Global Regional Review

Abstract

The aim of the research was to explore the role of emotional intelligence in teaching practices of the teachers in universities. The teaching faculty of all the general public universities of Punjab was the population of the study. By using multistage random sampling technique, five general public universities of Punjab were selected randomly. After this four departments were randomly selected from five randomly selected faculties from each university. After this, 50% faculty members were randomly selected from each faculty. Two research instruments were developed; one for emotional intelligence and the second checklist for teaching practices of teachers in universities. The research instruments were validated through expert opinions and pilot testing and reliability co efficient were drawn which were 0.90 and 0.95 respectively. The findings of the study was that emotional intelligence has association with teaching practices of the teachers in universities. It was recommended that the university management may provide opportunities to teachers in terms of training and workshops to enhance their emotional intelligence.

Key Words:

Emotional Intelligence, Teaching Practices, General Public Universities

Introduction

Higher Education contributing significantly in the economic and social success of any country. Although government extends its support for such activities but the effective and rational use of resources is required in order to ensure smooth progress in the Education field. For the sake of quality of the higher education certain elements must be kept in mind. Amount of learning, number of graduates and innovation within this context, a panel of analysts came out with a strategy and recommendations to increase the productivity of the higher education (Asian Productivity Organizations, 2017).

Emotionally intelligent personnel can take the responsibility of leading the team to achieve the organizational goals, because individuals also use their emotional awareness to give direction to their actions and behaviors that guide them to become good leaders and develop supportive culture. On the other hand, in emotionally unstable circumstances some people have obscurity controlling their emotions. Those employees who have incapability to manage and communicate emotions successfully can become the cause of unsolved and recurring conflicts with one another and that in the long run can have severe burnout which reduces productivity of the organizations (Weisinger, 2000).

According to Goleman (1998), the capability of a person to manage the internal feelings and emotions of others after recognizing them is emotional intelligence. Emotionally intelligent person manages to sustain a healthy relationship with himself and also with other people. Emotional intelligence is termed as ‘social intelligence’; it is referred to as an ability to recognize and manage the emotions. The understanding regarding the feelings can be utilized in a positive way to achieve the goals (Salovey & Mayer, 1997).

At the workplaces, emotions are not given importance rather they are taken in a negative sense. However, emotional intelligence has a positive connotation. Emotions are psychological subsystems for example awareness, cognition etc. Emotional intelligence is the combination of cognition and emotions and can be developed over time (Mayer, Caruso & Salovey, 1999).

Goleman (2006) classified the concept of emotional intelligence in five domains: self -awareness, self- regulation, empathy social skills and motivation. Emotional intelligence levels are in peoples. It appears that people with higher emotional intelligence can have quality relations with others. So that emotional intelligence has remarkable influence on supportive culture which ultimately leads to the productivity of organizations.

Emotional Intelligence has been defined by Goleman (2001) that it is an ability to control impulses and emotions and act in a rational manner. Controlling the impulses is not an easy job. The great leaders of the world learn this skill over time which helps them to take good and rational decisions. They know the emotion of the other people and act according to the situation avoiding internal conflicts. Martinez (2005) described that emotional intelligence, is the non-cognitive capability of an individual to deal with the external pressures. It is very valuable skill which helps an individual to succeed in everyday life. Emotional intelligence is social intelligence that helps a person to recognize the feelings of others, consequently helping him to act in genius way (Salovey and Mayers, 1990).

In order to deal with the changing environment of the organizations, the important tool is emotional intelligence in both public and private sector (Moghadam, Jorfi & Jorfi, 2010). Emotional intelligence contribute in managing and recognizing the emotions of others for the betterment of the organization (Singh, 2007).

