The Effects of Emotional Intelligence on Interpersonal Facilitation of Managers and Supervisors: Empirical Findings from Public Sector Enterprises in Kerala

Research and discussions of EI predicted the possibility of the linkage between Emotional Intelligence skills and interpersonal facilitation. This study was conducted to examine empirically the extent to which Emotional Intelligence contributes to the interpersonal behaviours of managers and supervisors in Public Sector Enterprises in Kerala. The sample comprised of 500 respondents of which 243 were Managers and 257 were Supervisors in Public Sector Enterprises in Kerala. The data were analysed using SPSS 21 in which tools such as ANOVA, Correlation and Regression were applied. The results indicated that there is highly significant and positive relationship between Emotional Intelligence and interpersonal facilitation of managers and supervisors of Public Sector Enterprises in Kerala.


Introduction
Emotional Intelligence is about knowing what you are feeling, and being able to motivate yourself to get jobs done.It is sensing what others are feeling and handling relationships effectively (Dulewicz, Higgs, 2000) 3 .Emotions drive behaviours, and an individual's ability to consider the potential overwhelming importance his or her own emotions may have on decision making is important. .A major factor in career success and personal satisfaction is our ability and willingness to establish and maintain healthy interpersonal interactions.Most professionals spend at least a third of their life at work. .If this time is to be used productively, they need to feel that the workplace is somewhere they want to be.
Any organization wishing to thrive through change must make the choice to promote, and allow employee expressions of Emotional Intelligence (EI) (Hunton et al, 1998; Robertson et al, 1999)  9 .Emotional Intelligence is all about being able to interact with other people; using our own emotions in harmony with others' emotions to create a desired outcome.An individual who has the ability to recognize and manage his emotions , develop care and concern for others, make responsible decisions, establish positive relationships and handle challenging situations effectively.
Interpersonal facilitation is defined as the extent to which a worker helps others, contributes to their effective task performance, or helps maintain a social and psychological climate that facilitates accomplishment of the organizations' goals (Van Scotter, J. R. and Motowidlo, S.J., 1996) 19 .Each individual has certain positive qualities called strengths.Knowing how and when to combine these strengths changes the atmosphere in which they work.Emotional Intelligence contribute to the quality of people's relationship at work because emotions serve communicative and social functions, conveying information about thoughts and intentions, and helping to coordinate social encounters (Keltner & Haidt, 2001)  13 .
People skills are essential if a person wish to be successful in his dealings with others.This in turn affects his quality of life.The better skilled you are at communicating, the more likely you are to have reasonable relationships with people.Each organisation has a different way of doing things.Employees need to be able to tune in to the way of talking and acting so as to get the best out of workplace relationships.
Emotional Intelligence espouses social awareness and belief in the symbiotic outcome of cooperating with others.Possessing these skills makes establishing good relationships with other people a whole lot easier. .If Emotional Intelligence and interpersonal facilitation of employees go hand in hand there arises a comfortable work environment.Effective communication and emotional self control, as well as understanding and appreciating the differences in others are reflections of interpersonal intelligence.The present study made an attempt to examine the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and interpersonal facilitation of managers and supervisors in select public sector firms in Kerala.

