LITERATURE REVIEW

Manifestation of emotional intelligence and Transformational leadership in virtual

teams
(Published April 2020)
The literature review by Lucas Ngigi Mburu, published in April 2020, highlights insights on
the role of emotional intelligence and leadership skills necessary to ensure individual success
and team effectiveness in a virtual team within Save the Children. Lucas's research followed
a descriptive design that involved collecting unlikely data and samples with an online
questionnaire using structured and open-ended questions. The main topics evaluated by the
author were the manifestation of emotional intelligence in a virtual team and the relevance of
transformative leadership skills in the leadership of said teams. Lucas Ngigi Mburu addressed
the staff of the Save the Children's Technology Centre in Nairobi in Kenya. The coverage
area chosen by the author was the Kenya Country Office headquarters in Nairobi, where the
technology hub is located. The total number of employees at the technology centre at the time
of this study was 24 and they came from different backgrounds, cultures, and mixed genders,
and all were contacted for data collection. The research followed a descriptive design that
included qualitative and quantitative aspects of data collection, and in order to accurately
collect information from the Save the Children Technological Centre staff, an online
questionnaire was conducted through the Internet. The method helped reduce the cost of data
collection taking into account the time constraints noted by the author. From the data
analysed in the study, it was found that just over 52% of the employees of the Nairobi
Technology Centre, a virtual Save the Children team, had encountered misunderstandings
with technology users in the course of their work. Which then shows that people who work in
virtual teams, especially when interacting with others remotely, are vulnerable to
communication challenges. The author also provided compelling evidence that emotional
intelligence is important to members of virtual teams, as evidenced by the results, and all
research participants agree or strongly agree. The author also observed that about certain
aspects of emotional intelligence such as empathy, social skills, self-awareness and self-
regulation, the feelings expressed by most of the participants suggest that the skills positively
affect their effectiveness and satisfaction. In this context, up to 68% said that they felt more
effective being part of a virtual team and 73% considered that diversity is essential for the
success of the team. With regard to leadership, the key competencies mentioned in the
literature review as essential for leading a virtual team were divided into themes. Strong
communication skills appeared to be a necessity for leadership, with 73% of respondents
citing this as a key skill. Overall, all of the critical leadership skills mentioned in the literature
review indicated strong character and values such as honesty, openness, integrity,
accountability, and responsibility. Others have been inspiring, motivating, leading, engaging,
and empowering, all of which are associated with transformational leadership style.