Examining the impact of Emotional Intelligence on Organizational Role Stress: An empirical study of the Indian IT sector

The nature of jobs in the service industry, are characterized by complex work systems and customer orientation; which require huge emotional labor. These multitudinous demands on the personal and professional fronts, lead to a depletion and exhaustion of resources of the mind and body. Prolonged exposure to such situations has been found to have dysfunctional effects on the individuals; leading to organizational role stress. It has been observed that employees with higher emotional intelligence are more aware of the coping strategies to deal with stress. The acknowledgement to develop emotional competencies of the workforce is therefore, a focal point of concern for human resource practitioners today. This paper attempts to explore the relationship between organizational Role Stress and Emotional Intelligence in the Indian IT industry. Data was collected from a total of 160 employees, both Managers and Non Managers working in the Delhi NCR Region. Emotional Intelligence was measured by developing a scale consisting of 27 items, which was developed by the researchers in the previous studies; by adapting to Indian and Western perspectives on emotional Intelligence. Stress was measured using the Organizational Role Stress questionnaire comprising of 50 items. The results show a strong correlation between Role Stress and Emotional Intelligence and significant impact of Emotional Intelligence and Organizational Stress.