Review of Literature
The notion of EI can be traced to Thorndike's (1920) 18 concept of social intelligence, Wechsler's (1940)  21 propositions of non-intellective abilities as well as Gardner's (1983) 5 conceptualisation of personal intelligence.However, the term of 'emotional intelligence' (EI) owes its origin to Salovey and Mayer (1990)  17 .They originally defined Emotional Intelligence as the ability of an individual to monitor one"s own and others emotions, to discriminate among the positive and negative effects of emotion and to use emotional information to guide one"s thinking and actions.Then Emotional Intelligence has been popularized by Goleman (1995, 1998)   , the concept is derived from social intelligence (Johnson and Indvik, 1999)  11 .
Unlike abstract intelligence, which refers to the ability to understand and manipulate symbols, or concrete intelligence, social intelligence refers to the ability to understand and relate to people.According to the Goleman's Emotional Intelligence model he identifies four Emotional Intelligence domains and 19 associated competencies.These four domains are selfawareness, self-management, social competence and social management EI is also can define as an individual's ability to accurately perceive reality so as to understand and regulate their own emotional responses as well as adapt and respond to others (Mayer and Salovey, 1997; Pellitteri, 2002) 14 & 16 .This emerges as four interrelated social skills, grouped around knowledge, perception, regulation and general intelligence (Mayer and Salovey, 1997) 14 .Leaving aside general intelligence, the other components relate to the individual's ability to manage their emotional response (Goleman, 1998; Mayer and Salovey, 1997) 8 & 14 .Emotional perception allows individuals to respond congruently, as they recognize their own and others' emotional responses.Emotional regulation means individuals self-monitor the intensity and direction of their own and others' emotional responses, as Pelliteri (2002)  16 highlights, allowing them to moderate negative emotional reactions and remain positive.Regulation, the third component, allows individuals to utilize their emotional knowledge to promote creativity and flexibility, social relations and maintain motivation.Mayer and Salovey (1997)  14 recommend this framework be operationalized in the following ways.First, individuals who understand their own emotions can more accurately identify their responses and so change if need be.Second, the intellectual use of emotions means individuals"cognitive decisions are more acute, so they are better able to assimilate information, make judgments or be creative and solve problems.This suggests emotionally intelligent people are more self-aware regarding their strengths and limitations, and because of this they are claimed to be more confident, optimistic, flexible, innovative and comfortable with new ideas (Bellack, 1999; Goleman,  1995, 1998; Mayer and Salovey, 1997) 2, 7, 8&14 .
Mellers et al. (1999) 15 concluded emotions people expect to experience or have experienced as a result of their decisions are important determinants of their current and future behavior.Winter and Kuiper (1997)  22 noted individuals differ in systematic ways in how they experience emotions, how they differentiate among emotions and how much emotional information they can process.Emotions are inseparable from individuals and very often emotions determine individual behaviour, decision making styles and even relationships ( Ghorbani, Bing, Watson, Davison & Mack 2002) 20 Fineman describes Emotional Intelligence as a way of recognizing, understanding and choosing how we think, feel and act.It shapes our interaction with others and our understanding of ourselves.It defines how and what we learn, it allows us to set priorities, it determines the majority of our daily actions (Fineman, 1993)  4 .Huy (1999) 10 introduced the concept of emotional capability to capture an organization's ability to acknowledge, recognize, monitor, discriminate, and attend to its members' emotions, and it is manifested in the organization's norms and routines related to the feeling.
Emotional intelligence, as a component of interpersonal skill, aids in managing personal feelings along with the moods and emotions of others (George, 2000) 6 .Emotional Intelligence is different from personality in that it brings together a varied group of abilities which explain how people recognize and manage emotions (Jordan, Ashkanasy, & Hartel, 2002) 12 .In this study, it was found that Emotional Intelligence influences social interaction and relationship development more than that of traditional personality measures.All these pioneering definitions lead to conclude that EI is important in shaping one's personality, behaviour, style, and abilities.

Conceptual Frame Work
Based on the literature findings, the conceptual framework was constructed to show the relationship between independent variable (Emotional Intelligence) and dependent variable (Interpersonal facilitation).

Objectives of the Study
The primary objective of this study is to describe the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and interpersonal facilitation of Managers and Supervisors in Public sector firms in Kerala.The objectives of the study include: i.To establish the effect of demographic variables on Emotional Intelligence factors.ii.To understand the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and interpersonal facilitation.iii.To give suggestions to attain better interpersonal facilitation of managers and supervisors through improved Emotional Intelligence.

Hypotheses H1:
There is no significant relationship between age and Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors.H2: There is no significant relationship between gender and Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors.H3: There is no significant relationship between total service and Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors.H4: There is no significant relationship between qualification and Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors.H5: There is no significant relationship between Emotional Intelligence factors and interpersonal facilitation factors.

Variables
From the review of literature the following variables were identified for the study.Emotional Intelligence factors include perceiving emotions, using emotions, understanding emotions and managing emotions.Interpersonal facilitation factors include expressive, helpful, beneficent, directive, and considerate behaviours of a person.

