Scott N. Taylor

It may not be what you think: Gender differences in predicting emotional and social competence

Women and men leaders have been noted to be similar in terms of emotional and social competence in the workforce. We analyzed gender differences in self-ratings, others’ ratings, and predicted ratings of men and women leaders on a multi-source feedback assessment of emotional and social competence. Findings revealed that there were significant differences between how leaders were rated on emotional and social competence versus how they predicted they would be rated. Furthermore, results indicated that when asked to predict how they were rated by their managers, direct reports, and peers, women were significantly poorer at predicting others’ ratings compared with men. However, women self-rated their demonstration of emotional and social competence similar to men. Age was investigated, but not found to have an effect on men and women’s predictions of others’ ratings. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings and areas for future research.

Why the real self is fundamental to intentional change

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of the real self in intentional change.Design/methodology/approach – Social science theory and research are used to respond to four primary questions: what is the real self, why is the real self essential to intentional change, how does one access the real self, and what are the challenges to accessing the real self with respect to intentional change?Findings – The implications of this paper suggest scholars and practitioners should revisit the assumptions made in employee and leadership competency development efforts by seeking to draw upon a more comprehensive self of the individual being developed. Implications for further research show the need for a new direction in multisource feedback assessment research and use and empirical studies that understand the real self in relation to the other components of intentional change theory (ICT).Practical implications – Implications for practice reveal a need to rethink how executive coaches and human r...

Antecedents of organizational engagement: exploring vision, mood and perceived organizational support with emotional intelligence as a moderator

As organizational leaders worry about the appalling low percentage of people who feel engaged in their work, academics are trying to understand what causes an increase in engagement. We collected survey data from 231 team members from two organizations. We examined the impact of team members’ emotional intelligence (EI) and their perception of shared personal vision, shared positive mood, and perceived organizational support (POS) on the members’ degree of organizational engagement. We found shared vision, shared mood, and POS have a direct, positive association with engagement. In addition, shared vision and POS interact with EI to positively influence engagement. Besides highlighting the importance of shared personal vision, positive mood, and POS, our study contributes to the emergent understanding of EI by revealing EI’s amplifying effect on shared vision and POS in relation to engagement. We conclude by discussing the research and practical implications of this study.

The role of the positive emotional attractor in vision and shared vision: toward effective leadership, relationships, and engagement

Personal and shared vision have a long history in management and organizational practices yet only recently have we begun to build a systematic body of empirical knowledge about the role of personal and shared vision in organizations. As the introductory paper for this special topic in Frontiers in Psychology, we present a theoretical argument as to the existence and critical role of two states in which a person, dyad, team, or organization may find themselves when engaging in the creation of a personal or shared vision: the positive emotional attractor (PEA) and the negative emotional attractor (NEA). These two primary states are strange attractors, each characterized by three dimensions: (1) positive versus negative emotional arousal; (2) endocrine arousal of the parasympathetic nervous system versus sympathetic nervous system; and (3) neurological activation of the default mode network versus the task positive network. We argue that arousing the PEA is critical when creating or affirming a personal vision (i.e., sense of one’s purpose and ideal self). We begin our paper by reviewing the underpinnings of our PEA–NEA theory, briefly review each of the papers in this special issue, and conclude by discussing the practical implications of the theory.

Why Do You Believe in God? Relationships between Religious Belief, Analytic Thinking, Mentalizing and Moral Concern

