Con Stough

Examining the relationship between leadership and emotional intelligence in senior level managers

Investigates whether emotional intelligence measured by the Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test predicted transformational, transactional and laissez‐faire leadership styles measured by the multifactor leadership questionnaire in 110 senior level managers. Effective leaders were identified as those who reported transformational rather than transactional behaviours. Emotional intelligence correlated highly with all components of transformational leadership, with the components of understanding of emotions (external) and emotional management the best predictors of this type of leadership style. The utility of emotional intelligence testing in leadership selection and development is discussed.

Emotional intelligence and effective leadership

Emotional intelligence has become increasingly popular as a measure for identifying potentially effective leaders, and as a tool for developing effective leadership skills. Despite this popularity, however, there is little empirical research that substantiates the efficacy of emotional intelligence in these areas. The aim of the present paper was to explore the relationship between emotional intelligence and effective leadership. Emotional intelligence was assessed by a modified version of the Trait Meta Mood Scale in 43 participants employed in management roles. Effective leaders were identified as those who displayed a transformational rather than transactional leadership style as measured by the multifactor leadership questionnaire. Emotional intelligence correlated with several components of transformational leadership suggesting that it may be an important component of effective leadership. In particular emotional intelligence may account for how effective leaders monitor and respond to subordinates and make them feel at work.

Occupational stress in universities: Staff perceptions of the causes, consequences and moderators of stress.

In recent years, the Australian university sector has undergone large-scale organizational change, including restructuring, downsizing and government funding cuts. At the same time, research from across the globe reports an alarming increase in the occupational stress experienced by university staff. We report on the first phase of a longitudinal investigation of occupational stress. A total of 22 focus groups were conducted with a representative sample of 178 academic and general staff from 15 Australian universities. The groups focused on understanding staff s experience of occupational stress, and perceptions of the sources, consequences and moderators of stress. Both general and academic staff reported a dramatic increase in stress during the previous 5 years. As a group, academic staff reported higher levels of stress than general staff. Five major sources of stress were identified including: insufficient funding and resources; work overload; poor management practice; job insecurity; and insufficient recognition and reward. The majority of groups reported that job-related stress was having a deleterious impact on their professional work and personal welfare. Aspects of the work environment (support from co-workers and management, recognition and achievement, high morale, flexible working conditions), and personal coping strategies (stress management techniques, work/ non-work balance, tight role boundaries and lowering standards), were reported to help staff cope with stress. The findings provide a timely insight into the experience of stress within universities.

Emotional intelligence and life satisfaction

Abstract This study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and life satisfaction. To determine the nature of this relationship, personality constructs known to predict life satisfaction were also assessed (positive and negative affect). Emotional intelligence was assessed in 107 participants using a modified version of the Trait Meta-Mood Scale [TMMS; Salovey, P, Mayer, J., Goldman, S., Turvey, C. & Palfai, T.1995. Emotional attention, clarity and repair: exploring emotional intelligence using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale. In J. W. Pennebaker (Ed), pp. 125–154. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association ] and the Twenty-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale [TAS-20; J. Psychosom Res, 38 (1994) 26]. Life satisfaction was assessed using the Satisfaction With Life Scale [SWLS; J. Pers. Social Psycol., 69 (1985) 71]. Only the Clarity sub-scale of the TMMS (which indexes perceived ability to understand and discriminate between moods and emotions), and the Difficulty Identifying Feelings sub-scale of the TAS-20 were found to significantly correlate with life satisfaction. Subsequent analyses revealed that only the Clarity sub-scale accounted for further variance in life satisfaction not accounted for by positive and negative affect. This finding provides further evidence that components of the EI construct account for variance in this important human value not accounted for by personality. Implications and directions for further research are discussed.

Occupational stress in Australian university staff: Results from a national survey.

This article presents results from a study of occupational stress in Australian university staff. The authors report data on psychological strain and job satisfaction from nearly 9,000 respondents at 17 universities. Academic staff were generally worse off than general staff, and staff in newer universities were worse off than those in older universities. At the aggregate level, selfreport measures of psychological well-being were highly correlated with objective measures of university well-being (investment income, student–staff ratios, and recent cuts in staffing levels and in government operating grants). The authors conclude that the financial difficulties imposed on Australian universities in recent years are having serious consequences for the psychological well-being of their staff, particularly academic staff (faculty). Copyright 2003 by the Educational Publishing Foundation

Intelligence and inspection time: Achievements, prospects, and problems.

