EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE (A STUDY OF SELECTED COMMUNICATION FIRMS IN PORT HARCOURT)

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ABSTRACT

This study examines Emotional Intelligence and Organizational Performance. The objectives of the study are to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence and organizational performance and also to determine the relationship between self awareness, self regulation, social skills, empathy and organizational Performance. A lot of literatures by different authors were reviewed by the researcher. The population of the study is made up of 300 employees and management of some selected communication firms in Port Harcourt, while a sample size of 171respondents were derived from the target population using Taro Yemen’s formula of sampling determination. Both primary and secondary sources of data were used in gathering information for this research work. The data were discussed as well; using tables and simple percentages, while the hypotheses were tested using Chi-square. The major findings revealed that; there is a significant relationship between Career Development and Employee Performance. It also indicates that, self awareness, self regulation, social skills, empathy has a positive effect on organizational performance in their firm.  Therefore, it is recommended amongst others that; Management of Communication firms should train their employees in developing social skills and encourage self-awareness i.e. know customers’ and one’s emotions, strengths, weaknesses, drives, values and goals so as to enhance organizational performance.

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE…   i

ABSTRACT        ii

DECLARATION iii

CERTIFICATION         iv

DEDICATION     v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS     vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS        vii

 

CHAPTER ONE  1

INTRODUCTION         1

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY  1

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 7

1.3     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY      8

1.4     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY  9

1.5     RESEARCH QUESTIONS     9

1.6     STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESES  10

1.7     SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 10

1.8     DEFINITION OF RELATED TERMS       12

CHAPTER TWO 13

LITERATURE REVIEW        13

2.1     CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK      13

2.2     THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK     13

2.3     EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE      15

2.3.1Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence 19

2.4     ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE   21

2.4.1Measures of Organizational Performance     23

2.5     EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ORGANIZATIONAL          28

2.6     EMPIRICAL REVIEW  29

CHAPTER THREE       32

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY      32

3.1     RESEARCH DESIGN   32

3.2     POPULATION OF THE STUDY     33

3.3     SAMPLE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUE        34

3.4     QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN  36

3.5     SOURCES AND METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION         36

3.6     DATA ANALYTICAL METHOD    38

3.7     RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY     39

CHAPTER FOUR         41

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS       41

4.1     DATA PRESENTATION       41

4.2     DATA ANALYSIS        44

4.3     DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS          53

CHAPTER FIVE 56

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS         56

5.1     SUMMARY         56

5.2     CONCLUSION    57

5.3     RECOMMENDATIONS         58

REFERENCES    60

APPENDIX I       66

APPENDIX II      67

 

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In an era of shifting paradigms, one of the world’s developing economies, such as Nigeria, should be able to develop its human resources as a source of competitive advantage. In order to develop and enhance workforce capabilities and to successfully compete in the 21st Century, organizations have to embark on future oriented human resources strategies. It could be argued that the individual competencies of the workforce in any organization would determine its overall success. This success, among other things, may be attributed to the socio-behavioral characteristics and adjustments theseindividuals have to make in their job-role and position powerto gain common ground in any organizationalsetting. Therefore the concept of EmotionalIntelligence (EI) is playing a vital role in everyorganization which describes the ability, capacity, skill or,in the case of the trait EI model, a self-perceived ability, toidentify, assess, and manage the emotions of one’s self, ofothers, and of groups.

Emotional Intelligence is a set of qualities andcompetencies that captures a broad collection of individualskills and dispositions, usually referred to as soft skills orinter and intra-personal skills, that are outside thetraditional areas of specific knowledge, generalintelligence, and technical or professional skills. Emotionsare an intrinsic part of our biological makeup, and everymorning they march into the office with us and influenceour behavior. Emotional intelligence consists of fivefactors: Knowing one’s emotions, managing emotions,motivating one, recognizing emotions in others, andhandling relationships,Goleman (1995). Emotionalintelligence improves individual and organizationalperformance. It plays a significant rolein the kind of workan employee produces, and the relationship he or sheenjoys in the organization.

