The Relationship Between the Emotional Competence and the Leadership Effectiveness of Hall Directors

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the emotional competencies of the hall director and the hall director’s leadership effectiveness.

METHODOLOGY
A random sample of 300 of the approximately 378 hall directors who work at colleges and university in the Upper Midwest Region of the Association of College and University Housing Officers were surveyed and asked to complete the Leadership Practices Inventory and the Emotional Competence Inventory – University Edition (Boyatzis, Goleman & Rhee, 2000). Sixty-two agreed (21% response rate), of which the majority were female (69%), 26 years of age on average, had completed some graduate studies (84%), and with three years or fewer of work experience (69%).

KEY FINDINGS
The overall leadership score and overall ECI score were statistically related, with over 42 percent of the variance in overall LPI score accounted by overall ECI score. Each of the five leadership practices was separately related with overall emotional competence (with R Squares > .22). Of the ECI components, relationship management was found to be most predictive of the overall LPI score and when self-management was added (in a stepwise regression analysis) the predictive power increased slightly from 40.9 percent to 44.7 percent.

Relationship management was the most significant predictor for Inspiring a Shared Vision (R = .548) and Encouraging the Heart (R = .556). By itself, self management was the best predictor of Modeling the Way (R = .508), Enabling Others to Act (R = .425) and Challenging the Process (R = .537). Social awareness, however, added to explained variance for both Modeling (R = .576) and Enabling (R = .489), while relationship management adding significantly to Challenging (R = .602).