ANALYSIS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AS A STRATEGIC TOOL FOR HUMAN RESOURCE PROFESSIONAL BASED AT AHMEDABAD A PERSPECTIVE WITH REFERENCE TO GENDER

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1 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT (IJM) ISSN (Print) ISSN (Online) Volume 6, Issue 1, January (2015), pp IAEME: Journal Impact Factor (2014): (Calculated by GISI) IJM I A E M E ANALYSIS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AS A STRATEGIC TOOL FOR HUMAN RESOURCE PROFESSIONAL BASED AT AHMEDABAD A PERSPECTIVE WITH REFERENCE TO GENDER Manasi Devendra Parikh Research Scholar at Gujarat Technological University, GTU ABSTRACT The role of human resource professional has become more stringent, discerning and sensitive in current business environment. Beyond hiring, training, appraising and retaining the human resource department has to serve as strategic partner to the business. While the strategy or the systems of the business are important, the research has shown, that the key to profitability and financial success lies in the hands of human assets, for which the human resource department must be able to understand the emotions of the human working within the organizations. Thus the human resource professional needs to have competency of emotional intelligence which helps the firm to deliver measurable results. The current study aims at enlisting certain competencies of emotional intelligence and finding the difference between emotional intelligence score of male and females who are working as human resource professional at Ahmedabad location. The data was collected using fifteen factor questionnaire extracted from Daniel Goleman s four factor taxonomy where in the emotional intelligence competency clusters are divided into two domain mainly personal domain and interpersonal domain.109 respondents [56- male and 53-feamle] working as human resource professional at various level, from different industry where selected for the study. The data was analyzed using independent student t test considering the gender [male, female] as an independent variable and emotional intelligence competency cluster as dependent variable. The outcomes of the research highlighted, significance of emotional intelligence between male and female human resource professional across different industries based at Ahmedabad. Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Human Resource EI, Competency EI Cluster, Emotional Intelligence Gender Difference. 715

2 1. INTRODUCTION NEED AND RELNCE OF EI FOR HR The work conducted in most of the organizations has changed dramatically in last few decades. There are fewer levels of management and the management styles have turned less autocratic. Organizations have started moving towards knowledge base, team based, client oriented jobs so that individual generally have more autonomy, even at lower level of organizations. Modern organizations are looking forward to improve performance, recognize their objectives, measuring benefits that can be arrived from emotional intelligence. In today's business world, HR professionals and managers need to be emotionally intelligent - deal with problems, lead by example, take the initiative, handle difficult situations and develop good relationships within the organization. Successful human resource department know that their job isn't just about hiring: they can help teams, leaders and managers deliver measurable improvements in productivity and win the hearts and respect of management to contribute to the bottom line. Through EI human resource professionals now have a strategic tool that can help management produce results. EI provides methods to help solve your retention and morale problems, improve your company's creativity, create synergy from teamwork, improve information flow, drive forward your objectives, and ignite the best and most inspired performance from firm s employees. Many practitioners and researcher over last few decades have begin to recognize the impact of aligning human resource practices and the quotient of emotional intelligence HR professional carry while they perform certain HR sub functions. Management of emotional intelligence by Human Resource professional will help then to accurately assess the behaviour of employees individually and employees as a group, which in turn would help them to conduct better selection process from the recruitment pool that is generated and also helps them to impart better behavioural training which is in alignment with the organizational goals. Emotional intelligence serves as a cognitive parameter, through which the Human resource professional can easily identify process and respond to the emotions of the employees. 2. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE DEFINITION AND CONCEPT Emotional intelligence describes ability, capacity, skill or self perceived ability to identify access and manage the emotions of one s self, of others and of the groups. Emotional intelligence is measured in terms of emotional quotient which is relevant to work related outcomes such as individual performance, organizational productivity and developing people because its principles provide a new way to understand and assess the behaviours, management styles, attitude, interpersonal skills and potential of the people. Emotional intelligence concerns the ability to carry out accurate reasoning about the emotions and emotional knowledge to enhance thought. According to Mayer & Salovey [1997] emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth. The four branched model of emotional intelligence states that it is a joining ability of the following four areas: 1. Accurately perceiving emotions. [Perception] 2. Using emotions to facilitate thought. [Facilitation] 3. Understanding emotions. [Understanding] 4. Managing emotions. [Managing] 716

