International Journal of Social Science & Interdisciplinary Research__________________________________ ISSN 2277 3630 IJSSIR, Vol. 2 (6), JUNE (2013) Online available at indianresearchjournals.com 10 LEADERSHIP STYLES AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE OF MANAGIRIAL LEVEL EMPLOYEES IN TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY IN SRI LANKA MS. PRASADINI N GAMAGE*; MS. A.G. RISHANI ERANDIKA DHANAPALA** *SENIOR LECTURER DEPARTMENT OF HRM UNIVERSITY OF KELANIYA KELANIYA **DEPARTMENT OF HRM UNIVERSITY OF KELANIYA, SRI LANKA ______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT This article attempts to identify the relationship between Leadership styles and emotional intelligence. The study was conducted on the non contrived setting in telecommunication industry. A structured questionnaire was developed and modified to gather information. Universal sampling technique was applied to select the sample and it was 95 executive level employees attached to one of the leading telecommunication organizations in Sri Lanka. Kurt Lewin( 1939)’s three leadership styles: Authoritarian, Participative, Delegative, were used as the base in leadership style. Daniel Goleman(1998)’s mixed model was used in order to identify the level of emotional intelligence of leaders having different leadership styles. The impact of gender on emotional intelligence was also analyzed. The statistical results of the study revealed that Emotional intelligence, of Leaders having participative leadership style is greater than leaders with authoritarian leadership style and delegative leadership style. The study further revealed that there is no significance different of the level of Emotional intelligence among female leaders and male leaders. KEYWORDS: Emotional intelligence, participative leadership, authoritarian leadership and delegative leadership Introduction Leadership can be defined as” the process of influencing an organized group towards accomplishing its goals”. Keith (2008) states that, "Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen." According to Ken (2000), "effective leadership is the ability to successfully integrate and maximize available resources within the internal and external environment f or the attainment of organizational or societal goals." Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. This definition is similar to Northouse’s( 2007) definition . Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.