CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Introduction contains several sections such as background of the study which includes the
definition of emotional intelligence and conflict, history and growth of emotional intelligence
and conflict, models of emotional intelligence and conflict, other sections include research
purpose, research questions and significance of the study.

1.1 Background of the study

When I think of a situation where the Conflict Management competency was missing, the story
of two telecoms in a European city comes to mind. The companies had a working alliance to
build a new product together with a team from each company assigned to the project. Even
though they were in the same city, the two teams never met in person. They just emailed each
other. And the email traffic degenerated so that they ended up having flame wars where they
were just sending angry, accusatory messages to each other. The product wasn’t getting done.
Clearly, they needed someone to skillfully manage the conflict that had developed.

Research highlights the value of effective conflict management, showing that teams that use a
cooperative approach to conflict have better business results. Southwest Airlines promotes
managers who demonstrate an ability to bring conflicts to the surface and to resolve them.

Harvard researchers found three common symptoms of so-called “hot conflicts.” Team members
persist in arguing the same points. They make personal accusations, and when emotion flares,
their progress halts. Likewise, further research shows that high performing teams surface
simmering disagreements and deal with them rather than suppressing or ignoring them.

The situation faced by the teams from the two European telecoms is far from unique. Conflicts
happen all the time in work settings, within teams, and between different parts of the same
organization. Conflict may start out as a simple difference of opinion or perspective, but without
skillful handling, it can expand into a work-stopping problem such as the telecoms experienced.
Skillful leaders must be able to navigate the waters of conflict, recognize it, handle their own
emotions about it, and help others move through the conflict.
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Two additional emotional intelligence competencies come into play when a leader steps in to
manage conflict. Emotional Self-Control helps keep the leader’s own reactions under wraps so
he or she can focus on those involved. And Empathy allows tuning into the perspectives and
feelings of those on either side of a rift in order to work toward a solution both can accept. 

1.1.1 Definitions, Meaning of Emotional Intelligence

Robert Cooper (1996): Emotional intelligence is the ability to sense, understand and effectively
apply the power of and acumen of emotions as a source of human energy, information, trust,
creativity and influence.

Reuven Bar-On (1997): Emotional intelligence reflects one’s ability to deal with daily
environment challenges and helps predict one’s success in life, including professional and
personal pursuits. (Bar-On had coined the term EQ, i.e., emotional quotient, in 1985.)

J. Mayer and P. Salovey (1997): Emotional intelligence is 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.

Daniel Goleman (1998): Emotional intelligence is the capacity for recognizing our own feelings
and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and
in our relationships. Emotional intelligence describes abilities distinct from, but complementary
to, academic intelligence or the purely cognitive capacities measured by IQ.

J. Freedman (1998): Emotional intelligence is a way of recognizing, understanding and

choosing how we think, feel and act. It shapes our interaction with others and our understanding
of ourselves. It defines how and what we learn, it allows us to set priorities, it determines the
majority of our daily actions

Jitendra Mohan (2003): Emotional intelligence is a positive combination of a deep insight into
one’s emotional and cognitive capacities and a charming flair of communication, empathy and

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motivation, leading to personal optimism, inter-personal confluence and organizational
excellence.

Mala Kapadia (2004): Emotional intelligence from Vedic psychology perspective can be
described as transformation of mind, body and spirit to realize our true potential for the universal
well being and abundance of joy.

Vinod Sanwal (2004): Emotional intelligence is the awareness of use of emotions and their
utilization within the parameters of individual cognitive styles to cope with situations and
problems.

Work is essential for the survival of human life and one must be responsible towards his/her
work and the organization. In today’s work culture, organizations are highly focused on
developing a stronger relationship between management and employees in order to reduce
differences in opinion, ideas, increase participation in decision making and most importantly to
reduce workplace conflicts. A broader view of such direct relations of human beings for mutual
considerations is experienced at organizational setups where people earn their lives. Mutual
considerations among people working in the same organization may benefit them and may
indulge them in conflicts. Conflicts may arise due to several reasons rooted in an individual’s
perception, understanding, emotions, attitude, behavior, values, and beliefs.

In this study, the emotional ability of individuals is evaluated in order to reduce or manage the
conflicting situation in the workplace. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a person’s ability to
understand and manage his own and emotions of others effectively (Goleman et al., 2002; Mayer
and Salovey, 1997). In conflicting situations, the role of emotions is quite significant since
conflicts are emotionally charged (Jones, 2000). In what manner an individual conceptualizes a
conflict, an individual's decision-making capacity in conflicts, choices made and behavior to
enact such choices, all are affected by emotions. In this study, a connection is explored to exist
between emotions and conflict and that too between emotional intelligence and conflict
management.

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Significant issues responsible for conflict formation and approaches would discuss the role of an
individual emotional state of mind. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to investigate the
relationships between emotions and conflict management in the workplace.

Emotional Intelligence is a set of qualities and competencies that captures a broad collection of
individual skills and dispositions, usually referred to as soft skills or inter and intra-personal
skills, that are outside the traditional areas of specific knowledge, general intelligence, and
technical or professional skills. Emotions are an intrinsic part of our biological makeup, and
every morning they march into the office with us and influence our behavior.

1.1.2 History

History of emotional intelligence traced back to the theory of social intelligence raised by
Servendayk in 1920 (Ghorbani, Bing, Watson, Davison, & Mack, 2002) In the late 1930‟s, E L
Thorndike an influential psychologist in the areas of learning, education and learning intelligence
identified a dimension and named it social intelligence. He described it as the ability to
understand men, women, boys and girls to act wisely in human relations. He proposed that
traditional intelligence has three constructs (1) concrete intelligence-ability to understand and
manipulate with objects (2) Abstract Intelligence -ability to understand and manipulate with
mathematical symbols (3) social intelligence as the ability to understand and relate with people,
as per Thorndike social intelligence included three elements; the individual’s attitude to society
such as politics, economics science etc and also values such as honesty; secondly, social
knowledge such as being well versed on contemporary issues and general knowledge about the
society and thirdly the individual’s capacity for social adjustment such as interpersonal relations
and family bonding. Thorndike however did not have any reference to personality types or
interpersonal skills but all most everything related to human intelligence. His contentions were of
great help in trying to establish the construct validity of emotional intelligence

A background of Emotional Intelligence can also be found in Wechsler’s idea in 1940, in his
works wherein he was referring to “non-intellective” as well as “intellective” elements, by which
he meant affective, personal and social factors. It is this non intellective factor that determines
one’s ability to succeed in life. He found Emotional Intelligence to be integrated with an
individual’s personality development. His views however did not attract much attention. In the

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1950‟s humanist psychologist Dr Abraham Maslow contributed to this concept, by describing
that people

can build on their emotional strengths. Studies conducted at the Ohio State University, later on
leadership considered two factors; task vs consideration. „Consideration‟ was seen to be an
important aspect of effective leadership. Leaders who were able to establish mutual respect, trust
and warmth, rapport become more effective.

These developments led to the popularity of interpersonal competences. Several other

independent studies in the contemporary period also mentioned about emotional intelligence
(Piaget, 1952; Leuner, 1966; Payne, 1985; Beasley, 1987). Piaget (1952) proposed intelligence
as an adaptive process and Leuner (1966) also mentioned about the concept in his german article
“Emotional Intelligence and Emancipation”. Payne (1985) also used this term in an unpublished
doctoral dissertation titled „A Study of Emotion: Developing Emotional Intelligence’. In 1987,
Keith Beasley in an article published in Mensa Magazine, used the term “Emotional Quotient”.

In 1975, Howard Gardner published „The Shattered Mind’ which introduces the concept of
multiple intelligences. Later Howard Gardner (1986) in his book wrote about Multiple
Intelligence and proposed „intrapersonal‟ and „interpersonal‟ intelligence as part of social
intelligence, which later has been an important thread in the conceptualization of the term
emotional intelligence. He had classified eight intelligences.

It was in 1990, the Psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer published their landmark article,
“Emotional Intelligence,” in the journal Imagination, Cognition, and Personality wherein they
were trying to explain Emotional Intelligence as a distinct form of intelligence. And the concept
of emotional intelligence got popularized after the publication of psychologist and New York
Times science writer Daniel Goleman’s book „Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More
Than IQ‟.

Mayer (2001) identified the psychological activities of the past century into five main periods in
the evolution of emotional intelligence: separate narrow fields, precursor to Emotional

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Intelligence, emergence of Emotional Intelligence, popularization and broadening of Emotional
Intelligence& research and institutionalization of Emotional Intelligence.