3 The first two branches, Perception, and Facilitation, are termed experiential EI, because they relate most closely to feelings. They involve, first, the capacity to perceive emotions in others accurately, and, second, the ability to use emotions to enhance how we think. The third and fourth areas of EI skills are termed strategic EI because they pertain to calculating and planning with information about emotions. The third area, Understanding Emotions, involves knowing how emotions change, in and of themselves, as well as how they will change people and their behaviours over time. The fourth area, Emotional Management, focuses on how to integrate logic and emotion for effective decision-making. This four-branch model represents what today has become called the ability model of emotional intelligence. It is a refinement of the first formal models and measures of emotional intelligence. These four skill areas are related to one another, but they are functionally distinct as well. We know this from our research in ability-testing of EI, which has accompanied the scientific theory. 3. LITERATURE REVIEW [2000] Based on human resource role on professional competencies, emotional intelligence was proved, to enable the manager to demonstrate intelligent use of their emotions in managing themselves and working with others to be effective at work, as suggested by Boyatzi, Goleman and Rhee. [2009] Emotional intelligence and gender differences by Summiya Ahmad, Hayat Bangash and Sheraz Ahmad Khan investigated emotional intelligence among male and female. The research sample comprised of one hundred and sixty subjects (N = 160) who were categorized in two groups. They were eighty males (n = 80) and eighty females (n = 80) and Snowball sampling technique was used to select subjects. Personal information sheet was used to obtain the demographic facts of the respondents. Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) was used to find out the level of emotional intelligence among the subjects. Gender difference on Emotional Quotient Inventory revealed that males have high emotional intelligence as compare to females (t=4.522, p<.01). [2011] Gender Differences in Emotional Intelligence among Employees of Small and Medium Enterprise -An Empirical Study by Ashkan Khalili [Multimedia University, Malaysia] catered to 112 employees of small and medium enterprise (SME) in private sector for assessment of gender differences in emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence was evaluated through The Emotional Intelligence Appraisal which was designed to assess behaviour demonstrative of emotional intelligence skills. The Emotional Intelligence Appraisal constituted of 28 item performance based assessment of emotional intelligence in Daniel Goleman s four factor taxonomy. The four factor competencies consist of: self awareness, self management, social awareness and relationship management. The assessment provides an overall emotional quotation (EQ) score as well as a score in each of the four emotional intelligence factors. The findings disclosed that men have higher level of emotional intelligence than Women. [2012] Comparative study of emotional intelligence of undergraduate students by Suresh Agrawal and Manoj Sharma analyzed the mean score of emotional intelligence between males and females. Stratified random sampling of 150 students, 75 males, 75 females science stream/arts/commerce, students of undergraduate program of Kurukshetra University, Haryana was conducted where in they concluded that mean of female score is higher than mean of male scores. 717

4 [2012] Pablo Fernández-Berrocal, Rosario Cabello, Ruth Castillo, and Natalio Extremera from University of Malaga (Spain) conducted a scientific research using MSCEIT [Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test] for their research article Gender differences in emotional intelligence: the mediating effect of age. Respondents for research were 170 males and 389 females and the age group ranged from 19 to 76 years. The analysis of their research was conducted using mulvariate analysis of variance. According to their research there was a statistical difference between the scores of emotional intelligence with varying age. Many scientific and empirical research has been conducted which shows that a gap exist between emotional intelligence score of male and female with varying age, demographic, location and professional background. The present study aims at finding the difference between emotional intelligence score of male and females who are working as human resource professional at Ahmedabad location. 4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4.1. Research problem To indentify, is there a difference in the emotional intelligence score for males and females who are working in Human Resource Department in various organization located at Ahmedabad. 4.2 Hypothesis Formulation Ho -Null Hypothesis There is no statistically significant difference between the emotional intelligence score of males and females working as Human resource professional in various organizations located at Ahmedabad H1-Alternate Hypothesis There is statistically significant difference between the emotional intelligence score of males and females working as Human resource professional in various organizations located at Ahmedabad. 4.3 Methodology Random respondents were selected and the questionnaire was administered considering. The analysis of the data was done using independent t test, with the help of Statistical package for social science [SPSS]. Independent t-test was used as it can help to compare the results of one sample with the results of another sample to see if there is a statistically significant difference between the two independent variable assigned Design of questionnaire and selection of variables The gender [male, female] was selected as an independent variable and emotional intelligence competency cluster as dependent variable Questionnaire source 15 factor questionnaire report for emotional intelligence classified according to Daniel Goleman s four factor taxonomy. The four factor competencies consist of: self awareness, self management [in personal domain], social awareness and relationship management [in interpersonal domain] Emotional intelligence competency clusters Emotional intelligence competency cluster divided into two sub clusters namely the personnel domain and the interpersonal domain. The personnel domain consists of two sub clusters namely self awareness and self management, similarly the interpersonal domain consist of two cluster social awareness and 718

