The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Managers' Conflict Management Strategies in Selected Hospitals of Karaj

Today, conflict is a common topic that occupies the human thought more than any other issues. On the other hand, use of emotional intelligence and its components leads to effective conflict management. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and conflict management strategies among the selected hospitals of Karaj, Iran. This correlational and cross-sectional study was conducted among the selected hospitals of Karaj in 2017. The sample size consisted of 32 managers at different levels of hospitals selected by census method. Data were collected using the standard questionnaires and analyzed by the descriptive and analytical statistics as well as Spearman correlation using SPSS 19 software. The average score regarding the conflicts management among the managers was 108.3 ± 20.8 out of 134. The conflict management strategy used more frequently by most of the managers was the non-response strategy with an average score of 51.5 ± 12.5. Emotional intelligence showed a "good" status with an average of 121.9 ± 18.7 among the managers of the two hospitals. A significant relationship was also observed between the conflict management strategies and self-concept component of emotional intelligence. The "non-response" strategy was more frequently used by the managers. Some components of the emotional intelligence (self-help) have correlation with the conflict management. So, managers should learn other strategies in the area of conflict management strategies. This in turn, has a positive impact on human resource management and organizational performance improvement.