{"title":"Emotional Intelligence: Its importance to HE professional services team members during challenging times","authors":"A. Coleman, Azhar Ali","doi":"10.1177/08920206221085794","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In recent years a variety of trends have increased uncertainty over the future of the Higher Education (HE) sector. While these create challenges for all staff, they potentially impact most on non-academic staff, due to long standing misunderstanding and undervaluing of their roles and despite them representing almost half of all jobs within the sector. In this context, leaders’ abilities to manage emotions in the workplace appear to be at a premium. However emotionality remains under-explored both generally within HE and in non-academic contexts particularly. This article summarizes findings from research into the impact perceptions of managers’ abilities to display Emotional Intelligence (EI) has on the wellbeing, attitudes and performance of staff within the context of a professional services team in one English university. It found perceptions of managers’ EI could be a powerful influence on team members’ mental health, including stress and anxiety. Furthermore, when managers were viewed as being Emotionally Intelligent, staff reported this significantly impacted their motivation and could lead to tangible improvements in core areas of job performance, including commitment, flexibility and discretionary effort. It recommends Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) consider placing greater emphasis on developing understanding of EI throughout their workforce while also building capacity in its practice amongst current and prospective managers.","PeriodicalId":40030,"journal":{"name":"Management in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2022-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Management in Education","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08920206221085794","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
In recent years a variety of trends have increased uncertainty over the future of the Higher Education (HE) sector. While these create challenges for all staff, they potentially impact most on non-academic staff, due to long standing misunderstanding and undervaluing of their roles and despite them representing almost half of all jobs within the sector. In this context, leaders’ abilities to manage emotions in the workplace appear to be at a premium. However emotionality remains under-explored both generally within HE and in non-academic contexts particularly. This article summarizes findings from research into the impact perceptions of managers’ abilities to display Emotional Intelligence (EI) has on the wellbeing, attitudes and performance of staff within the context of a professional services team in one English university. It found perceptions of managers’ EI could be a powerful influence on team members’ mental health, including stress and anxiety. Furthermore, when managers were viewed as being Emotionally Intelligent, staff reported this significantly impacted their motivation and could lead to tangible improvements in core areas of job performance, including commitment, flexibility and discretionary effort. It recommends Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) consider placing greater emphasis on developing understanding of EI throughout their workforce while also building capacity in its practice amongst current and prospective managers.
期刊介绍:
Management in Education provides a forum for debate and discussion covering all aspects of educational management. We therefore welcome a range of articles from those dealing with day-to-day management to those related to national policy issues. Our peer review policy helps to enhance the range and quality of the articles accepted supporting those new to publication and those that are more expereienced authors. We publish research findings, opinion pieces and individual stories and our contributors come from all sectors of education.