Research Design
A descriptive research approach was adopted for this study, in order to satisfy the research objectives.Primary and secondary data were used for this study.To obtain the primary data, a self-administered questionnaire was used.Journal articles, books and magazines were used in order to obtain the secondary data.This research design describes the state of affairs as it exists at present.

Sample and Data Collection
The target population for this investigation included respondents from Public Sector Enterprises in Kerala.Data were collected from 243 managers and 257 supervisors of Public Sector Enterprises with the help of a structured questionnaire.Public Sector Enterprises were selected from three regions (northern region, central region and southern region) of Kerala keeping in mind the number of managers and supervisors working in the firms.Judgment sampling was used to select the respondents from selected firms.The following table summarises the identification of Public Sector Enterprises.

Questionnaire
The questionnaire used for this study consists of three sections.Section A was intended to collect the demographic data of the respondents.Section B and C consist of statements related to Emotional Intelligence and interpersonal facilitation factors.A five point Likert scale was used to record the response.The study compared the effect of Emotional Intelligence on interpersonal facilitation of managers and supervisors.Thirty four close ended items have been used to measure EI variable.
Cronbach's alpha revealed that overall reliability of this variable is 0.914.Fifteen close ended items have been used to measure the variable interpersonal facilitation.Cronbach 's alpha revealed that overall reliability of this variable is 0.760.

Instruments and Measures
Descriptive statistics were calculated.Babbie, Earl R. (2009) 1 stated that descriptive statistics are used to describe the basic features of the data in a study.They provide simple summaries about the sample and the measures.Together with simple graphics analysis, they form the basis of virtually every quantitative analysis of data.Specifically descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution were calculated to summarize the sample data distribution.In order to analyse the data SPSS 21 was used.To find out the relationship between the variables of the study, Pearson's correlation analysis; Regression; and ANOVAs were used.74 % of the respondents are male.Highest percentage of respondents (37.4%) belongs to the age group of 31 to 40.51.4% of respondents belongs to the supervisory category.38% of the respondents has 11 to 20 years of service and another 37% has 21 to 30 years of service.Educational qualification of 40.6% of the respondents is post-graduation.

Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Age Group Of Respondents
In order to find out the relationship between Emotional Intelligence factors; and age group of managers and supervisors, one way ANOVA was performed.H 0 : There is no significant relationship between age and Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors.H 1 : There is significant relationship between age and Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors.From the above table it is clear that the p value is less than .05for 'perceiving emotions', 'using emotions' and 'understanding emotions' and hence H 0 is rejected.Thus there is significant relationship exist between age group of managers and supervisors and Emotional Intelligence factors of perceiving emotions, using emotions and understanding emotions.

Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Gender Of Respondents H 0 :
There is no significant relationship between gender and Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors.H 1 : There is significant relationship between gender and Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors.The table shows that p value is greater than .05.H 0 is accepted.Hence there is no significant relationship exist between gender of managers and supervisors and the factors of Emotional Intelligence.

Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Designation of Respondents H 0 :
There is no significant relationship between designation and Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors.H 1 : There is significant relationship between designation and Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors.The table shows that p value is less than .05for the factor 'understanding emotions'.For other factors p value is greater than .05and hence H 0 is accepted.Hence there is no significant relationship exist between designation of respondents and Emotional Intelligence.

Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Total Service of Respondents
H 0 : There is no significant relationship between total service and Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors.H 1 : There is significant relationship between total service and Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors.From the above table it is clear that the p value is less than .05for'perceiving emotions' and 'understanding emotions' and hence H 0 is rejected.Hence there is significant relationship exist between years of service of managers and supervisors and Emotional Intelligence factors of perceiving emotions and understanding emotions.

Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Qualification of Respondents H 0 :
There is no significant relationship between qualification and Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors.H 1 : There is significant relationship between qualification and Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors.Here also the p value is greater than .05and H 0 is accepted.Hence there is no significant relationship exist between qualification and Emotional Intelligence of respondents.

Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Interpersonal Facilitation.
Bivariate analysis has been carried out in order to study the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Interpersonal Facilitation.For bivariate analysis both correlation and regression were used.Hypothesis was formulated to establish the association and the nature of relationship between Interpersonal facilitation and the four dimensions of Emotional Intelligence.H 0 : There is no significant relationship between Emotional Intelligence factors and interpersonal facilitation.H 1 : There is significant relationship between Emotional Intelligence factors and interpersonal facilitation.
Analysis of the data obtained from the Pearson correlation analysis, indicates that interpersonal facilitation is positively correlated with the four components of Emotional Intelligence.The association is significant at the 0.01 level, which indicates that the association is highly significant and the relationship is positive.The correlation analysis also reveals that the association is highly significant and the strength of the association between interpersonal facilitation and the four component of Emotional Intelligence are very strong.The value of coefficient (r) determines the strength of the association and is very strong and positive between perceiving emotions, using emotions, understanding emotions and interpersonal facilitation (.594) (.468), (.451) respectively.However as compared to perceiving emotions, using emotions and understanding emotions, the association is moderately strong among managing emotions and interpersonal facilitation.The value is 0.382.
From the table given above, it is seen that, the value of p is less than 0.01.Therefore H 0 is rejected.Hence, there is significant relationship between Emotional Intelligence and interpersonal facilitation.The table illustrates that value of R square is .584which is equal to 58.4%.This means that independent variable (Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors) is accounting for 58.4% of variation in the dependent variable (interpersonal facilitation).From the table given above, it is seen that, the value of p is less than 0.01.Hence the overall effect of this independent variable (Emotional intelligence) is highly significant.Therefore, the study can generalise the results of sample to predict for the entire population.

Discussion
The study analysed the effects of demographical variables on emotional intelligence.The test results show that there is a significant relationship between the demographical variables (such as age and total service) of managers and supervisors; and their Emotional Intelligence.But the variables like gender, designation and qualification of managers and supervisors do not have significant relationship on emotional intelligence.Emotional Intelligence has four elements: perceiving emotions, using emotions, understanding emotions, and managing emotions.Emotional Intelligence helps the managers and supervisors to create a positive environment so that people are happy working together.The result of correlation coefficient and regression revealed that Emotional Intelligence of managers and supervisors is significantly related with interpersonal facilitation in an organization.The study results provide sufficient evidence for the fact that Emotional Intelligence, measured as a set of abilities is associated positively with interpersonal behaviours.By having clear understanding of Emotional Intelligence, managers and supervisors in Public Sector Enterprises can increase the job commitment, loyalty and growth of organization.

Practical Implications of the Study
From the study it is revealed that there is strong correlation between Emotional Intelligence and interpersonal facilitation of managers and supervisors in public sector firms in Kerala.By developing Emotional Intelligence skills, managers and supervisors will understand that their thoughts and feelings are being appreciated and accepted.Success of managers and supervisors is not only based on reaching the targets, but also on the development of his or her team and establishing good relationships.It is also desirable that since Emotional Intelligence has significant impacts on interpersonal facilitation, the managers and supervisors should be coached on Emotional Intelligence skills.

Recommendations for Future Studies
Further studies can include larger and broader samples that are more representative of the population, examining other factors of workplace outcomes such as work attitude, performance management, organisation citizenship behaviour, employee motivation, decision making process, stress management etc.Employees at different levels in the organisation should be included in the study.

Conclusion
To be an effective person at work, employees should be able to demonstrate problem solving ability, decision making aptitude, clear communication skills and be proficient at managing workplace relationships.Emotionally intelligent people will have awareness of situations pertaining to themselves and beyond their own personal perspectives.Results of the study strongly support that by developing Emotional Intelligence skills, employees can improve personal productivity at work and attain a high level of quality relationships both inside and outside the job.These employees show a healthy awareness of what is going on around him both physically and psychologically.Hence PSEs should take initiatives to improve the EI of their managers and supervisors to have better interpersonal facilitation, which will have an effect on improving performance.

Figure 3 . 1
Figure 3.1 Conceptual Frame Works Perceiving Emotions, Using Emotions, Understanding Emotions and Managing Emotions are the elements that constitute EI.Interpersonal facilitation comprises of factors such as Expressive, Helpful, Beneficent, Directive and Considerate. 7

Table 5 . 6 ANOVA
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.