Emotional Intelligence, Psychological Well Being and Conflict Resolution Among Different
Professionals Working in Pakistan
Saima Dawood Khan
University of the Punjab
Hira Fatima
University of the Punjab
Contact number: 0322-4548747
F/13, Model Town, Lahore
Emotional intelligence achieved so much popularity as a significant individual
difference construct of the twentieth century. The concept of Emotional Intelligence is not new
in fact it has a long history in the fields of research, personality, social, and industrial/ social
psychology.
Psychologist studied and investigated abilities of emotional intelligence for many years
and the inspiring and noteworthy research work proved that abilities of emotional intelligence
played a significant role in achievement and success of a person in many areas of life. Goleman
(1995) highlighted the importance of emotional intelligence in his famous book ‘Emotional
Intelligence: Why EQ matters more than IQ’. He suggested that IQ alone is no more the measure
of one’s success; it only accounts 20% and the rest goes for emotional, social intelligences and
luck. Abraham rightfully pays respect to the fact that many workplaces now acknowledge the
importance of overall emotional climate and both team and individual levels of Emotional
Intelligence. The researches suggesting that a person’s ability to perceive, identify, and manage
emotion provide the basis for the kinds of social and emotional competencies that are important
for success in almost any job. Furthermore, as the pace of change increases and the world of
work make ever greater demands on a person’s cognitive, emotional, and physical resources, this
particular set of abilities will become increasingly important. Organizational studies suggests that
about two-thirds of the competencies linked to superior performance are emotional or social
qualities such as self-confidence, flexibility, persistence, empathy, and the ability to get along
with others (Boyatzis, 1982; Lusch & Serpkeuci, 1990; McClelland, 1999; Rosier, 1994-1996;
Spencer & Spencer, 1993).
Organizational Psychologists can guide the personnel to use their emotional intelligence
in a healthy way in order to improve productivity, psychological well being, satisfaction, conflict
resolution, team work and organizational commitment at the workplace. Mark and Susan (2002)
investigated that manager who have high emotional intelligence, showed better performance on
work and have less subjective stress. Gerits, Perksen, Verbruggen and Katzko (2000) suggested
that those managers who remain motivated to deal with crisis, despite experiencing stress, try to
improve themselves to cope effectively, and thus have a high level of emotional intelligence. EI
can be taken as an important predictor of star performers and to be a real success at workplace
(Boyatzis, 1982, Spencer & Spencer, 1993). Managers with the higher level of emotional
intelligence were found to suffer less subjective stress, experience better health and general wellbeing and demonstrate better management performance (Slaski & Cartwright, 2002).
In the light of above mentioned studies, the present researchers tried to explore the
relationship between emotional intelligence, psychological well being and styles of handling
interpersonal conflicts among different professionals: doctors; executives/ directors and teachers
working in Pakistan.
The present research followed a quasi experimental design. A sample of 180
professionals (25-60 years) who were having minimum qualification of Masters (16 years of
education) with at least one year work experience in the same organization were selected through
purposive sampling. To collect a representative sample, different hospitals, organizations and
educational institutions of Lahore city were contacted and those who granted the permission to
collect data were included in present research. The sample was assessed with 3 instruments
which are as follows:
The Scale of Emotional intelligence developed by Dawood, Rahman and Sheikh (2008)
was used to assess the emotional intelligence of the participants. It is consisted of 5 scales: Self
Awareness; Self Regulation; Motivation; Empathy; and Social skills with the total number of
319 items. It was an indigenously developed tool which is based on the theoretical model of
Goleman given in 1998. The psychometric properties of SEI have been established. The overall
positive relationship between all the scales & subscales reflect homogeneity of the construct
which reflects that SEI is a valid instrument to measure emotional intelligence. The results of the
split half reliability clearly indicate moderate to high level of positive correlation between two
halves of each scale and subscale.