Performance is important as it determines the survival of the organisation in this very challenging business environment. Earlier studies on actual organisational setting have found that “Emotional Intelligence” contributes averagely to performance (Murensky 2000; Wolff, Pescosolido and Druskat 2000; Wong and Law 2002; Abraham 2004).However, the support for “Emotional Intelligence” has been classified as highly controversial and this warrants further analysis on an organizational setting (ChivaandAlegre 2008). According to Porter (1998), an organisation is influenced by many factors in the environment such as political and legal environment, social cultural environment andeconomic environment. “Emotional Intelligence” is keenly sensitive and the relationshiptowardsperformancecould go either way (Zeidneret al 2004).

Interest in Emotional Intelligence has increased greatly over the last decade. Recently, increasing number of scholars has argued that Emotional Intelligence is acore variable that affects the performance of employees. Recent findings suggest that EI persons are better performers than their counterparts(Law, Song & Wong, 2004). To maintain a productive culture inthe current business climate, theorganization has to concentrate emotional intelligence of employees. In this study we attempt to identify the influence of EI on job performance. The present study is based on Goleman (1995) theory of EI, viewed as a set of four intellectual abilities involved in the processing of emotional information. The ability to manage emotions entails regulating emotional experience in self and in interpersonal situations to attain personal goals and outcomes. EI contributesto work performance by enabling people to regulatetheir emotions.

Relatively, emotional intelligence is an emerging subject in service delivery and marketing (Golman, 1995; Mahyari, 2010). However, its impact on business performance cannot be underestimated (Rahim & Malik, 2010). Theoretically and empirically, emotional intelligence is upheld toenhance employees’ performance in the areas of personal selling, direct marketing, relationship marketing and service delivery(Kaura, 2011; Komlosi, 2013; Kenbach&Nocola,2005; Kim, 2010). Emotional intelligence impacts service quality (Manisha, 2012; Mahyari, 2010), which forms the basis of customer satisfaction, patronage, loyalty,and business growth (Manisha, 2012; Ghalandari et al. 2012; Kenbach& Nicola, 2005). Strengtheningthe relationship between service delivery and customer demand, satisfaction and retention in the service sector is the guiding strategy to maximum organizational performance (Radha& Prasad, 2013; Kenbach& Nicola, 2005).However, organisational performance is boosted when theemotional intelligence of employees provides cohesion between employees and customers (Ghalandari et al. 2012; Hashem, 2010). The impact of emotional intelligence on service deliveryandorganisational performance permeatesall sectors (Shahhosseini et al. 2012), though Manisha (2012) contends that EI acquisition and use in service delivery in the communication sector maximizes organisational growth.

The debate over the topics related to Emotional Intelligence (EI) and organizational performance had and has constantly been in discussion in different cultures and different parts of the world. Researchers of social sciences have worked a lot on this topic throughout the world especially in the western countries but the developing country like Nigeria there was a need to explore this area.

Every organization whether for profit or non-profit work towards achieving the objectives for its existence. The major goals of a bank includes generating maximum funds, both effectively and efficiently, improve the level of services and enhance its financial management. The most desired goal in this regard is to improve the employee’s performance because it ultimately contributes to the organizational performance. Although there may be other peripheral objectives, emphasis is placed on the achievement of financial targets in a financial institution e.g. a Communication firm and it has to mostly determine its financial progress on the interval basis. The extent to which this goal can be actualized depends principally on the organizational workforce, especially the skilled workers. Staffs in communication firms, like other employees in various organizations, are crucial in the actualization of the organizational goals and objectives.

It has been human nature to desire stability even in the ever-changing professional lives. The system of life and organizations is fluid, dynamic, and potentially self-renewing wherein today’s best leaders are learning to “go with the flow” to accept the inevitability of constant change and recognize change itself as a potential source of energy.

As the male and female are physically different from one another so they have the differences relating to work and managing emotions. These differences lead us to the difference between employees’ perception, conflict and readiness to create and innovate, strong relationship have been found between the emotional intelligence and the performance of an employee (Higgs, 2004), Female gender, and boundary role responsibilities were not found to be statistically significant (Dimitrides, 2007), another studystated that there was no significant difference found in the male and female leaders with respect to the social and emotional intelligence (Hopkins &Bilimoria, 2007), more over higher Emotional Intelligence displayed by the employees, providing services, leads to the higher level of the customer satisfaction (Schutte&Kernbach, 2005). Diggins (2004) states that the best managers need to possess emotional intelligence to make decisions that based on combination of self management and relationship skills and an awareness of how their behavior affects others in the organization. There is a good quotation of Aristotle saying, “Anyone can be angry – that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way – that is not easy.

