Author(s): L. E. Jowah and Y.I. Gwebityala
The maintenance department in a government department would inevitably be diverse in culture, education and technical skills. It is established that people in a particular discipline tend to have specific acceptable norms and practices that define their discipline in terms of the operations and tasks. The presence of these people together suggests a serious problem for leadership in that leadership style is task related and yet this environment has diverse. On the other hand, emotional intelligence is the ability of the individual to be aware of themselves, the others and the cultural or organisational environment. The research sought to identify the appropriateness of emotional intelligence considering the diversity and therefore deciding on what leadership style would most suit this unique work environment. The researchers made use of a mixed research methodology with the aid of a structured questionnaire to collect the necessary data. After the necessary preparation the data was captured onto an excel spreadsheet and illustrations were constructed which enabled easy comparison of the variables understudy. The findings indicated that workers or employees in general have specific expectations which should be met if they have to feel satisfied enough to perform. Relationships feature as critical aspects of effective leadership, but the leader is expected to behave differently to different workers at different times. The emphasis appears to be on contingency suggesting that an emotionally intelligent leader responds and behaves appropriately to specific situations.