Learning: Learning is “any process that in living organisms leads to permanent
capacity change and which is not solely due to biological maturation of ageing”
(Illeris, 2007, p. 3).
Situated Learning: Learning that occurs in the context of participant experiences
in society (Wenger, 2009).
Chapter Summary and Overview of Chapters 2, 3, 4 & 5
Figure 1.2 below summarizes these major points, in terms of a roadmap:
Figure 1. 2
Study Roadmap
Problem: Emotional intelligence (EI) is directly related to effective leadership in many
ways (Goleman, 1995; Yukl, 2010). The emotional competence of Federal government
leaders appears to be lacking, as evidenced by pronounced interpersonal skills and conflict management competency gaps that arose in surveys administered to thousands of
leaders in a large Federal government agency (Department of Defense, 2008, 2009). The
competency gaps are problematic because interpersonal skills and conflict management
skills are critical EI and leadership competencies (Goleman, 2011). Compounding this
issue is the perception that Federal government leader development programs do not sufficiently attend to EI as an integral part of building a leader’s well-rounded
competence. Moreover, there is scarce qualitative information to explore in what ways
EI, learning, and leadership development within the Federal government are integrated.
(^)
Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the development
of emotional intelligence (EI) within effective Federal government leaders.
Research Question:What are the experience (^) s of effective Federal government leaders in developing their EI?
(^) Note: Adapted from Completing Your Qualitative Dissertation by L.D. Bloomberg and M. Volpe, 2008.
Copyright 2008 by SAGE Publications.
Using learning, adult learning, leadership and leader development as primary
constructs, EI, experiential and situated learning were explored. Specifically, this study