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The communication sector is one of the most competitive sectors in the world (Radha& Prasad, 2013). Service delivery offers a medium for communication firms to ensure quality of services to meet customer preferences and expectations in view of the high level of competition in the communication industry (Radha& Prasad, 2013); a reason for which most managements of the industry give utmost attention to service quality (Radha&Prasad, 2013; Kenbach& Nicola, 2005). Moreover, service delivery is structured to become competitive in the communication sector (Manisha, 2012), where the emotional intelligence of employees provides added advantage in overcoming the influences of competitors towards maximum growth (Manisha, 2012; Shahhosseini et al. 2012). Communication industries, therefore, would need to savour EI in becoming competitive for growth (Manisha, 2012).

In ensuring maximum growth in the communication sector, communication firms must be able to leverage on emotional intelligence in improving or sustaining desired customer patronage (Manisha, 2012; Pahuja&Sahi, 2012). The adoption of practices of emotional intelligence by communication firms can be carried out with confidence, success and ease when research has established ample evidence about the impact of emotional intelligence on business performance. Unfortunately, the number of researches available on this subject is limited (Shahhosseini et al. 2012), possibly due to the fact that it is relatively new. There is a generally low level of public knowledge about the role of emotional intelligence in the productive management of communication firms (Manisha, 2012; Shahhosseini et al. 2012).

1.3     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of the study is to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence and organizational performance. The specific objectives are;

1.       To evaluate the relationship betweenself awarenessand organizational performance.

2.       To evaluate the relationship betweenself regulationand organizational performance.

3.       To determine the relationship between social skills and organizational performance.

4.       To determine the relationship betweenempathyand organizational performance.

 1.4     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is expected to enhance the knowledge of communication firms and the general public about the impact of Emotional Intelligence on business performance. This study is also expected to motivate communication firms to formally adopt measures to augment investments in emotional intelligence in the delivery of their services in order to maximize stakeholder value. It will also be of help to future researchers who are interested in the area of emotional intelligence and organizational performance.

1.5     RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions are posed to guide this study.

1.       Is there any relationship between self awareness and organizational performance?

2.       Is there any relationship between self regulation and organizational performance?

3.       Is there any relationship between social skills and organizational performance?

4.       Is there any relationship between empathyand organizational performance?

 1.6     STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESES

In view of the above research questions, thefollowing null hypotheses were formulated:

H01:  There is no significant relationship between self awareness and organizational performance.

H02:There is no significant relationship between self regulation and organizational performance.

H03:There is no significant relationship between social skills and organizational performance.

H04:There is no significant relationship between empathy     and organizational performance.

 1.7     SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study builds up the small body of research findings available on the impact of emotional intelligence on organizational performance using the communication firms in Port Harcourt as a case study. The selected communication firms are MTN Nigeria, 9Mobile, Airtel Nigeria and Globacom. The content scope of this study includes Emotional Intelligence (which include self awareness, self regulation, social skill and empathy) and Organizational Performance (which include productivity and job satisfaction). The unit of analysis is on organizational level; hence the managers or senior staff are studied.

Every research work has some limitations that can affect the overall research activities and research report. Throughout the research work these are the following constraints experienced by the researcher;

1.       Time Factor: The researcher had limited time to complete the research project. Combining lectures hours with the research work is indeed time demanding.

2.       Financial Constraints: The researcher had limited resources that in some cases affected the overall completion of the research work.

3.       Unavailability of some of the research materials and unfriendly attitude of some of the respondents.

1.8     DEFINITION OF RELATED TERMS      

Emotional Intelligence: The ability to identify, assess and control the emotions of oneself, of others and of groups.

Self Awareness: It is the ability to know customers’ and one’s emotions, strengths, weaknesses, drives, values and goals and recognize their impact on others while using gut feelings to guide decisions (of the service provider).

Self-regulation: This involves controlling or redirecting one’s disruptive emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances of customers. This is based on the fact that customer taste, preferences or/demands keep changing with time.

Social skill:  This involves managing relationships with customers to move them in the desired direction of patronage and retention.

Empathy: This deals with considering customers’ feelings, especially when making decisions about product/service packaging and customer-focused strategy implementation.

Organizational Performance: An organization’s achievement in its job. It relates to the efficiency and effectiveness of its job performance.

Job satisfaction: A pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences. 

 

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