Psychology

Running head: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF EFFICACY, EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND PERCIEVED STRESS. Relationship between self efficacy, emotional intelligence and perceived stress. Name: Course: College: Tutor: Date:   Abstract. The research to be undertaken in this paper will aim at critically analyzing the relationship between these three aspects that improve the effectiveness of managers at the place of work. The results that will become achieved in this research will go a long way in providing a detailed understanding of how organizational behavior becomes affected by these three elements, and the ways, which it can be handled and improved. To achieve a comprehensive study, literature review of relevant literature materials will be under analysis so as to give a vivid image of the organizational behavior of different people using statistics. The results that will come later on in the paper will reveal the scope of the inter-relationship between these factors. Moreover, the study contains a vast implication in the management field for it shows how to handle a management situation at the place of work. Relationship between self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and perceived stress Introduction The management field can be termed as a diverse field that contains many factors, which influence its, effectiveness and the manner in which it works. The nature of these factors varies depending on how they impact the field of management. However, the most fundamental nature that significantly impacts management is the psychological field. This field holds together various aspects that become intertwined and thus a relationship needs to be developed. The information gained from the study of the inter-relationship between these psychological elements aids an organization to come up with elaborate ways that help manage both employees and customers. (Bandura, 1977). In order for the analysis in this paper to become comprehendible, the paper must first create an understanding of the terms under analysis. Self-efficacy is the belief, which an individual contains regarding him or herself. This is the self-assertion, which an individual, contains towards various tasks, which an individual faces in his or her life. This aspect is a psychological aspect that improves the self-propulsion and motivation, which an individual contains. Perceived stress can be termed as a degree in one’s life for a situation facing an individual becomes upraised thus becoming stressful. During this psychological state, an individual perceives life as an emotional burden and thus one cannot manageably handle the task presented. (Bandura, 1977). Emotional intelligence simply means the ability of an individual to become aware of their emotional and psychological state and knowing how to handle this state under different circumstances. These three terms contain a psychological underpinning and thus they are quite interrelated. The psychological foundation of these three elements comes about, for they rely on the psychological and emotional state of an individual. (Diener et al, 1985). In addition to this, these three elements can be termed as the cognitive mechanisms that increase the output which any individual whether in their work place or at an educational institution. The interrelationship between these three elements becomes governed by similar theories, which all depend, on the emotional state of an individual. (Bandura, 1977). Theory explaining the relationship of these three elements A theory that can explain these three elements is the social, cognitive theory. This theory originally explains self efficacy and the manner in which an individual employs self efficacy in him or herself. (Panda, 2008). However, a critical analysis of this theory indicates that it can be used to explain emotional intelligence and solve perceived stress. (Diener, , Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin 1985). The explanation to this statement is that, an individual acts according to how he or she explains the realities that determine his or her organization at the work place. This means that if an individual is capable of understanding his or her behaviors, thoughts and feelings, then the individual will be able to have a clear, emotional intelligence that will counter emotional stress that might be on one’s way. (Gibbons, & Buunk, 1999). However, people contain different ways of ascertaining self-efficacy in them, and; thus, they may contain other ways of handling the other two factors. This aspect comes about due to the different natural aspects, which people contain. (Gundlach, Martinko, & Douglas, 2003). A good illustration of this argument is where an individual contains the ability to motivate him or herself at their work place. In spite of this mastering of one’s self efficacy, an individual may fail to contain full knowledge of his or her emotions and this allows room for the development of perceived stress. (Hays & Buckle, 1992). It is worth noting that past studies, which have attempted, to draw a relationship between the psychological underpinning of an individual with that of these factors fail to draw the interrelation between these three elements. (Panda, 2008). Most studies explain and illustrate the relationship between self-efficacy and perceived stress or between emotional intelligence and perceived stress. The evaluation of these studies shows that several factors influenced the relationship between these psychological aspects. (Luszczynska, A., Gutierrez-Dona, B. & Schwarzer, R. 2005). A common factor found in these researches is the personality factor. This factor depends on individual factors such as one’s perception towards life, the orientation, which an individual, contains towards the future, and most importantly the level of self-esteem, which an individual contains. Another factor that came up in these studies is the social comparison, which an individual possesses. This comparison comes about due to the social status of an individual. This status contains the capability of making or breaking the self-esteem of an individual thus, determining the self-efficacy of an individual. However, the paramount element, which these studies, dwelt upon is the ability of an individual to become satisfied with the job, which they perform. (Rathi, & Rastogi, 2008). The satisfaction of an individual’s job helps an individual enjoy what they do thus enabling them to execute their duties diligently. The analysis of previous researches and analysis proves that there is a clear relationship between self-efficacies, perceived stress, and emotional