Mayer, Roberts and Barsade (2008) in their later work mentions about Specific-Ability and
Integrative-Model approaches, to adequately conceptualize and measure Emotional Intelligence
which was termed as the scope model of emotional intelligence. As per this model, Emotional
Intelligence is closely related to these two scientific concepts; intelligence and emotions. Both
the terms have been defined in a consensual manner by psychologists for eg: Intelligence is
defined as the ability to understand information and emotions is defined as a coordinated
response to its environment. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to reason about emotions as
well as the capacity to use feelings, emotions and emotional information to assist reasoning (as
cited in Gadot et al., 2001). So the concept of emotional intelligence formally developed out of
the growing emphasis on research in the interaction of emotion and thought in the field of
psychology in 1990‟s. From a general point of view, Emotional Intelligence is about the
intelligent use of emotions and utilizing the power or information contained in emotion to make
effective decisions. (Ciarrochi & Mayer, 2007)

Distinction between emotional intelligence as a trait and emotional intelligence as an ability was
done in 1990‟s which is further discussed in the next section of models of Emotional
Intelligence, that became popular later in the commercialization and laid the foundation for much
empirical research in emotional intelligence.

1.1.3 Models of Emotional Intelligence

 Three Models of Emotional Intelligence

Too often the notion of emotional intelligence in a professional environment makes many break
out in to sweat, experience palpitations, start trembling, shake really hard, have shortness of
breath and feel anxiety.

The reality is not near as bad as we think. Emotional intelligence (EI) is a set of cognitive and
non-cognitive competencies, skills and abilities, directly and essentially connected to the

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behaviors and actions of everyone, in every field, including the actions of public administrators,
policymakers, managers and leader at any level of the organization bureaucracy.

The three major models of Emotional Intelligence —Goleman’s EI performance model, Bar-
On’s Emotional Intelligence competencies model, and Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso’s EI ability
model— resulted from decades of research, analysis and scientific investigations. Those
Emotional Intelligence models focused on the individual’s cognitive and noncognitive
competencies, skills and abilities, with the purpose of understanding what emotions drive human
behavior.

According to Goleman, Emotional Intelligence is an array of skills and competencies that

contribute to the performance of managers and leaders in the workplace. Those skills and
competencies focus on four capabilities: self-awareness, relationship management, self-
management and social awareness.These four EI competencies are the foundation of twelves
Emotional Intelligence subscales that include emotional self-awareness, emotional self-control,
adaptability, achievement orientation, positive outlook, influence, coaching and mentoring,
empathy, conflict management, teamwork, organizational awareness and inspirational leadership.

Figure 1.1 Emotional Intelligence Model

Source :Iberkis Faltas, PhD (ABD)

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According to Bar-On, EI is an arrangement of interconnected behavior driven by emotional and
social competencies that influence performance and behavior. Bar-On’s EI model focuses on five
EI scales: self-perception, self-expression, interpersonal, decision-making and stress
management, and 15 subscales: self-regard, self-actualization, emotional self-awareness,
emotional expression, assertiveness, independence, interpersonal relationship, empathy, social
responsibility, problem-solving, reality testing, impulse control, flexibility, stress tolerance, and
optimism, driving human behavior and relationships.

The last one, Mayer, Salovey and Caruso, EI ability model focuses on perceiving
understanding, and managing emotions, and using that information to facilitate thinking, and
guide our decisions. Their EI framework emphases four branches of human abilities: perceiving
emotions, facilitating thought, understanding emotions and managing emotions strive to enhance
the advancement of new intelligence and more intelligent method of building trusting
relationships.

A closed analysis showed that in fact, EI touches and influences every aspect of our lives, from
driving our behavior, making decisions, solving conflicts, the way we feel about ourselves, how
we communicate with others, and how we manage everyday stress, to the way we perform in the
workplace, manage, and lead teams. EI influences every aspect of our personal and professional
development, helping us to advance, mature and reach our goals.

In public administration, EI enhances and endorses the type of human behavior that promotes
fairness, social justice, social balance, leadership, trust, respect, motivation, growth and
excellence. EI improves and help us to build stronger relationships, influencing our senses, from
the way we perceive, to the way we think about the world around us.

It is extremely important to understand the distinctive characteristics between emotions and EI.
Emotion is a natural instinctive state of mind that derives from our current and past experiences
and situations. Emotions originate in our environment, circumstances and knowledge, as well as
our moods, and relationships. Our feelings and experiences influence our emotions. Conversely,
EI is the ability, skill and awareness to know, recognize, and understand those feelings, moods,
and emotions, and use them in a positive way. EI is learning how to manage feelings and

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emotions, and use that information to behave and act, including making decisions, solving
problems, self-management and leading others.

The Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations focuses on the

advancement, research, and better practice of EI in organizational settings. Scholars in the
organization believe that EI competencies, skills, and abilities are essential to a healthy and
productive environment and behavior. Decades of academic research and scientific
investigations allow the scholars to validate that EI enhances productivity, satisfaction,
relationships, goals, and many other aspects of the individuals’ professional and personal life.
Further, scholars validated and highlighted that EI enhances self-esteem, well-being, as well as
professional and personal motivations. Academic research validated that EI competencies, skills,
and abilities hold the key to greater career success, which in current modernism comprises the 80
percent of employee success, distinguishing the best from the average.

All public servants, managers, leaders, policymakers and executive management, regardless of
their professional fields and area of responsibility must learn EI capabilities. The knowledge and
awareness linked to EI will help them to have a better understanding of their constituents, as well
as a better control of their temper, frustrations, behavior, performance and communication
methods.

Goleman said: “people do not leave the company; people leave bad bosses.” I concur with his
statement. Keep it in mind when building your next team, writing your next policy, or
communicating with the person next to you.

1.1.4 Definitions of Conflict

Thomas (2005) defines conflict as a natural disagreement resulting from individuals/groups that
differed in attitudes, beliefs, values or needs.  They can also originate from past rivalries and pers
onality differences.  

Stephen (1978) defines conflict as any kind of opposition or antagonistic interaction between two 
or more parties.   

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Simmel (1955) writes: ‘If every interaction among men is a sociation, conflict must certainly be
considered as sociation.’

Park and Burgess (1921), likewise, treat conflict as a distinct form of competition. They wrote:
‘Both are forms of interaction but competition is a struggle between individuals or groups of
individuals who are not necessarily in contact and communication while conflict is a contest in
which contact is an indispensable condition.’

According to Max Weber (1968), ‘a social relationship will be referred to as conflict in so far as
action within it is oriented intentional to carrying out the actor’s own will against the resistance
of the other party or parties. Thus, the social interaction of conflict is defined by the desire of
each participant to impose his will upon the other’s resistance.

1.1.5 History of Conflict

Conflict can be defined as a struggle between one, two or more parties with opposing needs,
ideas, beliefs, values and goals. Conflict can lead to productive and non-productive results, thus
wherever a conflict may fall on this continuum, it will always affect organizational life.
According to Rahim (1986), conflict is defined as an "interactive state manifested in
incompatibility, disagreement, ordifference within or between social entities”. Individuals
respond to conflict based on the cognitive patterns and affective variables that are associated
with a conflict situation (Pruitt & Olczak, 1995; Sorenson, Morse & Savage, 1999). These two
factors are heavily dependent on the individuals' personal interests, values and intellectual
properties (Rubin, Pruitt & Kim, 1994; Sorenson et aI., 1999). Rahim and Bonoma (1979)
depicted two primary originating points of organizational conflict which are within a person and
between two or more individuals. These two points serve as the foundation for three levels of
organizational conflict: intrapersonal, intragroup and intergroup (Rahim, 1986). Below are the
four types of conflict in accordance with Rahim's (1986) definition. This paper deals with
intrapersonal and interpersonal conflict.

Studying the causes of conflict can provide insights into the behavioral patterns of individuals
that can lead to more effective organizational training. Renwick (1975) noted that the verified

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causes of intraorganizational conflict are "differences in knowledge, beliefs, or basic
values,competition for a position, power or recognition, a need to release tension, drive for
autonomy, personal dislike, and differing perceptions or attitudes generated by the structure of
the organizations" (as cited in Weider-Hatfield, 1995, p. 688). According to Rahim & Bonoma
(1979), the sources of conflict can be classified as personal-cultural and structural. Personal
cultural conflict occurs as a result of perceived differences between two or more social entities
because of the personalities and cultural background of the organizational members.
Organization structure on the other hand, is a "relatively stable arrangement of human and other
resources, such as the differentiated systems, rules and procedures, hierarchy of authority,
mechanism for integration so that effective attainment of objectives for a social system are
facilitated" (p. 1328). The structure of an organization determines the modes in which it operates
and performs.

1.1.6 Models of Conflict Resolution

 Early conflict management models

Several styles have been identified by theorist – one of the early theorists of conflict style
resolution was one-dimensional proposed by Mary P Follet (1924), where three styles were
proposed initially – domination, compromise and integration and added two more secondary
styles later on, namely avoidance and suppression. Following this a conceptual model for
classifying conflict in a dichotomous orientation involving either cooperation or competition was
suggested (Deutsch, 1949). Deutsch defined conflict as incompatible interaction between two
individuals, where one is interfering, obstructing or in other ways making the behavior of another
less effective. He says that the outcomes of conflict can be constructive or destructive depending
upon whether the conflict is handled cooperatively or competitively.

