1) Discuss how Kathy lacked sufficient emotional intelligence to be effective in her new project manager assignment.
2) Of the various dimensions of emotional intelligence, which dimension(s) did she appear to lack most? What evidence can you cite to support this contention?
As the title suggests, this case is about the concept of emotional intelligence and its role in effective leadership. Kathy was a competent project manager who had been successful in the past in other settings, but was failing badly in her first effort as head of a large international project. Her inability to understand her team’s sensibilities and her own domineering style combined to create a highly negative team environment. The nature of emotional intelligence is identified as possessing: 1) self-awareness; 2) self-regulation; 3) motivation; 4) empathy; and 5) social skills. In this case, it appears that Kathy, though possessing strong motivation and, to some degree, self-regulation, is singularly lacking in empathy and social skills. Further, it could be argued that she did a poor job with self-awareness as well, as she did not understand how her own behaviors contributed to these problems.