Abstract
The Emotional Politics of Educational Leaders in Higher Education
Institutions: A Discursive Perspective
Kiran Hashmi ∗
Ismail Saad † Margaret Madden ‡
Abstract: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are run under a set hierarchy of executive, operative and
administrative levels of educational leaders with a prescribed pattern of processes and functions. A variety of
diverse tasks with varied complexities are assigned to the educational leaders of all levels which are expected
to be completed within the set time frame. Under such situations, the emotions of the educational leaders play
an important role in helping them perform their tasks and achieve the set goals. The current study highlights
the elements of educational leaders’ emotions’ interplay in institutional functioning, emotional relationships
between educational leaders and colleagues, their struggle for supremacy over colleagues and micro-politics
of Educational Leaders’ emotions within their institutions. The study encompasses a combination of five
sub-themes that highlight dynamics of emotions and the politics at play in educational leaders’ lives. These
sub themes are based on the unresolved issues in the approaches of Educational Leaders’ emotions including the relationships between emotions and rationality, emotional programming and controlling, emotional
denial and sublimation, emotional humanism and behaviorism, and the relationship between emotions and
leadership styles. The data for this study were collected through 12 structured interviews with educational
leaders of public and private sector HEIs of Sindh. The results indicated the significance of micro-politics
of educational leaders emotions in HEIs for its effective functioning. Five themes highlighting emotional
micro politics of educational leaders emerged from the thematic analysis: (a) rationality versus emotionality
(b) perceived and displayed emotional displays (c ) state of emotional denial (d) behaviourist and humanist
emotions (e) programmed and controlled emotions. The educational leaders try to maintain a balance between
the psychological, social, emotional and political aspects of leadership within HEIs. Their emotions have been
marginalized and considered as barriers in the process of effective institutional functioning. Rationality is
given a preference over emotionality and its utilization is considered to be a myth. In addition, the research
increases knowledge about how Educational Leaders learn to negotiate emotionally intensive situations and
use various strategies in the emotional micro-political context of their work within the HEIs.
Kiran Hashmi, Ismail Saad, Margaret Madden. (2014) The Emotional Politics of Educational Leaders in Higher Education Institutions: A Discursive Perspective, Journal of Education & Social Sciences, Volume 2, Issue 1.
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