Blake and Mouton (1964) developed the managerial grid, which included two dimensions:
concern for production and concern for people with five styles– proposed that conflict is
managed in different ways depending on whether the individuals, specifically managers on how
high or low their concerns are for the two dichotomous dimensions. By combining the two
dimensions, five styles were generated: problem solving resulting from high concern for
productivity and people, forcing showing high concern for productivity and low concern for

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people, compromising based on moderate concern for productivity and people, smoothing
depending on low concern for productivity and high concern for people, and withdrawing
representing low concern for productivity and low concern for people. In the 1970s and 1980s,
researchers began using the intentions of the parties involved to classify the styles of conflict
management to include in their models. Some of the popular models are that of Thomas (1976),
Derr (1978) and Pruitt (1983) based on the concerns of the parties involved in the conflict

 Contingency approach to conflict management

Derr (1978) proposed a contingency approach for the choice of conflict management strategies.
He suggested three main strategies of conflict management: Power play, Bargaining, and
Collaboration. He suggested that collaboration is best suited when relationship between the
parties is interdependent in nature, cost of unresolved conflict is very high and organization
supports the open expression of disagreements and working on the same. Bargaining works fine
when parties are interested in showing power and is used as a mechanism to allocate scarce
resources and usually invoked for arriving at a formal agreement. Bargaining is also effective in
the situations where parties to disagreement use either collaboration or power play and fail to
arrive an agreement, bargaining works as middle of the road approach. Power play is used to deal
with conflicts between competing forces and this strategy works well with people who are well
versed in using power tactics. Therefore, two variables appear to influence choice of mode of
influence of strategies, integration of the in-group and the criticality of the issue of conflict.
These two variables may vary from low to high and when the two variables become high,
approach strategies of conflict management may become more relevant. Ruble and Thomas
(1976); Thomas (1976); Thomas and Kilmann (1978) some of the early pioneers in conflict
styles research in their works have suggested that an individual’s conflict style is a behavioral
orientation of how to approach and handle conflict, with individuals choosing a pattern of
principles to guide them through the conflict process. These patterns evolve into actions and
reactions that become known as their “style”.

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Based on the work of Blake and Mouton, Thomas (1976) and Thomas and Kilmann (1978)
labelled two components of conflict behavior as “Assertiveness” and “Cooperativeness” where
individuals are the unit of analysis. Assertiveness was a behavior that satisfies one’s own
concern, and cooperativeness was a behavior that satisfies another person’s concerns.

These two dimensions yield five conflict management styles namely competing, accommodation,
compromise, avoiding, and collaboration. The competing style is high in concern for self, which
is characterized by a drive to maximize individual gain, even at the expense of others. While
collaborating style, finds solutions to the conflict by trying to meet the needs of all parties
involved. The avoiding style is low in concern for self and disengages them from conflict. The
accommodating style sacrifices self-interests to satisfy the needs of others. Finally,
compromising which is the midpoint between cooperativeness and assertiveness, and involves
making concessions to arrive at a resolution of conflict. This model has been one of the popular
models.

Figure 1.2 Thomas & Kilmann’s two-dimensional model of Conflict handling behavior

Source: Adapted from “Thomas-Kilmann’s Conflict Mode Instrument”, by K W Thomas &

R H Kilmann, 1974

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 Pruitt’s Dual Concern model

Pruitt (1983) suggested a dual concern model concern for self and concern for others, partially
based on Blake and moutons‟ conflict model developed in 1964. He suggested four styles –
yielding, problem solving, inaction and contending. The yielding style is low in assertiveness and
high in cooperativeness; problem solving is high in assertiveness and high in cooperativeness;
inaction is low in both assertiveness and cooperativeness, and contending style is high in
assertiveness and low in cooperativeness. In this model unlike other conflict models,
compromising style is not considered as a distinct style. Pruitt argues that problem-solving is the
preferred method when seeking mutually beneficial options and creates a win-win situation.
Empirical evidence from the studies of Pruitt (1983) and Pruitt and Carnevale (1993) has shown
that problem solving is the most effective style for managing conflicts, although these studies
have not presented evidence of how the four styles can impact on job performance and
productivity.

Several other theorists also contributed later in defining conflict style. Womack (1988) defines
conflict styles as the „style that an individual chooses to satisfy one-self or others‟. Wilmont and
Hocker (2001) expresses conflict as “an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent
parties who perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources and interference from others in
achieving their goals” and conflict management styles refer to “patterned responses, or clusters
of behaviour, that people use in conflict” through diverse communication tactics.

 Vliert and Euwema meta-taxonomy model

Several alternative conceptualizations and classifications of conflict management behaviour led

to a confusion in the academic literature , which led Van de Vliert and Euwema (1994) to
examine the literature available on conflict management at the time and established what they
claimed a "metataxonomy" that encompasses all other models. It subsumed the different conflict
styles under two higher order categories; “agreeableness” and “activeness” Activeness dimension
describes the extent to which conflict behaviours make a responsive and direct rather than inert
and indirect impression (Van de Vliert and Euwema, 1994). The agreeableness dimension is the

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extent to which conflict behaviours make a pleasant and relaxed rather than unpleasant and
strainful impression (Van de Vliert and Euwema, 1994).High activeness is characterized by
openly discussing differences of opinion while fully going after their own interest whereas high
agreeableness is typified by attempting to satisfy expectations of all parties involved.
Alternatively, low activeness dimension accommodates one another’s wishes and generally
avoids an open discussion and low agreeableness is characterized by the use of influence in
getting their ideas being accepted and might also avoid disagreements altogether. Two other
studies provide initial support for the active dimension (open discussion) of conflict management
as important predictor of group effectiveness.

Based on this model, De church and Marks (2001) did an empirical study with undergraduate
business management students in the south eastern university to investigate the direct and
interactive relationships between task conflict and agreeable and active conflict management in
predicting the performance and satisfaction of work groups. The study conducted to validate this
division, activeness did not have a significant effect on group performance, but the agreeable
task conflict management did positively predict satisfaction. A positive impact on how groups
felt about the way the conflict were managed was seen regardless of the outcome.

 Kuhn and Poole's model

Following Thomas & Kilmann (1974,1978) conflict management style was defined by Kuhn and
Poole (2000) as a “general and consistent orientation toward the other party and the conflict
issues, manifest in observable behaviors that form a pattern and share common characteristics
over time”. Kuhn and Poole (2000) established a similar style of group conflict management.
This model was based on Kazan's (1997) group conflict management model which establishes
three group conflict management models-regulative, harmony and confrontational. Regulative
model resolves conflict by bureaucratic rules and regulations. Harmony model manage conflict
by avoiding it which is achieved by following certain organizational and societal norms.
Basically, this model views conflict as harmful and if at all emerges it is solved by third party
mediation. In the confrontational model conflicts are made up of multiple issues which are

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further broken down and confronted by both the parties. The parties then try to reach at
reasonable compromise in spite of parties confronting each other.

Kuhn and Poole (2000) model discussed two approaches ie the distributive and integrative
approaches. In Distributive model, conflict is seen as a distribution of a fixed number of positive
outcomes or resources, where one side will end up winning and the other losing, even if any of
the parties win some concessions. Whereas groups using the Integrative approach see conflict as
a chance to integrate the needs and concerns of both groups and make the best outcome possible.
They found that the integrative model has a greater emphasis than the distributive model as it
resulted in consistently better task related outcomes than that of the distributive model.

 Rahim's meta-model

Rahim (2002) noted that there is agreement among management scholars that there is no one best
approach to how to make decisions, lead or manage conflict. In a similar vein, rather than
creating a very specific model of conflict management, the author created a model, which in fact
was reinterpreted based on the motivational orientation of the parties involved. Rahim and
Bonomo(1979) proposed a conflict handling model based on both the grid of managerial styles
proposed by Blake and Mouton, as well as the Thomas’s five modes model. He came with a
slight differentiation with two dimensions namely; concern for self and concern for others which
basically portrays the motivational orientation of an individual at the time of conflict. They
labelled the two dimensions (cooperativeness and assertiveness and concern for self and for
others) and some styles differently, but the basic assumptions and principles behind are similar.
Five conflict handling approaches namely integrating, obliging, compromising, dominating and
avoiding was identified. Compared with the model proposed by Thomas (1976), Rahim and
Bonoma termed Integrating as Collaborating, obliging instead of Accommodating, and
Dominating as Competing.

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 Figure 1.3 Rahim and Bonoma’s two-dimensional model of five styles of handling
interpersonal conflict.

Source: Adapted from Rahim, A., & Bonoma, T. V. (1979). Managing organizational conflict: A
model diagnosis and intervention. Psychological Reports, 44, 1327.

Rahim‟s five conflict handling styles as shown , Integrating also known as Problem Solving,
(IN) involves high concern for self as well asthe other party involved in the conflict. Adopters of
this style are primarilyconcerned with collaboration between parties to reach a solution and
arewilling to reach a mutual and acceptable solution through openness, exchangeof information,
examination and exploration of differences for arriving at aconstructive solution. Obliging also
known as accommodating, (OB) style islow concern for self and high concern for the other party
involved in theconflict. Parties using this style attempts to play down the differences
andemphasize the commonalities to satisfy the concerns of the other party. Thisstyle may take
the form of selfless generosity, charity, or obedience to theparty’s order. An obliging person can
be called a “conflict absorber” termsdescribing a reaction of low hostility or even friendliness to
a perceived hostile act. Dominating or competing, (DO) style is high concern for

self and lowconcern for the other party. It is a win-lose orientation and forces behavior towin
one’s position. Such persons would defend their position if they areconvinced that it is right or
correct. Avoiding (AV) style is a low concern forself as well as the other party. This is associated
with withdrawal, passing-the buck,sidestepping. As suggested by Rahim this style may take the

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form ofpostponing an issue until a better time or simply withdrawing from athreatening situation.
Compromising (CO) style takes a middle of the roadapproach shows an Inter mediate concern
for self and others. This styleinvolves exchanging concession, or seeking a quick, middle ground
position.According to Rahim et al., (2002) conflict resolution implies reduction, elimination or
termination of conflict and therefore can be concluded that depending on the organizational
settings it varies.

 Pareek Model of Conflict Management

Pareek (1982) proposed a contingency model of conflict management strategies which is

dependent on various situations specific to the group. This model proposes a three-dimensional
framework which involves three variables – modes of conflict namely approach and avoidance,
interest in peace and openness to reasoning.

Here the assumption of conflict depends upon the perception of the outgroup which is used as the
base to understand the modes of conflict management. It may be perceived as always opposed to
the interest of the in group and as being belligerent or may be perceived as having its own
interests or interested in peace. Similarly, the out-group may be perceived as unreasonable
resulting in lack of hope or as open to reason. The general orientation of the parties may be an
avoidance orientation or approach orientation. This approach avoidance orientation becomes
significant in determining the effectiveness of managerial behavior. Avoidance is based on fear
and is dysfunctional while approach is based on hope and functional for effectiveness.
Avoidance is characterized by a tendency to deny, rationalize or avoid problems, to displace
anger or aggression, or to use emotional appeals; approach orientation is characterized by
making efforts to find a solution by one’s own efforts or with the help of others. This dimension
has been used by Pareek (1982) to understand managerial behavior in terms of their managerial
style which are similar to what Blake and Mouton (1964) have suggested, as the active passive
mode. Combining these two; perception of the parties and avoidance approach dimension, eight
styles of conflict management namely resignation, withdrawal, defusion, appeasement,
confrontation, compromise, negotiation and arbitration were identified. The avoidance styles are
conflict management aim at avoiding or postponing conflicts in a variety of ways, while the

Page 18
approach modes of conflict styles take aggressive or understanding forms by taking positive
steps to confront conflicts and find solutions (Pareek, 2002).

The eight styles are explained; Resignation (Avoidance mode) – The extreme mode may turn to
be fatal as it result in state of helplessness due to hostility of the other group or ignoring the
conflict by denying an unpleasant situation and let the conflict resolve in its due course;
Withdrawal (Avoidancemode) – This mode of conflict tries to get away from the conflict
situation by avoiding/withdrawing from the conflict when it takes place /physical
separation/defining boundaries between the conflicting parties; Defusion

(Avoidance mode) - this mode buy time for dealing with a conflict. When too many emotional
issues are involved and when emotions are too strong, one allows it to cool down; Appeasement

(Avoidance mode)- In this mode ,the parties may give in to some concessions to the opponent
group assuming that conflict will get over and they will be satisfied where the objective is to
have a temporarily truce; Confrontation (Approach mode) - in this mode the parties fight out the
issue to get a solution which may result in the win-lose trap as both parties have opposing
interest and are unreasonable; Compromise(Approach mode) – this mode is the process of
sharing the gains but with little efforts to resolve the conflict; Negotiation (Approach mode) –
the most satisfactory mode when both the groups jointly confront the problem and explore the
situation; Arbitration (Approach mode) - this mode uses a third party to resolve the problem
mostly done when the other party is perceived as being belligerent and unreasonable.

Based on the contingency approach discussed above with eight different styles of conflict
management and modes (approach and avoidance) of conflict management, a tool was developed
to measure conflicts in an Indian context known as the „Opinion Survey Of Organizational
Conflict Questionnaire‟ (Pareek, 1982). Based on this, Pareek and Purohit (2011) prepared
Conflict Resolution Inventory (CRI) with five styles later. Similar to this approach avoidance
mode of conflict management, Walton and Mckersie (1965) have used the term „integrative
bargaining‟ which comes closer to what is referred to as negotiation. In integrative bargaining
newer and better options are generated. Blake, Shepard and Mouton (1964) had also mentioned
about the functional method of conflict management (as cited in Pareek, 2002). Conflict
resolution style theorists opine that collaborative or integrative style, where there is high concern

Page 19
for task and people, is considered to give positive individual and organizational outcomes and
hence associated with reduced conflict intensity, while the withdrawing /avoidance style are
associated with conflict intensity and the forcing / dominating style also considered to have
positive outcomes at times (Barker, Tjosvold & Andrews, 1988; Thomas, 1992) Though
managers have typical preferences in the styles followed it need not necessarily be that managers
follow the same style always.

1.2 Research Purpose

 To gain a conceptual understanding of the role of emotions and emotional intelligence in
conflict formation & resolution at workplace.
 To explore the extent of relationship between EI and Conflicts in an organization.
 To know about major skills that make up EI

1.3 Research Questions

 How to apply the principles of emotional intelligence in both personal and
professional spheres?
 How to develop your interpersonal skills to manage disagreements, difficult
situations and interactions?
 How much will emotional competence help in coping with workplace challenges
like conflicts, anger and stress?
 What are the various ways that can be used in conflict resolution?
 Why some conflict is to be expected and why it is a part of healthy relationships?

Page 20
1.4 Significance of Study

The telecom sector is characterized by lot of uncertainty, volatility and complexity and ‘Human
Capital’ being the major service providers, conflict becomes an inevitable phenomenon in
organizations. When conflicts arise, rather than suppressing the differences we need to resolve it
by managing the conflict by understanding the difference. Keeping in mind the numerous

challenges, ability to cope with conflicts and use it in a functional manner is what is required.

A failure to learn effective ways to handle conflict may lead to dysfunctional outcomes. Hence a
study of this kind would be of great use for managers, as they are the ones who set the tone for
the entire team or employees in an organization. If the present study is able to prove the role of
emotional intelligence in functional conflict resolution it’s definitely going to have a lot of
practical applications at the workplace.

The present study would definitely add on to the existing literature in validating the role of EI in
conflict management in building a constructive organizational culture. Also studies linking these
two variables namely emotional intelligence and conflict management styles.

Page 21
 Chapter2: Business Profile

2.1 Business Information

 Business Name: Tata Communications

 Head Office Address: Tower 4, 4th to 8th Floor, Equinox Business Park, LBS Marg,
Kurla (W) Mumbai 400070  
 Contact No: 1800 266 0660
 Website: www.tatacommunications.com
 Contact of the person in charge: +919029019067

2.2 Business Details

 Date of Creation: 1986

 Main areas of activities: Telecommunication
 Main Products & Services: Network Services, Network Security, Internet Services, Data
Center Services Enterprise, Cloud Telephony, Cloud Networking
 Principal Customer Industries &Geography: It provides network services and software
defined network platforms and is served worldwide

2.3 Business Capacity

 Human Resource: 8500 employees (2018)

 Financial Information: ₹17,095 crore (US$2.4 billion) (2018)
 Technical Information: Certified by ISO 14001:2015, OHSAS 18001:2007, 1SO 9001:
2015, PAS 99 :2012, BS 10012: 2017. Certified by MEF
 Other (Success Story): Ramanuj Choubey, Associate Director – Global HRBP
An HR Professional with a well-rounded experience of 13 yrs. On a road map of
transitioning from Tactical to Strategic. MBA with exposure to Leadership models,
Talent Management, Hi Pots/Hi Flyer’s Management, Competency Mapping, Career
Development (Launching Career Portal), Succession Planning, Interviewing techniques,
concepts of Delegation and Employee Engagement Practices & New Geo enablement in a
Global role.
Exposure to multiple domains & HR Best Practices in service Industry: Telecom , BFSI ,
BCM: Credit Card Collections, Insurance (Inbound Customer Service), IT& ITES (Back
Office, Customer Service & Sales)

Page 22
 Chapter 3: Processes & Procedures

Khalili Ashkan (2012): Emotional intelligence has become a familiar issue between educators,
counselors and business leaders due to a significant role in the workplace. Self-assessment
together with conflict management are just some significant influences of emotional intelligence
within organizations that would result in increasing organizational effectiveness. Therefore, the
purpose of this study is to provide aim-depth literature review on the emergence of emotional
intelligence in the workplace as well as discussing main theories of emotional intelligence, based
on the relevant literature and practical studies.

Peter J. Jordan, Ashlea C. Troth (2002): In this research paper that have illustrated that there
continues to be strong interest regarding the emotional intelligence because of the construct’s
potential as a predictor of workplace behavior in organizations. The research has been
conducted, however, that considers the implications of emotional intelligence for organizational
change and human resource development in organizations. The study also examines the
implications for human resource development and micro level organizational change. The results
consistently showed that individuals with high emotional intelligence preferred to seek solutions
when confronted with conflict.

Kumar Mohit, Singh Kuldeep (2018): In this research paper it has elucidated that workplace
engages persons together whether in small or large groups and where they are trying to earn real
necessity of their lives. Managers must have a high level of EI, with the ability to manage
emotions, can make the work environment better and so the chances of conflict arousal could
automatically become less. It suggests that workplace conflict may be an inevitable part of
individuals organizational life, but its probability of occurrence can be reduced to a maximum by
understanding the relationship of emotions with conflicts formation and with efficient
application of EI.

Batool Fakhra Bano (2013): The aim of this research paper is to explore the relationship
between emotional intelligence and effective leadership to evaluate the emotional control of the
working class both male and female at a managerial level in an organization. Emotional
Intelligence has become popular as a measure for identifying effective leaders, and as a tool for
developing effective leadership skills.

Page 23
Random sampling technique is used to answer the instrument of the study. SPSS software was
used to analyze the data collected based on descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, and
percentage. The result indicates that the relationship between leadership style and Emotional
Intelligence is positive and significant.

BrackettMarc , Salovey Peter (2011):This research paper presents an overview of the ability
model of emotional intelligence and includes a discussion about how and why the concept
became useful in both educational and workplace settings. They have reviewed the four
emotional abilities comprising emotional intelligence and the assessment tools that that have
been developed to measure the construct. Their aim was to provide a review of the research
describing the correlates of emotional intelligence. They have described what is known about
how emotionally intelligent people function both intra‐ and interpersonally and in both academic
and workplace.

Morrison Jeanne (2008): The purpose of this research paper was to determine if a relationship
exists between emotional intelligence (EI) and preferred conflict‐handling stylesof nurses. As we
know conflict cannot be eliminated from the workplace therefore learning appropriate conflict
handling skills is important. The issue of occupational stress and conflict among nurses is a
major concern. It is essential that we learn how to effectively handle conflict in the work
environment. Developing the competencies of EI and understanding how to effectively handle
conflict is necessary for nurses working in a highly stressful occupation. Understanding how EI
levels and conflict skills correlate can be used to improve interpersonal relationships in a
healthcare facility.

Carmeli Abraham (2003):This paper suggests that managerial skills and emotional intelligence
in particular, play a significant role in the success of managers in the workplace. Although a few
studies have provided evidence to support this statement, it has not received an appropriate
empirical investigation. This study attempts to narrow this gap by examining the extent to which
managers with a high emotional intelligence employed in public sector organizations develop
positive work attitudes, behavior and outcomes. The results indicate that emotional intelligence
have positive work attitudesand work outcomes, and the effect of work‐family conflict on career
commitment but doesn’t have an effect on job satisfaction.

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Psenicka Clement (2003):The study investigated the relationships of the five dimensions of
emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills of
supervisors to subordinates, strategies of handling conflict, problem solving and bargaining. It
suggests that self-awareness is positively associated with self-regulation, empathy, and social
skills; self-regulation is positively associated with empathy and social skills; empathy and social
skills are positively associated with motivation; which in turn, is positively associated with
problem solving strategy and negatively associated with bargaining strategy.

Susanto Ely (2010):The purpose of this paper was to investigate the relationships among
emotional intelligence (EI), conflict management styles and job performance. The findings
indicate that EI was an antecedent of conflict management styles for integrating and
compromising styles. It has also illustrated the direct effects of integrating style on job
performance. It confirms that integrating style partially mediates the relationship between EI and
job performance. Finally, the results demonstrate that EI within public organizations has an
impact on job performance similar to that of EI within private organizations. The paper verifies
that EI within public sectors can provide beneficial results as discovered in private organizations.

Rehman Rana Rashid (2011):This paper constructs a conceptual model to study the impact of
emotional intelligence on the relationship among leadership styles, decision making styles and
organizational performance. Thisalso gives the brief review of emotional intelligence, leadership
styles and the relationship among leadership styles, emotional intelligence and other studied
variables.It has conceptual based theoretical evidences to support the model. The literature
supports the idea that emotional intelligence moderates the relationship among leadership styles
and decision-making styles as emotional intelligence strongly associated with leadership styles
and decision making styles.

K. V. Petrides , Furnham Adrian (2006):This study explored the relationships between trait
emotional intelligence, job control, job stress, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. It
was analyzed that job control had a negative effect on stress and a positive effect on satisfaction.
Stress had a negative effect on satisfaction, which, in turn, had the strongest positive effect on
commitment. There were many gender differences, mainly concerning age, which was negatively
related to control and commitment in the female sample only.

Page 25
Kannaiah Desti, Shanti (2015):This paper has made a better understanding about the various
reasons for emotion and better control over the emotion. Handling emotions is an important
requirement for a HR for himself and among the employees as well. This will help to increase
organizational commitment, improve productivity, efficiency, retain best talent and motivate the
employees to give their best. It confirms that both emotional intelligence and work life balance
together create organizational success and develop competitive advantage for organizations. The
study concludes that emotional intelligence is linked at every point of workplace performance
and it is of utmost importance nowadays. Hence, to be successful in life Emotional intelligence
plays a vital role.

Koman, E. S., & Wolff, S. B. (2008): This study examines the relationships among team leader
EI competencies and team performance. The researchers has also provided three suggestions.
Firstly, Employee leaders with better EI competencies not only increase their own personal
performance but also of the teams they lead. Secondly, by developing or hiring emotionally
competent managers. Lastly,by developing emotionally competent first line leaders,
organizations should develop emotionally competent executive leaders because each individual
on the executive management team influences the development of the teams he or she leads.

Hopkins & Bilimoria (2008):In his study they have explored the relationship between
emotional and social intelligence competencies and organizational success. It illustrates not
much of differences between male and female leaders in their demonstration of emotional and
social intelligence competencies and also found that when it comes to competency demonstration
most successful men and women were more the same than different. However, gender did play a
reasonable role in the relationship between the demonstration of these competencies and success.
Further male leaders were considered to be more successful, even though male and female
leaders demonstrated the same level of competencies.

Sánchez-Ruiz, Jose, Carlos, Prez-Gonzlez and Petride (2010): They have examined that the
trait emotional intelligence (trait EI or trait emotional self-efficacy) profiles of 512 students from
five university faculties: technical studies, natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.
Using the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, researchers hypothesized that (1) social
sciences would score higher than technical studies in Emotionality,

Page 26
(2) arts would score higher than technical studies in Emotionality, (3) arts would score lower
than technical studies in Self-control, and (4) there would be an interaction between gender and
faculty, whereby female students would score higher than male students within the social
sciences only. Several other exploratory comparisons were also performed.

Nelis, Quoidbach, Mikolajczak and Hansenne (2009): They focused on the construct of
emotional intelligence (EI) which refers to the individual differences in the perception,
processing, regulation and utilization of emotional information. As these differences have been
shown to have a significant impact on important life outcomes. This study investigated, using a
controlled experimental design, whether it is possible to increase EI. The researchers found a
significant increase in emotion identification and emotion management abilities in the training
group.

Bar-On’s (1997): This study portrays social responsibility and empathy as specific interpersonal
skills. Goleman’s 1995 model includes the same empathic awareness, it is the skill required to
recognizing emotions in others. Knowing these varying EI models the study of the relationship
of EI to moral/ethical behavior and values has been inconsistent. The morals/values dimensions
are often described as part of the basis for educational programs involving EI a well-designed
empirical research in this area is very much a necessity.

Page 27
 Chapter 4: Data Collection

4.1 Classification of Study

The research was aim to study the relevant literature regarding emotional intelligence and
conflict resolution.

Literature was reviewed for the history and evolution of emotional intelligence, conflict
resolution, types of conflict, conflict management and models of conflict management.

Literature review also focused on various approach and models of emotional intelligence based
on the literature review, research gap was identified.

4.2 Variable Defined

In this research study,the main function proceeds around variables to see the cause and effect and
it is the main focus of the study and further question of “What” gives the word variable.

To see the effect of these variables is the purpose of study.

2 types of variables have been used for study dependent and independent variable.

Dependent – Emotional Intelligence

Independent – Conflict Management Styles & Gender

4.3 Scope of Study

The general intent of the study is to identify the components to study emotional intelligence and
its impact on various conflict resolution methods. The study focuses on telecommunication
sector, Company i.e. Tata Communications. The study aims to identify conflict resolution
methods in telecom sector. It also identifies the important variables based on parameters
identified those are leadership, team oriented, stress and personal outcome.

Page 28
4.4 Research Hypothesis

Hypothesis I:

H0 - There is no positive relationship between EI and Conflict resolution in an organization.

H1 - There is a positive relationship between EI and Conflict resolution in an organization.

Hypothesis II:

H0 - There is no significant relationship between EI and demographic factors.

H1 - There is significant relationship between EI and demographic factors.

4.5 Research Design

1. Research design in case of exploratory research studies: Exploratory research studies are also
termed as formulative research studies. The main purpose of such studies is that of formulating a
problem for more precise investigation or of developing the working hypotheses from an
operational point of view. The major emphasis in such studies is on the discovery of ideas and
insights.

2. Research design in case of descriptive and diagnostic research studies: Descriptive research
studies are those studies which are concerned with describing the characteristics of a particular
individual, or of a group, whereas diagnostic research studies determine the frequency with
which something occurs or its association with something else. The studies concerning whether
certain variables are associated are examples of diagnostic research studies.

3. Research design in case of hypothesis-testing research studies: Hypothesis-testing research

studies (generally known as experimental studies) are those where the researcher tests the
hypotheses of causal relationships between variables. Such studies require procedures that will
not only reduce bias and increase reliability, but will permit drawing inferences about causality.

The research design used in the study is Descriptive as the study carried out describes various
competencies possessed by employees in telecommunication sector of Mumbai region. The
relevant data has been collected from secondary source of information.

Page 29
4.5.1 SOURCES OF DATA

There are two types of collection method:

1) Primary Data: Primary data is collected by the researcher himself for the purpose of a specific
inquiry or study. The data is original in character and highly representative and unbiased. There
are various methods for primary data collection such as observation, experimentation,
questionnaire, interviews and case study.

2) Secondary Data: Secondary data is already collected by others which may be published or
unpublished. This data is primary data for the agency that collects it and becomes secondary for
someone else who uses this data for own purpose.

In this research we have focused on:

Secondary Data: Secondary data was collected from the previous research work conducted,
Case Studies, Company Reports, News Articles and Literature reviews.

The variables identified are as follows:

 Leadership
 Team building
 Stress
 Interpersonal Skills
 Emotional Competence

Page 30
 Chapter 5: Data Analysis & Interpretation

5.0 – Introduction

This chapter is divided into five sections such as model analysis, literature review analysis, factor
analysis of EI, hypothesis testing and the conclusion.

5.1 – Model Analysis

 Models of Emotional Intelligence –There are three major models of emotional

intelligence
 Goleman’s EI performance model - It focuses on these components: self-awareness,
self-regulation, social awareness and relationship skills. These four EI competencies are
the foundation of twelves EI subscales that include emotional self-awareness, emotional
self-control, adaptability, achievement orientation, positive outlook, influence, coaching
and mentoring, empathy, conflict management, teamwork, organizational awareness and
inspirational leadership. It also emphasized the value of internal motivation. It also
involves having control over mood swings and impulses, and thus not allowing them to
disrupt one’s quality of life.

 Bar-On’s EI competencies model - This model focuses on five EI scales: self-

perception, self-expression, interpersonal, decision-making and stress management. It has
mentioned that EI is an arrangement of interconnected behavior driven by emotional and
social competencies that influence performance and behavior. Emotions are used to
identify and prioritize important information. Understanding the emotions of the people
around us can improve our relationship skills, and therefore our ability to influence and
communicate with others.

Page 31
 Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso’s EI ability model- This model focuses on perceiving
understanding, and managing emotions, and using that information to facilitate thinking,
and guide our decisions. Their EI framework emphases four branches of human abilities:
perceiving emotions, facilitating thought, understanding emotions and managing
emotions strive to enhance the advancement of new intelligence and more intelligent
method of building trusting relationships. EI influences every aspect of our personal and
professional development, helping us to advance, mature and reach our goals.

 Models of Conflict Management

Conflict as incompatible interaction between two individuals, where one is interfering,
obstructing or in other ways making the behavior of another less effective.
It says that the outcomes of conflict can be constructive or destructive depending upon
whether the conflict is handled cooperatively or competitively. In contingency approach
for conflict management, they have suggested three main strategies of conflict
management: Power play, Bargaining, and Collaboration. It suggested that an
individual’s conflict style is a behavioral orientation of how to approach and handle
conflict, with individuals choosing a pattern of principles to guide them through the
conflict process.
Pruitt suggested a dual concern model concern for self and concern for others. He
suggested four styles –yielding, problem solving, inaction and contending.
Vliert and Euwema meta taxonomy model focuses on two conflict styles mainly
activeness and agreeableness. Kuhn and Poole model discussed two approaches i.e. the
distributive and integrative approaches. In Rahim’s model it was noted that there is
agreement among management scholars that there is no one best approach to how to
make decisions, lead or manage conflict. Pareek’s model proposes a three-dimensional
framework which involves three variables – modes of conflict namely approach and
avoidance, interest in peace and openness to reasoning.

Page 32
5.2 Processes & Procedures Analysis

Khalili Ashkan (2012) The researcher has discussed on the emergence of emotional intelligence
in the workplace and main theories of emotional intelligence based on the relevant literature and
previous empirical studies.

Peter J. Jordan, Ashlea C. Troth (2002) The researcher showed that individuals with high
emotional intelligence preferred to seek collaborative solutions when confronted with conflict
and explores the connection between emotional intelligence and preferred styles of conflict
resolution.

Kumar Mohit, Singh Kuldeep (2018) The researcher has elucidated that workplace conflict
may be an inevitable part of individuals organizational life, but its probability of occurrence
can be reduced to a maximum by understanding the relationship of emotions with conflicts
formation.

Batool Fakhra Bano (2013) The researcher has explored the relationship between emotional
intelligence and effective leadership to evaluate the tendency of emotional control of the working
class both male and female and it also reflects that emotional intelligence can help to reduce
stress, improve performance and sense of achievement by motivating the subordinates.

Brackett Marc, Salovey Peter (2011) The researcher have described about how emotionally
intelligent people function both intra‐ and interpersonally and has provided a review of the
research describing the correlates of emotional intelligence.

Morrison Jeanne (2008): The researcher has determined a relationship exists between
emotional intelligence (EI) and preferred conflict‐handling styles. It also shows how
understanding EI levels and conflict skills correlate can be used to improve interpersonal
relationships.

Psenicka Clement (2003) The researcher has investigated on the relationships of the five
dimensions of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and
social skills and also identifies strategies of handling conflict, problem solving and bargaining.

Page 33
Susanto Ely (2010) The researcher has investigated the relationships among emotional
intelligence (EI), conflict management styles and job performance. It demonstrates that EI within
public organizations has an impact on job performance similar to that of EI within private
organizations.

Rehman Rana Rashid (2011) The researcher also gives the brief review of emotional
intelligence, leadership styles and the relationship among leadership styles, emotional
intelligence and other studied variables. It further founds that decision-making styles have an
effect on organizational performance.

K. V. Petrides , Furnham Adrian (2006) The researcher analyzed that job control had a
negative effect on stress and a positive effect on satisfaction. There were also many differences
mainly gender and age which was negatively related to control and commitment in the female
sample only.

Kannaiah Desti, Shanti (2015) The researcher confirms that both emotional intelligence and
work life balance together create organizational success and develop competitive advantage for
organizations. It also found that emotional intelligence is linked at every point of workplace
performance it is of utmost importance.

Koman, E. S., & Wolff, S. B. (2008) The researcher examined the relationships among team
leader EI competencies and team performance. It shows that team EI is significantly related to
the presence of emotionally competent group.

Hopkins & Bilimoria (2008) The researcher explored the relationship between emotional and
social intelligence competencies and organizational success. It found that when it comes to
competency demonstration most successful men and women were more the same than different.

Sánchez-Ruiz, Jose, Carlos, Prez-Gonzlez and Petride (2010) The researcher has examined
that the trait emotional intelligence and several other exploratory comparisons were also
performed.

Page 34
Nelis, Quoidbach, Mikolajczak and Hansenne (2009) The researcher investigated, using a
controlled experimental design, whether it is possible to increase EI and they found a significant
increase in emotion identification and emotion management abilities.

Bar-On’s (1997) The researcher study portrays social responsibility and empathy as specific
interpersonal skills. They have also focused on morals, ethics and values.

5.3 Factor Analysis of Emotional Intelligence

Leadership and motivational tendencies: It suggest that emotionally intelligent leadership

results in improved business. One author (McClelland, 1998) studied division heads of a global
food and beverage company and found that the divisions of the leaders with strengths in EI
competencies outperformed yearly revenue targets by 15 to 20 percent. Several researchers have
shown relationships between EI and transformational leadership skills. Transformational leaders
project a vision for, inspire, and motivate their followers. Leaders that can recognize and manage
their own and others’ emotions will be more successful

Self-awareness: Self-awareness refers to the identification of emotion and understanding how

emotions are related to one’s goals, thoughts, behaviors, and accomplishments. One study
indicated that managers with self-awareness are rated as more effective by both superiors and
subordinates than those managers without self-awareness. It found that leader self-awareness
resulted in greater performance and that self- monitoring of emotions was positively related to
self-awareness. Self-awareness is also thought to be the foundational competency upon which
others develop.

Social awareness and empathy: Empathy and social awareness include awareness of others
feelings, needs, and concerns, understanding and sympathizing with others emotions, and
responding to others unspoken feelings. Pilling and Eroglu’s 1994 survey of retail sales buyers
found that sales representatives were most valued for their empathy. Studies have shown that
empathy is related to leadership emergence in self-managed teams. Empathic leaders with
sensitivity have more superior job performance, particularly with jobs that require interactions

Page 35
with people and a supportive relationship increases follower’s positive perceptions and feelings
about the leader, as well as job satisfaction.

Self-management: This competence involves intentionally eliciting and sustaining pleasant and
unpleasant emotions when considered appropriate, effectively channeling negative affect, and
restraining negative emotional outbursts and impulses. It found that people with stable and
positive dispositions make more accurate decisions and improve interpersonal performance.
They also suggested that affect may be a useful predictor of organizational performance. It
indicated the possibility that people in a positive mood are more likely to see opportunities in
problems.

Team Building: Team building is an ongoing process that helps a work group evolve into a
cohesive unit. The team members not only share expectations for accomplishing group tasks, but
trust and support one another and respect one another's individual differences. The role as a team
builder is to lead the team towards cohesiveness and productivity. A team takes on a life of its
own and have to regularly nurture and maintain it. With good team-building skills, the team
builder can unite employees around a common goal and generate greater productivity so it is the
responsibility of the team builder to draw all the group members participation to achieve
companies mission for which team building is very crucial.

Page 36
5.4 Hypothesis Testing

Hypothesis I:

H0 – There is no positive relationship between EI and Conflict resolution in an organization.

H1 – There is a positive relationship between EI and Conflict resolution in an organization.

Table 5.1

Analysis of EI and Conflict Management

Sr Parameters Example
No.

1 Leadership A study reveals that among 110 senior level managers applied EI
Test to predict the leadership styles and found that EI is strongly
correlated to the transformational styles of leadership than the
transactional and laissez-fare leadership styles. Leadership is an
emotion laden process and therefore EI should matter in
leadership.

2 Team Orientation In a study it was found that emotional management, a component

of EI is considered significant to build cohesive viable work
teams. Emotionally intelligent leaders form strong relationships
and solid team support system.

3 Interpersonal In a study it was mentioned that Emotions can lead to team

Skills camaraderie and increased productivity and emotions can also
prove to be destructive at times too. The ability to understand and
experience other people’s emotions, or empath, has been
identified as an important element in EI, as it can facilitate
positive interpersonal relationships and the establishment of
affective bonds.

Page 37
 4 Stress In a study, Stress is conceived as emotional reaction (mostly
negative) to various environmental stimuli. Stress does not have
the same impact on every one as there exists individual
differences and hence the way in which individuals cope with
stressful situations are also different. EI can be used as a
framework for an individual to learn on how to cope and control
strong emotions

5 Personal outcomes In a study conducted among women teachers in Efhasan, it was

found that a woman who possesses high EI manage marital
conflicts efficiently. EI also contributes to better quality of
marital life. Evidences of EI being associated to personal
outcomes like lesser incidences of depression or vice versa. EI
has been associated with several other variables in the
organizational and personal life too.

Source: Data compiled from secondary source and analyzed through live cases.

Hypothesis II:

H0 – There is no significant relationship between EI and demographic factors.

H1 – There is significant relationship between EI and demographic factors.

Table 5.2

Analysis of EI and Demographic factors

Sr Demographic Example
No.

1 Age The studies showed that the individuals who were older possessed
higher levels of emotional intelligence as compared to those who

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 were younger which made the researchers presume that emotional
intelligence may increase with age

Age has positively associated with emotional intelligence

2 Gender The studies have reported that women to be more socially skillful as
compared to men. It is observed that higher levels of emotional
intelligence in women may be associated to the connections between
the mother and her child wherein which the female children are likely
to obtain more emotional expression from their mothers than male
children.

Gender has positively associated with emotional intelligence

3 Work The studies have shown that work experience could be considered an
Experience important variable that could affect emotional intelligence. Also, it is
observed that the more parallel the work experience is to the new
learning experience, the more successful, the final outcomes

Work Experience has positively associated with emotional

intelligence

Source: Data compiled from secondary source and analyzed through live cases.

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5.5 Conclusion

Table 5.3

A snapshot of Hypotheses Testing

Hypothesis Statement Outcome (Accepted/

Rejected)

Hypothesis I There is positive relationship between Rejected

Emotional Intelligence and Conflict
Resolution

Hypothesis II There is positive relationship between Emotional Intelligence and

Demographic factors

Hypothesis 02 There is no positive relationship between Rejected

(a) Emotional Intelligence and Age

Hypothesis 02 There is no positive relationship between Rejected

(b) Emotional Intelligence and Gender

Hypothesis 02 There is no positive relationship between Rejected

(c) Emotional Intelligence and Work Experience

Source: Data compiled from secondary source and analyzed through live cases.

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 Chapter 6: Problem Framing & Problem Analysis

6.0 Introduction

This chapter is divided into two sections, the first section contains problem framing theory and
the second section contains problem analysis.

6.1 Problem Framing

As an activity involved in all processes of problem solving (Dillon, 1982), problem framing has
been extensively explored in design studies. Goldschmidt (1989) described problem
representation as a process of acquiring problems from given information and identifies this
activity as an essential process while designing. Kolodner and Wills (1996) suggested that
appropriate problem reformulation can prevent designers from being trapped into “default
assumptions about the constraints of the problem” and thus assists them to identify new criteria
and constraints that enable different approaches in design.

According to Schön (1985), problem framing plays a key role in the design process; thus, much
attention should be paid on cultivating students’ capability of problem finding. In his
observation, Schön stressed the relevance of “problem framing”, particularly in a discussion
sample between Quist (a master) and Petra (a student). The design problem Petra faced was to fit
the shape of the building she designed to the slope of the site, but she failed which led to her
feeling “stucked”. Quist reframed this problem by beginning with a principle that “coherence
must be given to the site in the form of a geometry” (1985:36). Quist implied that Petra could try
a new geometry by “making the knowing the violation of the initial geometry” (1985:36), and he
then demonstrated this by means of sketches. The sketches illustrated his way of reframing the
problem. Quist continued by identifying (“naming”) new design problems (environment
problem, sunlight problem, circulation problem, etc.), working his way through stages described

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by Schön as “framing, moving, and reflecting”, and suggesting a cyclical design process that
develops through these three stages.

Schön (1988) identified “problem framing” as the means for a designer to identify and isolate a
design problem such that it can then be solved. The illustration of “problem framing” can be
found in various published works of Schön:

“As [inquirers] frame the problem of the situation, they determine the features to which
they will attend, the order they will attempt to impose on the situation, the directions in
which they will try to change it. In this process, they identify both the ends to be sought and
the means to be employed”.

Schön 1983:50-54

“When we set the problem, we select what we will treat as the “things” of the situation, we
set the boundaries of our attention to it, and we impose upon it a coherence which allows us
to say what is wrong, and in what directions the situation needs to be changed. Problem
setting is a process in which, interactively, we name the things to which we will attend and
frame the context in which we will attend to them.”

Schön 1983:40

“The very invention of a move or hypothesis depends on a normative framing of the

situation, a setting of some problems to be solved.”

Schön 1984: 132

Articulating Simon’s (1996:108) description of design as a search of a problem space, Minsky

suggested that solutions are not found by addressing an initial formulation of the problem
directly. Rather, potential solutions can be sought through a reformulation of the problem space
(Minsky, 1977:375). Gero and Kannengiesser (2002) suggested that the process of reformulating
a design problem “addresses changes in the structure state space during designing”. Similarly,

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Cross (2001) identify that “designers are not limited to “given” problems, but find and formulate
problems within the broad context of the design brief.”