Prior work has established that analytic thinking is associated with disbelief in God, whereas religious and spiritual beliefs have been positively linked to social and emotional cognition. However, social and emotional cognition can be subdivided into a number of distinct dimensions, and some work suggests that analytic thinking is in tension with some aspects of social-emotional cognition. This leaves open two questions. First, is belief linked to social and emotional cognition in general, or a specific dimension in particular? Second, does the negative relationship between belief and analytic thinking still hold after relationships with social and emotional cognition are taken into account? We report eight hypothesis-driven studies which examine these questions. These studies are guided by a theoretical model which focuses on the distinct social and emotional processing deficits associated with autism spectrum disorders (mentalizing) and psychopathy (moral concern). To our knowledge no other study has investigated both of these dimensions of social and emotion cognition alongside analytic thinking. We find that religious belief is robustly positively associated with moral concern (4 measures), and that at least part of the negative association between belief and analytic thinking (2 measures) can be explained by a negative correlation between moral concern and analytic thinking. Using nine different measures of mentalizing, we found no evidence of a relationship between mentalizing and religious or spiritual belief. These findings challenge the theoretical view that religious and spiritual beliefs are linked to the perception of agency, and suggest that gender differences in religious belief can be explained by differences in moral concern. These findings are consistent with the opposing domains hypothesis, according to which brain areas associated with moral concern and analytic thinking are in tension.

The influence of emotional and social competencies on the performance of Peruvian refinery staff

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the influence of emotional and social competence (ESC) on job performance by considering self‐ratings and the ratings of others (supervisor, peer and subordinate) using a multisource feedback assessment of ESC.Design/methodology/approach – The authors utilized the 2004‐2006 performance evaluations of 36 staff members of the Ilo Copper Refinery, owned by the Southern Peru Corporation. To assess ESC, the Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI 2.0) was administered to the Ilo staff.Findings – The study reinforces the importance of ESC to workplace performance and provides evidence of ESCs positive influence. The results reveal that 70 percent of the variance of working performance is explained linearly by the total average of ESC, with four significant competencies – self‐confidence, achievement orientation, optimism, and teamwork & collaboration – accounting for 63 percent of the variance.Research limitations/implications – As an initial study in Peru, the a...

Open-Mindedness and Defensiveness in Multisource Feedback Processes: A Conceptual Framework

Multisource Feedback Assessment (MSF or 360-degree feedback) used for employee development has become ubiquitous in many organizations. From an organization development (OD) perspective, this article presents a conceptual model to explain reactions to MSF in feedback recipients. In the ideal mode, MSF recipients react to MSF data with open-mindedness, a strong willingness to evaluate self-perceptions by learning from others’ perspectives. In the converse mode of defensiveness, MSF recipients are likely to be closed to and dismissive of others’ perspectives. The usefulness of the model for testing alternative MSF approaches is illustrated through a discussion of two MSF techniques: the Self–Other Comparison (SOC) approach and the Predicted–Other Comparison (POC) approach. Approaches that foster a mode of open-mindedness over defensiveness are more likely to produce the intended learning benefits.

Student Self-Assessment and Multisource Feedback Assessment: Exploring Benefits, Limitations, and Remedies

It has become common practice for management students to participate in some sort of self-assessment or multisource feedback assessment (MSF; also called 360-degree assessment or multirater assessment) during their management degree program. These assessments provide students invaluable feedback about themselves and assist students in their personal and professional development. This article draws on a conceptualization of the self as multifaceted to examine the benefits and limitations of self-assessment and MSF. Specifically, although an aid to students’ learning, self-assessment tools predominantly treat the self as an individual self, thereby ignoring the relational and collective aspects of the self. Moreover, self-assessments that people make tend to be inflated, unreliable, and biased. MSF improves on self-assessment by including others’ assessment of the self; however, it also possesses three limitations in its current treatment: MSF (a) conceptualizes the self as an individual self, (b) ignores the importance of context, and (c) relies primarily on a self-other rating agreement. These limitations are explored, and remedies are offered to better account for the multifaceted nature of the self.

Pedagogical Approaches to Develop Critical Thinking and Crisis Leadership

Management schools must be prepared to aid leaders and managers to succeed in uncertain environments. We offer two approaches, each designed for critical thinking skill development, to teach graduate management students about leading in and through potential disruption to organizational life. First, we present a personalized case method that relies on a critical incident approach to examine crises students personally experienced at work. We provide a description of the student assignment and a process for student analysis. Second, we present a group project involving a poster session in which students collaboratively work on complex crisis leadership challenges and present their analysis to their peers. We describe how these two approaches develop the critical skills effective crisis leaders possess.