The Scale of Psychological Well-Being (SPWB) developed by Ryff and Keyes (1995),
consisted of six subscales with a total of 84 items (14 item per scale). It was constructed to
measure the dimensions of Autonomy, Environmental Mastery, Personal Growth, Positive
Relations with Others, Purpose in Life, and Self Acceptance. The alpha reliability coefficient is
.87 which shows that it is a reliable tool to assess the psychological wellbeing of a person.
The Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory–II (ROCI–II) is a 28 item questionnaire
measuring conflict management styles. It is designed to measure five independent dimensions of
the styles of handling interpersonal conflict: Integrating (IN), Obliging (OB), Dominating (DO),
Avoiding (AV), and Compromising (CO). A higher score represents greater use of a conflict
style.
The sample was taken from different professionals like Teachers, Doctors and Directors,
of different organizations of Lahore. The permission to collect data was taken from the
respective authorities of the organizations and they were informed about the purpose of the
research. The data was collected by contacting each and every participant individually. The
respondents were requested to give answers as honestly as they can. They were asked to read
each statement carefully and then respond according to the written instructions on each scale.
They were also instructed to not leave any question unanswered. They were also ensured about
the confidentiality. After taking back the questionnaires, they were rechecked to ensure that no
question was left unanswered and the demographic information was properly filled. There was
no time limit for completion of the questionnaires; participants took maximum time from 60 to
90 minutes to fill questionnaires. At the end the participants was thanked for their participation
and cooperation.
Data was analyzed using the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The
results showed highly significant correlation between total scores of SEI, Psychological
wellbeing and ROCI-II. This indicates that those are having high scores on SEI also have high
scores on Psychological Well-Being as well as they can resolve their conflicts. Further analysis
was done in order to compare the different scales of 3 instruments: SEI, SPWB, and ROCI-II.
The results showed Correlations between Scales of SEI and subscales scores of
Psychological Wellbeing of professionals. It was found out that Autonomy is significantly
correlated with Self Awareness and Motivation scales of SEI which means professionals who are
self-determined and independent; able to resist social pressures and can regulate their behaviors
in more appropriate manner. The other Scales of Psychological Well-Being: Environmental
Mastery; Personal Growth; Positive Relations with Others; Purpose in Life; Self Acceptance are
also significantly correlated with all the Scales of SEI: Self Awareness, Social Skill, Motivation,
Empathy, and Self Regulation. The results also consistent with the findings of Tsaousis and
Nikolaou (2005) who conducted a research on 365 employees and students and investigated
positive relationship between emotional intelligence and psychological health.
The results also revealed correlation between scales of Psychological wellbeing and
scales of ROCI-II. It is exposed that Autonomy and Personal growth is negatively correlated
with Compromising, avoiding and Obliging style of handling interpersonal conflicts which
suggests that those are independent, open to new experiences and resist social pressures do not
use Compromising, Avoiding and Obliging styles of interpersonal conflicts. Purpose in Life,
Personal growth, Positive relations with others, Environmental mastery is significantly correlated
with Integrating style of handling interpersonal conflicts which suggests that those who has a
feeling of continued development and are motivated mostly use integrating style of interpersonal
conflicts in their professional career.
The intergroup comparison of different Professionals showed significant difference
between doctors, teachers and directors on scores of SEI, and ROCI-II which reveal that
Teachers and Directors are more emotionally intelligent than doctors and use Integrating style of
interpersonal conflicts which suggest that the atmosphere of the hospital settings and the
conditions of the patients may influence on the emotional intelligence of the doctors, so there is a
need to explore the related factors which could influence one’s emotional intelligence
particularly in health profession. The available literature on EI highlights its significance in
dealing with one’s own emotions and others’ emotions in order to be successful in different areas
of life. In this context, it can be argued there is a need to conduct training workshops to enhance
the level of emotional intelligence for those who have low levels of EI in order to make them
effective professionals as it is being done in other parts of the world.