A Comparative Study of Emotional Intelligence of Men versus Women at Workplace.

Karthik Visvanath,

Ankush Kumar Shaw,

Avinash Choudhary,

Anuj Kumar

Raghuvanshi,

Arijit Sarkar

Sindhu Priyadharsini. S

Introduction

Globalization is impacting individual lives like never before and the need to stand out of the crowd has become an acute requirement for any level of considerable success, be it on a social, professional or personal platform. With competence and competitiveness becoming the new watch words, the individual is pushing limits to rise to the state of the fittest, to survive the competition.

Objective of the study

To observe, compare and contend the points of parities and disparities with respect to emotional intelligence in the case of men versus that of women at workplace.

Literature Review

Rational and Emotional intelligence are two essential attributes required by a successful leader. In this regard, stress management also becomes imperative, given the increasing competition and demand of the corporate world.

Goleman (1998) had proposed a solution of self-awareness as a key skill in handling stress, thereby indicating that a lack of emotional intelligence in such an unstable environment would mean possible failure that can impact on everyone’s future.

Management programmes that focus on the theory of stress, symptoms of stress and reactions to stress, rather than attempting to pre-empt stress by encouraging an understanding of emotional intelligence as a prerequisite to understanding reactions to stress, are becoming increasingly popular, according to Ramesar et al., (2009). It is therefore recommended that emotional intelligence be developed as a skill to aid in coping with stress.

Research Methodology

The methodology undertaken for this particular study is as follows.

• Sample technique Most of respondents for this study were targeted through social media and their responses are to be captured via online survey; other responses were collected personally. This study considers 50 samples for conducting qualitative analysis and interpretation. Stratified random sampling method is to be adopted for the same.  The respondents were asked to respond to a survey based on the Donna Earl Emotional Intelligence Quiz.

• Sample size Sample size to be taken for this study is 50, with 25 working men and 25 working women.

• Target group The target group for this study will comprise of Working men and women Age group: 21-50 Across professions Indian ethnicity

HYPOTHESIS

The hypothesis is to be formulated as follows:

Null hypothesis (H0): There is no disparity between levels of emotional intelligence of men versus that of women at workplace.

Alternate hypothesis (H1): There exists disparity between levels of emotional intelligence of men versus that of women at workplace.

SURVEY BASED ON DONNA EARL EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE QUIZ

The respondents were asked to respond to a survey based on the Donna Earl Emotional Intelligence Quiz. The online survey link is as listed below.

Following are the questions that were used in the survey. In all circumstances I respect other people and their feelings. I can easily identify my feelings. I take responsibility for own emotions. I can maintain control of my emotions. I find it easy to recognize/identify others' feelings and values I do not rush to judge or label other people and situations. I do not try to manipulate, criticize, blame or overpower others I am open to change my habitual response(s), if it is found inappropriate. I live in the present, learn from experiences, and do not carry negative feelings forward. Gender

Tables and scores and interpretation

The information obtained through the survey yielded results as shown in the table below.

Score Interpretation Males Females

40 to 45 High level of emotional maturity, awareness and control. 9 of 25 9 of 25

35 to 39 Higher than average level of emotional intelligence. 7 of 25 10 of 25

27 to 34 Base level emotional intelligence. 6 of 25 3 of 25

9 to 26 Low emotional intelligence. 3 of 25 3 of 25

Number of male respondents = 25; Number of female respondents = 25; Total number of respondents=50.

Based on inference from the website http://www.donnaearltraining.com/Articles/EmotionalIntelligenceQuiz.html

“Alternate hypothesis (H1): There exists disparity between levels of emotional intelligence of men versus that of women at workplace.”The responses clearly indicate that there exists disparity between men and women with regard to emotional intelligence at workplace. Therefore the null hypothesis (H0) is rejected and the alternative hypothesis (H1) is accepted.

FINDING AND SUGGESTIONS

The data obtained through the survey suggests that of the limited sample size, comparatively, there is a near equal distribution of individuals across all four levels of emotional intelligence. However, the number of women with higher than average level of emotional intelligence is more than the number of men with higher than average level of emotional intelligence, indicating the slight edge of women over men in overall EI.However, men overtake women where base level emotional intelligence is considered. This correlates to their abilities to be independent and translating purpose into action. While men are good at immediate response to stress, women fare better in handling long term stress.

ACCEPTANCES OF ALTERNATATIVE HYPOTHESIS ( H1)