Is your boss able to accurately recognize employee emotions? Is he or she extroverted and agreeable, displaying positive moods? If so, your boss is more likely to engage in transformational leadership – the most active and effective form of leadership – according to new research co-authored by a DePaul University professor.

The study, titled “Leading From Within: The Effects of Emotion Recognition and Personality on Transformational Leadership Ability,” is based on surveys of leadership behavior completed by 145 managers and 480 subordinates working at a large, Midwest-based biotechnology/agricultural company. Published in the October edition of the Academy of Management Journal, the study was conducted by DePaul Assistant Management Professor Robert S. Rubin, Saint Louis University Psychology Professor David C. Munz and Cleveland State University Associate Management Professor William H. Bommer.

“This study breaks new empirical ground by showing that, in addition to personality traits, emotions play a major role in effective leadership,” Rubin said. “We found that certain personality traits, specifically extroversion, positive mood (also called positive affectivity), and agreeableness, combined with aspects of emotional intelligence were linked to a manager’s transformational leadership behavior.”

Transformational leadership behavior includes the ability to articulate a vision for the future, foster group-oriented work, set high expectations and act as a role model, Rubin said.

People with emotional intelligence have a talent for accurately decoding others’ nonverbal expressions of emotions, such as facial expressions, body language and voice inflection, Rubin explained. Proponents of emotional intelligence suggest that the ability to competently read subtle emotional cues is linked to a leaders’ capacity to inspire workers and build relationships within an organization. The research study demonstrated this link.

Rubin and his colleagues showed managers pictures of different facial expressions and asked them what emotions were being expressed. Meanwhile, subordinates were asked to rate their bosses’ leadership behavior. The managers with the best ratings from employees also were the ones that rated highest in emotional intelligence.

The study’s findings also suggested that leaders who were extroverted but possessed little ability to interpret emotions were perceived as “all talk” and insensitive to employees’ emotional cues indicating needs. Similarly, leaders high in emotional recognition ability but low in extraversion did not reap the benefits of the emotion recognition alone. “It’s the blend of these personality traits and emotional intelligence that is most effective,” Rubin said.

Note to Editors: To reach Professor Rubin for interviews about the study, contact him at 312/362-6145 or rrubin@depaul.edu. To view a copy of the study, click here.