5 relationship management. Further they are divided into fifteen individual competency factors. The entire four sub emotional intelligence competency cluster [inclusive of the fifteen factor represented in the group statistics below] are considered the dependent variable in the analysis of the data provided by the respondents. 4.5 Selection of Result scale Each emotional intelligence competency is has 10 point rating scale. An overall level ranging from low to high tendency is shown is as follows: Table 1 - Indicator levels of 10 point rating scale Score Level 1-2 Low 3-4 Moderate low 5-6 Moderate 7-8 Moderate high 9-10 High 4.6. Respondents The sample consists of 109 Human Resource professionals based at Ahmedabad. Out of which 56 are males and 53 are females. The industry-wide distribution is as follows: Table 2 Respondent Profile Industry wise LOCATION PROFESSION SECTOR NO OF RESPONDENTS % OF RESPONDENTS Ahmedabad Human Resource Professional Retail % IT 20 15% Banking 13 12% Education 15 13% Recruitment consulting 14 13% Pharmaceutical 24 22% Total % 719

6 4.7. Data Analysis and interpretation criteria Interpersonal domain Domain clusters Personal domain Table 3 Data Analyses: - Outcomes of independent student t- test sub domain Std. Error Parameters clusters Gender N Mean Std. Deviation Mean self confidence M F accurate self assessment M F emotional self M awareness F emotional self control M F Achievement orientation M F forward planning M F Conscientiousness M F Adaptability M F Trustworthiness M F Empathy M F interpersonal openness M F service orientation M F organizational M awareness F Persuasiveness M F conflict management M F inspirational leadership M F change catalyst M F team working M F open communication M F Self awareness Self management social awareness relationship management 720

7 Table 4 Result of t test for equality of means Domain clusters Personal domain Interpersonal domain sub domain clusters Self awareness Self management social awareness relationship management - equal variance assumed, -equal variance not assumed Levene's Test for Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means 95% Confidence Interval of the Difference Std. Sig. 2- Mean F Sig. T Df Error tailed Diff Diff Independent t test Lower Upper self confidence accurate self assessment emotional self control emotional self awareness achievement orientation forward planning Conscientiousness Adaptability Trustworthiness Empathy interpersonal openness service orientation organizational awareness Persuasiveness conflict management inspirational leadership change catalyst team working open communication

