technologies. The relationship between the team leaders' Emotional Intelligence and the emotional competent group norms of the teams was analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. This analysis indicates both individual and collective impacts of both ESCI and ECGNs inventory. The proposed model establishes the relationship between and among the team leaders' emotional intelligence competencies and emotional competent group norms of the teams.