We note that a wide range of activities and outcomes are described in all these descriptions of
framing. If framing activities are to be observed in a variety of design contexts, it may be
necessary to describe the activity more finely. Minsky (1977) set out a finer description in his
“frame-system” theory in which he articulated particular characteristics of “problem framing”.
He defined four levels of frames, namely, “syntactic frames”, “semantic frames”, “thematic
frames”, and “narrative frames”. Using these terms, he distinctly associated the framing activities
as propositional (syntactic frames), action centered (semantic frames), descriptive (thematic),
and evocative (narrative). Using these distinctions in our encoding of protocols, we can
distinguish if there are more or fewer framing activities in each media, and identify whether the
nature of the framing activity changes.

6.2 Problem Analysis

A research problem in general refer to some difficulty which a researcher experiences in the
context of either a theoretical or practical situation and wants to obtain a solution for the same.
Conflict resolution through emotional intelligence are drawn attention of top management, HR
Managers and researchers. It is through that several factors are related to emotional intelligence
but in the present study the researcher will try to make efforts or to identify relationship between
emotional intelligence and conflict resolution in an organization. So, the problem of study may
be stated as workplace conflict resolution through emotional intelligence with special reference
to telecommunication.

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 Chapter 7: Recommendation & Suggestion

• Open session within every department can be made as a regular practice every week to know
and understand the views of the employees. It can be used to solve workplace hurdles and it
may also serve as a source to get new productive solution.
• Emotional intelligence has gained good recognition among the individuals, but still the
awareness level among all the employees should be increased.
• Emotional intelligence must be promoted among the employees and managers by regularly
conducting ‘Emotional Competence’ training programme.
• The leaders of the organization must develop emotional stability to ensure the physical and
mental health of the self and that of the serving organization.
• Increase emotional intelligence through team-building, training, activities and social hours
between the supervisors and their subordinates.
• Provide effective orientation and on the job training for new subordinates or current
subordinates in introducing new job routines so there will be no conflict arisen from job
tasks.
• Emphasize the importance of emotional intelligence rather than IQ and technical skills alone
to be successful leaders and to promote better work performance to both supervisors and
subordinates.
• Management should provide adequate recreational facilities to the employees which helps the
superior and sub-ordinate relationship and mainly reduces work conflicts.
• Become emotional literate, one has to know his feelings and have to know what’s causing it
rather than blaming certain people or situations.

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 Chapter 8 – Ethical, Social & Environmental impact of project

8.1 Ethical

Leadership – Leadership role in managing conflict has a significant impact on how they are
resolved within the workplace. Leaders use conflict management skills for providing guidance
and direction towards conflict resolution. They have to be fair with every employee to maintain
the trust factor.

Personal Outcome – Employees should be guided to gain new skills, improve performance and
enhance the quality of their career. They should create individual development plans for the
employees. Employees should be given different tasks to perform so that it doesn’t becomes
monotonous for them and their productivity level will also not fall. Job rotation will give
employees a view of the entire business this can be implemented.

8.2 Social

Interpersonal skills – It is important for employees to have good relationship with your
managers and co-workers, it will help you get along well with people and to do your job in a
better way. Having empathy will help you develop strong relationship with others and without
cooperation the workplace will become an unpleasant place. Interpersonal skills also help you to
develop relationships with people and understanding the feeling of others.

Team Orientation – Managers should have created a team environment for people to get along.
It enhances the productivity of the employees. Each employee should be involved in decision
making and should be given equal opportunity. We should each and every employees feedback
and suggestions and work as a team. Teamwork is necessary in order to ensure that people will
work effectively.

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8.3 Environmental

Stress- We should encourage open communication between employees. Open door policy should
be encouraged. Encourage them to take breaks throughout the day, employees will feel less
stressed and more productive. We should consider flexible work schedules

Chapter 9: My Learnings

 The researchers have learnt that lack of emotional intelligence is one of the cause of
conflicts in the organization. The researchers have recognized that some conflicts are part
of healthy relationship
 The researcher has assessed some modes of conflict and understood how it helps or
hinders you in working with conflict.
 The researchers have learnt that resolving conflict requires good use of emotional
intelligence- your ability to balance your emotional needs with your thinking.
 The researchers have developed the competencies of emotional intelligence and
understanding to effectively handle conflict is necessary for working in highly stressful
occupation
 The researchers have found some parameters to conflict resolution i.e. Team orientation,
Personal Outcomes, Stress management, Interpersonal Skills, Leadership
 The researcher has found positive relationship between emotional intelligence and
demographic factors& Emotional intelligence and conflict resolution
 The researchers have understood that EQ is more important than IQ for anyone in current
world to survive for a long duration.
 The researchers have learnt different models of emotional intelligence and conflict
management
 The researchers have found positive impact of emotional intelligence on management and
have learnt to effectively handle conflicts with emotional intelligence
 Researchers have learnt different types of research design such as exploratory,
descriptive, diagnostic and hypothesis testing research

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 Chapter 10: Conclusion

10.0 Introduction

This chapter is divided into two sections. The first section contains about managerial
implications and second section gives brief overview on conclusion of the study

10.1 Managerial Implication

The major implications for the management are:

 To innovate ideas and practices for employees to resolve conflict

 To make them aware about their duties so that there is no conflict among them
 Employees feedback should be encouraged and there should be spirit of teamwork and
collaboration among the employees
 Proper counselling for employees will increase the job performance & productivity

10.2 Conclusion

• The present research was an effort to determine the relationship between emotional
intelligence and conflict management styles in the telecom sector.
• The study has identified 5 parameters that are:
o Leadership
o Team orientation
o Interpersonal Skills
o Personal Outcome
o Stress

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• The researcher has found that lot of people are ignorant towards emotional intelligence factor
and more attention is given to Intelligent quotient.
• The researcher has mentioned that emotional intelligence has recently started gaining more
importance than other factors in the organization.
• Gender& Age was found to have a significant influence in the preference of conflict styles
and it moderated the relationship between emotional intelligence and conflict management.
• The study therefore is relevant to management practitioners, HRD professionals and also to
academic research. Emotional intelligence plays an important role for everyone in the
organization.
• Handling emotions is an important requirement for a HR for himself and among the
employees as well. This will help to increase organizational commitment, improve
productivity, efficiency, retain best talent and motivate the employees to give their best.
• Emotional intelligence will bring in better adaptability, empathy towards employee,
leadership qualities, group rapport, participative management, decision making, and
understanding among colleagues.

We have taken three models of emotional intelligence of Goleman, Bar-On & Mayer- Salovey.
In this study we have focused on :

o Goleman’s 4 competencies that are self-awareness, relationship management, self-

management and social awareness.
o Bar-on’s 5 scales self-perception, self-expression, interpersonal, decision-making and
stress management.
o Mayor-Solvey emphases four branches of human abilities: perceiving emotions,
facilitating thought, understanding emotions and managing emotions strive to enhance
the advancement of new intelligence and more intelligent method of building trusting
relationships.

We have also studied different models of conflict management that are as follows:

o Contingency approach to conflict management

o Pruitt’s Dual Concern Model

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 o Vliert and Euwema meta-taxonomy Model
o Kuhn and Poole's Model
o Rahm’s Meta Model
o Pareek Model

 We have gained a conceptual understanding of the role of emotional intelligence in conflict

formation & resolution at workplace.

 We have also focused on various approach and models of emotional intelligence based on the
literature review, research gap was identified.
• Most of the organizations are nowadays taking those employees who are emotionally
intelligent, so that they can face the workplace problems easily and they can become more
productive for the organization.

• Emotionally intelligent organization can be made through organizational strategies,

leadership skills, development programs, self awareness and self management tools.
• It can opine that workplace conflict may be an inevitable part of individuals organizational
life, but its probability of occurrence can be reduced to a maximum by understanding the
relationship of emotions with conflicts formation and with efficient application of EI.
• The study reflects that emotional intelligence can help to reduce stress improve performance
and sense of achievement by motivating the subordinates within the organization and helps to
enhance the productivity of the
• The researcher from the study concludes that emotional intelligence is linked at every point
of workplace performance and it is of utmost importance nowadays. Hence, to be successful
in life Emotional intelligence plays a vital role.

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 Chapter 11: Scope for Future Research

 The results of this study offer a lot of opportunities for further research. To begin with,
future efforts can study larger populations to understand the conflict patterns across
different emotional intelligence levels.
 Methods like scenarios, interviews, surveys or even mixed methods can be used to
identify the conflict management styles in further research.
 Researchers have recommended that future research can be done through both qualitative
and quantitative methods.
 The research was only restricted to telecom sector it can be done for other sectors also in
the future research.
 A variable cultural intelligence may also be included in future studies.
 Researcher has only emphasized on secondary data, in future other researchers can focus
on primary data also.
 Researchers have highlighted thefive parameters only for this research i.e. Leadership,
team orientation, personal outcome, interpersonal skills and stress for further research
you’ll can consider other parameters.
 The study has concentrated only on emotional intelligence for conflict resolution further
study can be conducted by using other factors as well.

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