8 4.7.1 Interpretation of student s t test The following is the general interpretation of independent student t test:- Quantitative parameters Values Interpretation Sig Values Sig 2 tailed Values Greater than 0.05 Less than or equal to 0.05 Greater than 0.05 Less than or equal to 0.05 No significant difference between the given independent variables Significant difference between the given independent variables No significant difference between the given independent variables Significant difference between the given independent variables 5. INTERPRETATION OF THE STUDY AND RESEARCH FINDINGS From the above result table it can be interpreted that emotional intelligence factors like accurate self assessment, emotional self control, emotional self awareness, achievement orientation, forward planning, conscientiousness, adaptability, trustworthiness, empathy, service orientation, organizational awareness, conflict management, inspirational leadership, change catalyst, team working and open communication [where in sig.values is greater than 0.05], variability in the two genders is not significantly different. On the other hand emotional intelligence factors like self confidence, interpersonal openness and persuasiveness [where in sig.values is less than or equal to 0.05], the variability in the two genders is significantly different. It also explicit that emotional intelligence factors like self confidence, accurate self assessment, emotional self control, emotional self awareness, achievement orientation, forward planning, conscientiousness, adaptability, empathy, interpersonal openness, service orientation, organizational awareness, persuasiveness, conflict management, inspirational leadership, change catalyst, team working and open communication [where in sig 2 tailed test values is greater than 0.05], there is no statistically significant difference between the emotional intelligence score of male and females. On the other hand emotional intelligence factor like self trustworthiness [where in sig 2 tailed values is less than or equal to 0.05], there is statistically significant difference between the emotional intelligence score of male and females. The null hypothesis gets accepted [Alternate hypothesis being rejected], stating that there is no statistically significant difference between emotional intelligence score of males and females working as HR professional with respective to Ahmedabad region. 722

9 6. CONCLUSION AND FURTHER SCOPE OF RESEARCH Based on the literature, it is implicit that there exist a statically significant difference between the emotional intelligence score of male and female, which also depends on parameters of study like location, profession and industry. The results from the study strongly supports null hypotheses namely that there is no statically significant difference between emotional intelligence score of males and females working as human resource professional with reference to Ahmedabad city. It can also be concluded that the emotional intelligence score of male and female HR professional based at Ahmedabad are same across the industry selected for the study. Studies can be conducted for different sectors/industry and different profession to measure the emotional intelligence score of male and female. Also parameters like motivation level, performance appraisal and pay grades can be co-related with the competency of emotional intelligence. REFERENCE 1. Pablo Fernández-Berrocal, Rosario Cabello, Ruth Castillo, Natalio Extremera [2012], University of Malaga [Spain], Gender differences in emotional intelligence: the mediating effect of age, Behavioural Psychology, Volume 20, Number 1, Page Summiya Ahmad, Hayat Bangash [Department of Psychology University of Peshawar, 3. Peshawar, Pakistan], Sheraz Ahmad Khan[Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, NWFP Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan][2009], Emotional intelligence and gender differences, Sarhad Journal of Agriculture, Volume 25, Number 1,Page Ashkan Khalili Gender Differences in Emotional Intelligence among Employees of Small and Medium Enterprise: An Empirical Study, [2011] Journal of International Management Studies, Volume 6, Number 2, Page Agrawal Suresh [M M university campus, Haryana], Sharma Manoj [Central university of Himachal Pradesh] [2012], Comparative study of emotional intelligence of undergraduate students, Scholarly research journal for interdisciplinary studies, September 2012, Volume 1, Issue 2, Page Boyatzis, R.E., D. Goleman K. and Rhee Clustering competence in emotional intelligence: insights form the Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI). In R. Bar-On and J. D. A. Parker (Eds)., Handbook of Emotional Intelligence,San Francisco. Jossey Bars. 7. Goleman, D. (2001). An EI-based theory of performance. In C. Cherniss & D. Goleman (Eds.), The Emotionally Intelligent Workplace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 8. Bar-On, F., Brown, J. M., Kirkcaldy, B., & Thome, E. (2000). Emotional expression and implications for occupational stress; an application of the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ- I). Personality and Individual Differences, 28, Jordan, PJ. & Troth, AC. (2002). Emotional intelligence and conflict resolution: Implications for human resource development, in JL Callahan & EE McCollum (eds.), Advances In Developing Human Resources, Special Edition Perspectives of Emotion and Organizational Change, 4 (1), Mayer, J. D., & Salovey, P. (1997). What is emotional intelligence? In I. P. Salovey & D. J. Sluyter (Eds.), Emotional Development and Emotional Intelligence (pp. 3-13). New York: Basic Books. 11. Mr. Kunj karia, Study of Emotional Intelligence and Its Influence In Organizational Behaviour International Journal of Advanced Research in Management (IJARM), Volume 5, Issue 4, 2014, pp ISSN Print: , ISSN Online: