Presentation Schedule
Observed Emotional Intelligence and Conflict: An Exploratory, Mixed-Method Study in Self-Managing Teams (88793)
Session Chair: Lara Carminati
Thursday, 27 March 2025 10:05
Session: Session 1
Room: Room 707 (7F)
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
In today’s digital era, where disruptive technologies have taken over many cognitive tasks, interpersonal skills, such as Emotional Intelligence (EI), play a crucial role, especially in conflict situations. Yet, EI has been hitherto studied via surveys (i.e., perceived EI), leaving many methodological challenges unanswered. Hence, adopting a novel approach, we explored how EI manifests through behaviours (i.e., observed EI) and its relationship to conflict moments.
Through a mixed-method study combining surveys –to select teams with high and low perceived EI– and video observations of four self-managing teams of a Dutch service organisation, we inductively identified EI behaviours, which two researchers independently coded to establish strong inter-rater reliability. Two other independent researchers had previously observed moments of conflict.
Results show that teams with higher perceived EI experienced fewer and shorter observed conflicts. However, the number of EI behaviours (e.g., showing humour or personal interest) was similar between the teams with low and high perceived EI. This indicates a significant discrepancy between perceived and observed EI, further supported by a negative, non-significant correlation. Moreover, EI behaviours were manifested mostly by the same people in each team and clustered before moments of conflict, preventing conflicts from escalating.
Our work has theoretical implications as it opens new venues to objectively assess EI through behaviours, thus overcoming methodological issues in validity and reliability. It also has practical implications since it underlies the importance of selecting team members able to manifest EI, given their ability to minimise conflict and boost team effectiveness.
Authors:
Lara Carminati, University of Twente, Netherlands
Sofia Schwald, University of Twente, Netherlands
About the Presenter(s)
Dr Lara Carminati is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at University of Twente in Netherlands
Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lara-carminati/
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