Title: Can high EQ create better conditions for leadership?

- A Qualitative Study of how Leaders’ Self-Awareness Impact Relationship Management 

Level: Student thesis, final assignment for the bachelor’s degree in business management  

Authors: Fredrika Englund and Elin Liverot 

Supervisors: Monika Wallmon and Svante Brunåker 

Date: 2020 - June

Aim: The aim with this study is to increase the understanding about how leaders’ EQ in the form of self-awareness impacts on relationship management. 

Method: The study has been conducted through a qualitative approach with 10 semi-structured interviews based on the Harvard Professor, Daniel Goleman’s EQ-model. We used a comparative design to be able to apply comparison logic. With this design we compared the subcategories in relationship management to self-awareness that were of relevance for the study.  

Conclusions:  We found that there is a correlation between the leader’s self-awareness and his/her ability to handle relationship management. Further we found that the eight subcategories to relationship management (develop others; influence; communication; conflict management; inspirational leadership; change catalyst; build bonds; teamwork and collaboration) influence leader in a larger or lesser extent. Also we could discern that certain leaders who had gotten a weaker self-awareness in a situation, still went on pursuing the task as a leader but with an attitude that it would not generate the same result as in a situation when the leader had a strong self-awareness.

Contribution of the thesis:  The contribution of the study is to increase the understanding for how the self-awareness of the leader have an impact on relationship management, and therefore should be something both organizations and leaders should be aware of since it has an impact on the business.

Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, EQ, Relationship Management, Self-Awareness, Leadership, Goleman