Emotional intelligence and conflict resolution styles among nurse managers: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Emotional intelligence may help nurse managers to deal with conflicts. However, the relationship between emotional intelligence and conflict resolution is still not clearly understood. This study aimed to explore nurse managers' emotional intelligence levels and conflict resolution styles, and to identify any associations between these factors. A cross-sectional study design was used, with a convenience sample of 197 nurse managers recruited from five public and two university hospitals. Data were collected on emotional intelligence and conflict resolution using two specialised self-reported scale-based questionnaires. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (version 25) was used to analyse data, with P<0.05 indicating statistical significance. The nurse mangers' average emotional intelligence scores ranged from 80–139 and 40% had low levels of work-related emotional intelligence. The integrating style was the most commonly used approach to conflict resolution, while the avoiding style was the least used. Higher levels of emotional intelligence were significantly associated with integrating, obliging and compromising styles, and were able to predict the use of integrating and compromising styles of conflict resolution. Nurse managers with higher levels of emotional intelligence are more likely to use the integrating and compromising styles of conflict resolution. Training programmes aiming to improve managers' conflict resolution skills should focus on assessing and increasing emotional intelligence.