Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

successfully resolved. How this current study was conducted in order to achieve these
contributions is the focus of the next section.
Summary of Methodology
This is a phenomenological study, an accepted methodology for conducting
qualitative research (Cresswell, 2007; Maxwell, 2005). The hallmark of a qualitative
study is to describe a phenomenon in depth. Likewise, phenomenology seeks to
understand the essence of a phenomenon shared by several members (Cresswell, 2007).
The use of qualitative methods to understand the EI and leadership development
phenomenon complements the distinctively quantitative orientation of research conducted
thus far. To date, Lincoln (2009) and Nafukho (2009) cited that the prevalence of EI
research being quantitative in nature has left a void in understanding the phenomenon of
EI (and, by extension, its integration with leadership development). This study therefore
challenges prevalent EI research approach assumptions (Alvesson and Sandberg, 2011).
Employing an engaged scholarship (Van de Ven, 2007) perspective among researchers in
academia and practitioners in several Federal government agencies yielded helpful
suggestions; namely, scholarly discourse that led to publishing an earlier draft of a
portion of this study’s literature review in conference proceedings (Rude et al., 2011).
The population was recipients of the Presidential Rank Award, which is bestowed
by the President of the United States upon less than one percent of all Federal
government executives. Correlations between award criteria and desirable EI attributes
exist (for further detail, see http://www.opm.gov/ses/performance/rankaward.asp)..)
Data Collection. To gather a rich description, award recipients were interviewed
about their work-related experiences (including developmental interventions) spanning