Productivity and efficiency are two elements which are being discussed in the policy of higher education (Siemens, Dawson & Lynch, 2013). This institution is non-profit sector; secondly, it produces multiple outputs from multiple inputs. Thus it is difficult to measure efficiency. But with the introduction of parametric and non-parametric efficiency estimation techniques during mid- 1980s, it has become possible to evaluate the performance of the educational institutions (Johnes, 2004; Salerno, 2003). According to the studies conducted on the structure of faculty work, the competing and conflicting roles make faculty work complex. (Fairweather, 2002, 2005; Fairweather & Beach, 2002; Porter & Umbach, 2001; Schuster & Finkelstein, 2006). According to the research studies conducted on the teaching faculty work, teaching, research and services are altogether different dimensions and they cause conflict and complexity in the faculty work structure. On the top of this, the conflict has been strengthened by the reward structures from department, which focuses on the discreteness and not on the mutuality of these activities (Fairweather, 2005). For the successful promotion of research universities the research activity has become important (Marks, 2000). Teaching is an integral part of teaching faculty work and academic culture (Abu Alhija & Majdob, 2017). Apart from this, another important factor of faculty work is service (Berk, 2005). Although service work remains unnoticed and unrewarded but it is an important factor of faculty socialization. Moreover, certain demographic variables affect job satisfaction and productivity. These variables serve two main purposes. The first variable states that the level of job satisfaction varies with gender, race, tenure status and salary. However, gender and race/ethnicity is the most important of all but recent studies suggest that rank and tenure also affect the job satisfaction (Rosser, 2004, 2005).

The culture of our country ‘Pakistan’ is different from the culture of western countries as well as Pakistan being Muslim state has different cultural context in Asian countries. The higher education institutions of Pakistan have very versatile culture because students and teachers come from different status of life. In this regard every individual tried to absorb himself or become part of the culture of institutions of higher education by utilizing their emotional intelligence to be productive. So there is need to evaluate the role of emotional intelligence of personnel in enhancing the academic performance of universities.

Objectives of the study

The objectives of the study were;

1.       To explore the impact of emotional intelligence of teachers on their teaching practices in universities.

2.       Find out association between emotional intelligence and teaching practices of the universities.

Research Questions

Following were the research questions.

1.       Has the emotional intelligence of teachers any impact on teachers’ teaching practices in universities?

2.       Is there any association between emotional intelligence and teaching practices of teachers in the universities?

Research Methodology

The methodology of research was descriptive, exploratory and survey technique was used to collect data.

Population and Sampling

From all general public universities of Punjab, five universities were selected; two from old universities and three from new universities randomly. Five faculties were selected from each university and four departments were selected randomly from each faculty. From each selected department, 50% of teaching faculty was selected randomly.

Research Instruments

The scale of emotional intelligence (EI) was developed to measure the emotional intelligence of university teachers. Pilot study was conducted to validate this (EI) scale on 510 university teachers of general public universities of Punjab. Factor analysis (Principal component analysis) was carried out. The emotional intelligence scale has four factors i.e. self -perception factor, self –competency regulation factor, interpersonal intelligence factor and social skills management factor. The first factor has three sub factors i-e emotional self- recognition which contains four statements, precise self- assessment which consists of two statements and self -confidence includes two statements. Total eight statements were included in first factor self- perception factor. The second factor was self-competency regulation which consists of six sub factors i.e. utilizing emotions which has four statements, trustworthiness which contains four statements, adaptability which consists of three statements, accomplishment which has four statements, initiative which contains two statements and optimism which two statements. Total 19 statements were included in second factor. The third factor is interpersonal intelligence which has three sub factors i.e. responsiveness which has three statements, organizational awareness which includes three statements, service orientation which has three statements. Total 10 statements were included in third factor. The fourth and final factors have six sub factors i.e. understanding others, visionary leadership, reagent of change, inspiration, clash resolution and teamwork and coordination. Each sub factor of fourth factor has three statements. Total statements from fourth factor were 18. Finally the emotional intelligence scale consists of 55 statements. The Cronbach’s alpha of the complete scale was 0.909 that represents very good reliability of the research instrument (Hogan, 2003). The checklist is developed after review of literature and after taking experts’ opinion to measure the teaching practices of teaching faculty of general public universities of Punjab.

Data Analysis and Results

Data were analysed through SPSS 22 by applying descriptive and inferential statistics.

Table 1. Level of Emotional Intelligence of General Public Universities

Table 4.3 reflects the level of emotional intelligence of teachers from general public universities of Punjab. The  81% teachers of Sargodha University , 98% teachers from Gujarat university, 87% teachers of G.C.U Faisalabad university ,88% teachers from Punjab university and 87% teachers from Islamia university Bahawalpur showed average and high level of emotional intelligence. The overall 90 % respondents showed average and high level of emotional intelligence. The teachers of University of Gujarat (98%) showed better emotional intelligence level than teachers from other universities.

