Leadership Style, Emotional Intelligence and Psychological Distress in Private Insurance Managers

The study was intended to investigate the relationship between leadership Style, Emotional Intelligence and Psychological distress amongst managers working in private insurance sector. Samples of 100 male managers working in private insurance industry (having administrative responsibilities and autonomy over subordinates) were selected for the present study on random basis. Sinha's Leadership Style Scale (LSS) (1987) and Chadha&Singh Emotional Intelligence Scale (2001) were used for the assessment of Leadership style and Emotional Intelligence respectively. The term 'Psychological distress' was assessed by Goldberg and Hiller's(1979) scale called 'General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)' having 3 components, i.e., Anxiety, General Health and Depression. Data was analyzed by using correlation and regression analysis. The obtained correlations revealed the significant +ve relationship between Bureaucratic, Authoritative&Task Oriented leadership Style, and high Psychological distress. Regression analysis revealed the Bureaucratic leadership style to be a major contributor of Psychological distress showing poor General health, high Anxiety and Depression.