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With a master's degree in international business from Yonsei University in South Korea and ten years of business experience, Hur has developed a keen interest in the qualities of successful leadership in the workplace. In her research she asks, would highly emotionally intelligent managers lead their teams more effectively than less emotionally intelligent managers? `Emotional intelligence,' she says, `is the ability to identify, understand, assimilate and manage the emotions of both self, and others. It's not about being positive all the time. Sometimes a more positive emotion doesn't work at all, especially for critical evaluation in the workplace. But knowing the causes and consequences determines how a manager will approach an employee in order to increase performance.'
In her thesis Hur proposes a link between transformational leadership and emotional intelligence. An emotionally intelligent transformational leader, she explains, focuses not only on their tasks, but also on the emotional state of their followers. They engage qualities of self-awareness, emotional stability, empathy, and authentic motivation and are able to find alternative solutions to problems. By showing sensitivity to the individual they can redirect negative feelings like frustration and helplessness in their followers. This in turn leads to an improvement both in the performance of their followers and their teams.
In her research study, Hur sent out questionnaires to both employees and managers in the public, banking and retail sectors in South Korea. In the national prosecutors' office she asked employees to rate all team managers on emotional intelligence and leadership style. The findings showed that team leaders with higher emotional intelligence were more effective and able to contribute towards a better service climate. Hur claims these findings can impact positively in organizations, and recommends the selection of people with a high emotional intelligence for leadership roles, as they have the potential to become effective, transformational leaders.
In the banking sector, Hur was interested in the collective effect, or moods of the employees and whether the environment supported employee learning. She also measured the likelihood of staff turnover. Her findings showed that staff members are less likely to seek employment elsewhere when they are in a learning-rich workplace. In the study, Hur also discovered that gender and age play an important role. The analysis indicated that if there are more females than males working in a bank, the learning activity in the branch is increased. This supports the theory that women in general have a higher emotional intelligence than men. Unexpectedly, Hur also found that younger bank managers were more receptive to feedback, suggesting that the younger generation is less set in their ways, and casting doubt on the argument that emotional intelligence comes with age.
In Hur's study of a large electronic retail company, sales performance was compared to the emotional intelligence of the branch managers. Here, Hur concluded that a friendly atmosphere and cohesive work climate has a positive effect on both sales and the performance of the employees. Her three empirical studies showed that a more emotionally competent manager will achieve better results. She advises companies to stimulate the emotional intelligence of their managers through selection and training. Her message is simple, emotional intelligence really does matter.
Hur's promoter, Professor Celeste Wilderom, at the UT's School of Management and Governance, praised Hur for her emotional intelligence and resourcefulness. Hur has returned to South Korea where she is to start an assistant professorship and continue to work with Wilderom on video-detecting emotional intelligent behavior.