Table 2. Comparative views of University Teachers about Indicators of Academic Performance.

C.H=credit hours, Ind= Individual Teaching method, Hrs= Hours

Table 2 depicts the indicator wise comparative views of teachers from general public universities of Punjab about teaching practices of teachers in universities. 42% teachers from Sargodha University , 54% from Gujarat University and 71%  teachers of  Islamia university of Bahawalpur having workload of 09 credit hours per semester whereas 36% teachers from G.C.U Faisalabad having 06 credit hours workload per semester while 26% from university of the Punjab having 03 credit hours workload per semester. 46%  teachers from university of Sargodha spending 3hrs/week for consultation of students whereas 46% from G.C.U Faisalabad spending 6hrs/week while 55% from Gujarat University ,25% from Punjab University  and 79% teachers from Islamia University of Bahawalpur were spending 9hrs/week for consultation of students.53% teachers from Sargodha University  ,31% from G.C.U Faisalabad  and 36% from Islamia University of Bahawalpur  were spending 16-20 hrs/ semester for marking exam paper whereas 78% teachers  from Gujarat University  and 75% from Punjab university were spending 5-10 hrs/ semester for marking exam paper. 30% teachers from Sargodha University, 32% from Islamia University of Bahawalpur were spending 31-40 hrs/ semester for marking assignments whereas 35% teachers were spending 41-60 hrs/week while 85% from Gujarat University and 84% from Punjab University were spending 1-20 hrs/ semester for marking assignments. 30% teachers from Sargodha University, 35% from G.C.U Faisalabad and 27% from Islamia University of Bahawalpur were spending 41-60 hrs/ semester for preparing courses whereas 85% teachers from Gujarat University and 84% from Punjab University were spending 1-20 hrs/ semester for preparing courses. 69% teachers from Sargodha University, 55% from G.C. U Faisalabad, 85% Gujarat University, 84% from Punjab University and 76% from Islamia University of Bahawalpur were spending 0 hrs/ semester for developing curricula. 47% teachers from Sargodha University, 39% from G.C.U Faisalabad and 60% from Gujarat University were using both team teaching method and individual teaching method whereas 63% teachers from Punjab University and 44% from Islamia University of Bahawalpur  using only individual teaching method. 71% teachers from Sargodha University, 60% from G.C.U Faisalabad, 87% from Gujarat University, 82% from Punjab University and 53% from Islamia University of Bahawalpur made discussion with colleagues on teaching methods. 53% teachers from Sargodha University, 75% from Gujarat University, 61% from Punjab University gave presentation about teaching methods in other universities whereas 54% teachers from G.C.U Faisalabad and 71% from Islamia University of Bahawalpur did not present on teaching methods in other universities.

Table 3. Correlation Among Emotional Intelligence and Teaching Practices of Teachers of General Public Universities of Punjab

N=813

Table 3 shows the relationship between emotional intelligence and teaching practices of teachers of general public universities of Punjab. The Spearman rho data analysis revealed a moderate positive relationship between emotional intelligence and teaching practices of teachers as indicated by, r (813) = .612, p = .001 < α = 0.05.

Conclusion

Following were the conclusion of the study.

1.       Most of the teaching faculty of general public universities of Punjab, Pakistan had average and high level of emotional intelligence. However, the teachers of Gujarat University had better emotional intelligence level than teachers of other universities.

2.       Most of the teachers from all universities having regular workload per semester. Furthermore the teachers from Sargodha University, Gujarat University and 71% form Islamia University of Bahawalpur having more regular workload whereas teachers from University of Faisalabad and Punjab University having less workload.

3.       The fewer number of overall university teachers provide consultation to students other than class work in semester. Furthermore, teachers of Islamia University Bahawalpur were spending more hours for consultation of students, whereas teachers from Sargodha University, G.C.U Faisalabad and teachers of Gujarat University were spending average number of hours while teachers from Punjab University were spending fewer hours for consultation of students other than class work.

