The Level of Emotional Intelligence – “Does it differ with Nature of Occupation?” – A Comparative Study

Abstract

During the last two decades, the term Emotional Intelligence (EI) in the workplace is studied very often. All jobs involve emotions and all emotions are important on the job. EI plays an important role in many areas of our lives especially in our careers. Some jobs do not require a great deal of Emotional Intelligence. These careers focus mainly on tasks which can be accomplished individually or by working with others in fixed, set, or structured ways. In fact, EI is just the thing that sets an individual apart from their colleagues and leads them to other success in the workplace. Some jobs put the employees in contact with other people, and involve working in informal teams, or require them to empathize with, and understand, others. If they don't have a high level of emotional intelligence, then they may find these careers to be difficult, or perhaps, less satisfying. Keeping the above in view, this article aims at finding out the relationship between EI and Nature of Occupation. This paper also tries to analyse the level of EI of the respondents of various fields like Teachers, Doctors and Nurses, Social Worker and Employees working in IT/ non IT organizations. The study applies Daniel Goleman’s mixed model of EI to examine the level of EI among the respondents of different job nature. The elements like Self-Awareness, Self Regulation, Self Motivation, Empathy, and Social skills are taken as the major Elements for this study. A sample of 172 data was collected using convenient sampling technique. Statistical tools like frequency, chi-square, Correlation, Independent Sample t-test and One Way Anova are used to derive the required output. The results of the study show that there is a significant relationship exists between EI and nature of occupation. The results pertaining to element-wise relationship and the level of EI with regard to nature of occupation are also discussed in detail.