Ian J. Deary Con Stough I I The purpose of this article is to introduce the inspection- time measure to the wider psychological community. In- spection time is, to date, the only single information- processing index that accounts for approximately 20% of intelligence-test variance. We argue that inspection time, because of its much-replicated correlation with 1Q and its potential for theoretical tractability, has more potential for our understanding of individual differences in cognitive ability than other indexes of human information process- ing. The nature of inspection time and its measurement are described, studies correlating inspection time and IQ- type test scores are summarized, and the difficulties of explaining this correlation are highlighted.

Chronic MDMA (ecstasy) use, cognition and mood.

RationaleIt has been suggested that 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) causes damage to the serotonergic system, and that this damage results in cognitive and mood impairments.ObjectivesTo examine the effect of chronic MDMA usage on a wide battery of cognitive tests and psychological abilities and processes.MethodsIn the present study, the performance of 17 participants with a history of MDMA use was compared to the performance of 15 control subjects on a battery of neuropsychological tests. This battery included tests for depression, immediate word recall, delayed recall, attention and working memory.ResultsResults indicated that the MDMA group had significantly higher scores for depression than the control group, and displayed poorer delayed recall and verbal learning than controls after accounting statistically for the effects of cannabis and depression.ConclusionsThese results suggest that MDMA users exhibit difficulties in coding information into long-term memory, display impaired verbal learning, are more easily distracted, and are less efficient at focusing attention on complex tasks.

Evidence of an early information processing speed deficit in unipolar major depression

BACKGROUND Slowing of the speed of information processing has been reported in geriatric depression, but it is not clear if the impairment is present in younger patients, if motor retardation is responsible, or if antidepressant medications play a role. METHOD Twenty unmedicated unipolar depressed inpatients were compared with 19 medicated depressed in-patients and 20 age-, sex- and verbal IQ-matched controls on inspection time (IT), a measure of speed of information processing that does not require a speeded motor response. We also examined the relationship between IT and current mood and length of depressive illness. RESULTS Unmedicated depressed patients showed slowing of information processing speed when compared to both medicated depressed patients and controls. The latter two groups were not significantly different from each other. Slowing of IT was not associated with current mood, but was negatively correlated with length of illness since first episode. No differences in IT were found between patients receiving medication with anticholinergic effects and patients receiving medication with no anticholinergic effects. CONCLUSIONS The findings indicate that unipolar depression is associated with a slowing of speed of information processing in younger patients who have not received antidepressant medication. This does not appear to be a result of motor slowing.

Examining the effects of electromagnetic fields emitted by GSM mobile phones on human event-related potentials and performance during an auditory task

OBJECTIVE Due to the widespread use of mobile phones (MP), it is important to determine whether they affect human physiology. The aim of this study was to explore the sensitivity of auditory event-related potentials to electromagnetic emissions. METHODS Twelve participants attended two sessions, 1 week apart. Participants performed an auditory oddball task while they were exposed to an active MP during one session and sham exposure during the other. Each condition lasted 1 h and order was counterbalanced. N100 and P200 latencies and amplitudes were analysed for non-target waveforms, and N200 and P300 latencies and amplitudes were analysed for target waveforms. RESULTS In real relative to sham exposure N100 amplitude and latency to non-targets were reduced, with the reduction larger over midline and right hemisphere sites. P300 latency to targets was delayed in the real exposure condition, however as this difference was greatest at left frontal and left central sites the interpretation of this result is unclear. Reaction time increased in the real relative to sham condition. No difference in accuracy was found. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that MP exposure may affect neural activity, particularly in proximity to the phone, however caution should be applied due to the small sample size.

Examining the relationship between leadership, emotional intelligence and intuition in senior female managers

Purpose – To assess the relationship between leadership style, intuition, and emotional intelligence (EI) measured by a general and a workplace specific measure of EI in female managers.Design/methodology/approach – The study consisted of 176 female managers from several industries across Australia who completed a questionnaire battery consisting of the multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ), the cognitive style index (CSI), the trait meta‐mood scale (TMMS), and the workplace Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test (workplace SUEIT).Findings – The results indicated that female managers displaying transformational leadership behaviours were more likely to display higher levels of EI and intuition than female managers displaying less transformational leadership behaviours. The workplace measure of EI was found to be the better predictor of transformational leadership behaviours than the general measure of EI, which was attributed to the workplace specific nature of the workplace SUEIT.Research ...