4.       A handsome number of university teachers were spending less hours per semester in marking exam paper whereas a fewer number of university teachers were spending average number of hours. However teachers from University of Sargodha were spending more hours for marking exam paper, while teachers from Islamia University Bahawalpur and G.C.U Faisalabad were spending average number of hours whereas teachers from Gujarat University and Punjab University were spending fewer hours for marking exam paper.

5.        Many university teachers spent average number of hours per semester for marking assignments. Comparatively teachers of Sargodha University and G.C. University Faisalabad were spending more hours for marking assignments while teachers from Islamia University Bahawalpur were spending average number of hours whereas teachers from Punjab University and Gujarat University were spending fewer hours for marking assignments.

6.       A handsome number of university teachers spent average number of hours per semester for preparing courses. Moreover teachers from University of Sargodha and G.C.U Faisalabad were spending more hours for preparing courses while teachers from Islamia University Bahawalpur were spending average number of hours whereas Punjab University and Gujarat University were spending fewer hours for preparing courses.

7.        Many of the university teaching faculty of general public sector universities of Punjab did not spend any time for developing curricula in the semester but fewer senior teachers claimed that they spent many hours for developing curricula. Comparatively, teachers from G.C.U Faisalabad were spending more hours for developing curricula while teachers from University of Sargodha were spending an average number of hours whereas teachers from Punjab University, Islamia University Bahawalpur and University of Gujarat were spending fewer hours for developing curricula. 

8.        A handsome number of teachers of general public universities of Punjab were using both individualized and team teaching methods. However most of teachers from University of Gujarat were using both methods in classrooms. In this regard, University of Gujarat is comparatively ahead of all other universities. A handsome number of teachers from Sargodha University and G.C.U Faisalabad were using both teaching methods whereas lesser number of teachers from Punjab University and Islamia University Bahawalpur were using both teaching methods.

9.       Majority of the teachers of general public universities of Punjab were used to discuss the teaching methods with colleagues informally and made presentation about teaching methods in other universities. In this regard, teachers of University of Gujarat and Punjab University were better than the teachers of other universities. The teachers from Sargodha University and G.C. U Faisalabad were at second position while the teachers from Islamia University Bahawalpur were at third position of discussion teaching methods with colleagues informally and presenting about concept of teaching method in other universities. In this regard, Islamia University Bahawalpur is far behind than other universities in discussion about teaching methods and presenting about concept of teaching in other universities.

10.     There was a moderate positive relationship between emotional intelligence and academic performance of universities. It means when emotional intelligence is higher, the productivity increases.

Discussions

The findings of the current study depicted that most of the teaching faculty of general public universities of Punjab has an average and high level of emotional intelligence which is in line with the findings of Schmutz (2017) in his study “levels of teachers’ emotional intelligence in selected Beat the Odds schools: A descriptive study”; the study revealed that school teacher’s emotional intelligence with mid to high level. These findings are also in line with the results of Birol, Atamturk, Silman and Sensoy’s (2009) study “analysis of emotional intelligence level of teachers”; the findings are that teachers had equally high level of emotional intelligence. Another conclusion was that moderate positive relationship between emotional intelligence and employee performance was found which is verified by the findings of the Baloch, Saleem, Zaman and Fida (2014) in their research study “the impact of emotional intelligence on employee performance”; the findings are that emotional intelligence greatly affect productivity of employees. This conclusion is also in line with the findings of Sahdat, Sajjad, Farooq and Rehman (2011) in their study “emotional intelligence and organizational productivity: a conceptual study; the study found that emotional intelligence has great impact on productivity of the organizations. Also, these results are in line with Haq, Anwar and Hassan’s (2017) study entitled “impact of emotional intelligence on teacher’s performance in higher education institutions of Pakistan”; it found that emotional intelligence has positive impact on teacher’s performance.

Recommendations

1.       All university teachers may provide sufficient time per week for consultation of students other than class work

 for solving their academic problems as it is concluded that fewer number of university teachers in all universities provide consultation to students other than class work.

2.       Many University teachers were not invlved in developing curricula whereas only most senior teachers developed curricula in all general public universities so it is recommended that management of the universities involve junior teachers in developing curricula with senior teachers.