Relationship between Emotional Intelligence with Conflict Management Strategies among Educational and Research Managers of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Successful managers integrate strong interpersonal skills with technical knowledge to improve their performances. Emotional Intelligence not only provides the basis to further these skills, but also plays an important role in efficiency of group members and solves conflicts using emotions. The aim of this study was to determine relationship between Emotional Intelligence with conflict management strategies among educational and research managers of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. In this cross-sectional study, 81 educational and research managers from faculties and research centers were selected using random sampling. Three questionnaires including Robin's conflict management, Schering Emotional Intelligence and individual traits were used for data gathering. Data were analyzed using t –test, Chi-square, and Pierson correlation tests. The mean of emotional intelligence was 115.01. About half of the managers (50.6%) used avoidance strategy, and only 47.2% used collaboration strategy. Educational managers (87.6%) and males (59.6%) tend to use avoidance strategy more. Research managers (62.86%) and females (34.5%) used control strategy more. There was no statistically significant correlation between emotional intelligence with the strategies. Among educational managers, there was a statistically significant negative relationship between control strategy and management experiences. Among males, there were significant negative relationships between emotional intelligence and avoidance/collaboration strategies. Emotional Intelligence is an important factor to recognize and solve conflicts. It is necessary to improve top managers´ performances through learning emotional intelligence strategies to them. The continuing education of conflict management strategies would help managers to recognize and manage conflicts timely and properly.