Emotional Intelligence and Industrial Conflict Resolution Mechanisms in Imo State Public Sector: An Empirical Approach (Published)
The focus of this paper is on Emotional Intelligence and Industrial Conflict Resolution Mechanisms in the Imo State Public Sector. The study used survey approach and covered a population of 305 senior staff of eight selected public sector organizations in Imo State. In determining the sample size, the researchers used purposive sampling technique to select 221 members of staff, however, only 198 copies of the survey tool was accurately filled and returned which yielded 89.59% return rate. The data used was generated from both primary and secondary sources but a five point likert scale survey tool titled Emotional Intelligence and Industrial Conflict Resolution Mechanisms Questionnaire (EI&ICRMQ) was the major instrument for data collection. The statistical tool used for data analysis is the one-way ANOVA test using the 23.0 version of SPSS. The study found that variations in the results obtained showed that emotional intelligence effect on negotiation is more significant as it posted the least output (0.000). This is closely followed by mediation that posted an output of (0.006). The result however showed that in arbitration, emotional intelligence plays little or no role as it posted an output (0.075) that is higher than the level of significance (0.05). The study concluded that emotional intelligence is key to conflict resolution especially when the conflicting parties opt for negotiation as a mechanism. Sequel to the findings and conclusion above, the study recommended that to enhance management-labour relations, conflicting parties should ensure that only representatives with high emotional intelligence quotient are sent when adopting negotiation as a conflict resolution mechanism. Training representatives of conflicting parties to imbibe and exhibit emotional intelligence can enhance the success rate of mediation as a conflict resolution mechanism and that conflicting parties adopting arbitration as a conflict resolution mechanism should focus on gathering needful data for evidence and avoid being emotionally sentimental
Keywords: Arbitration, Conflict, Emotional Intelligence, Mediation, Negotiation.