intelligence. Whenever an employee establishes a high, self-esteem, one manages to have a profound self-belief that they are capable of performing any task presented to them. These people view the tasks brought to them as elevation elements rather than obstacles. This action produces a high level of self-efficacy in the task presented to them. The high-efficacy levels come about due to the ability, which an individual contains in mastering their intelligence. The mastering of one’s emotions comes about because of knowing how to handle situations at hand. People who remain optimistic in the actions, which they perform, manage to complete their tasks in spite of the challenges that they may face on the way. The mastering of these two key elements solves the perceived stress element. Hypothesis Students or employees who enjoy the work they do and manage to handle presented tasks contain low-stress degrees. This revelation is what creates the hypothesis, which states that, emotional intelligence, perceived stress, and self efficacy are directly correlated. Procedure As a means of trying to establish the relevance of this hypothesis, a research targeting employees at a horticultural factory became undertaken. The selected participants received questionnaires, which contained questions trying to prove the hypothesis. 200 questionnaires became issued, and out of the 200, 182 questionnaires became properly filled and returned. Properly informed consents became administered to the factory workers together with their employees. Instrumentation: In order for this research to obtain proper results for this study, several tools were used in the study. One of the instruments is the emotional intelligence scale. This instrument contains the responsibility of measuring emotional intelligence in people. The subjects in this study answered the questions presented to them and the E.I. scale measured their awareness through analysis of the responses of self report. The scale ranges from 1-5. (1= strongly disagree 5=strongly agree.) Another instrument used is the General perceived self efficacy scale. This scale measures personality of an individual through their disposition. The scale used ranged from 1-4. (1=Not at all, 2= barely true, 3= moderately true, 4=exactly true.) The occupational stress scale is another instrument employed in this research. This scale measures job situations and scenarios that are stressful. The scale of this instrument ranges from 1-5. (1=Not like me, 5= Always like me.) Results: Table 1: Variables Emotional intelligence Self efficacy Occupational stress. E.I. 1.00 .32 -.63 S.E. 0.8 1.00 -.67 P.S. -.63 -.672 1.00 E.I= emotional intelligence. S.E= Self efficiency. P.S. = perceived stress. The results in the table illustrated above show that few workers only fully appreciated the job, which they did at the horticultural factory. However, these findings proved the hypothesis showing that there is an inter-relation between these three aspects. Employees who had a positive emotional intelligence of 1.00 showed that they had minimal occupational stress of -.63, while employees with a negative emotional intelligence of -.63 contained a high occupational stress of 1.00 In spite of these findings, several revelations emerged during this research. These revelations can be termed as factors, which enabled the relationship of the three factors to coexist. Some of these factors include the age of the workers, the education level of the employees, and the gender of the employees. Employees with above 35 years who had low-education levels complained about the work, which they performed. In addition to this, most complaints came from male employees. Discussion The findings contained in the research undertaken proved that self-efficacies were directly related to perceived stress and emotional intelligence. The employees whose work was to process and package the horticultural products complained about their jobs a lot. Most of them claimed to be unsatisfied with their jobs due to the salary provided. In addition to this, they did not contain any job security or additional benefits such as health care benefits given to them by their employees. This action made the employees have a low esteem thus creating a low-self efficacy towards the work they were doing. The low, self-efficacies at the work place made most of the employees decrease their output at work. Employees with the age of 35 years and above complained of having high-stress levels for they could not make ends meet for their families. Moreover, the employees failed to have a clear comprehension about their emotional status thus they could not effectively handle their jobs. However, the senior employees and those at the management levels stated that they enjoyed the work they did and appreciated working at their position. Moreover, they always found a way of maneuvering the challenges, which they encountered due to the self-awareness, which these employees had. The increased self-awareness made them have control of their emotions, and thus they encountered minimal stress levels at their work places. Some significant findings that emerged during the research showed that it is quite essential for employers to motivate their employees at their place of work. This motivation can be in terms of increasing the salaries of the employees and ensuring that the employees are not quite alienated with the management. This motivation enables employees to appreciate their jobs thus creating self-efficacy. This self-efficacy enables the employees control their emotions, for they are able to face challenges using a sober mind. This sober mind helps in the achievement of the goals set by the company thus minimizing stress levels that can arise at the work place. However, in spite of the research managing to prove the hypothesis, certain limitations accompany this research. A limitation encountered is the use of questionnaires, which are subject to biases. The employees at the factory might have filled their questionnaires untruthfully, and thus they can hinder the analysis intended in this research. An interview would be much better, for one can analyze the behavior of the respondent. In addition to this, an individual obtains more information through an interview as compared to a questionnaire. However, the results in the table above contain a greater impact on the management field. Managers and scholars who have isolated these three elements will need to make a critical review about the implications of these three elements. In the event that workers at a workplace experience a stressful environment, employers should establish the reason for the stress and look for effective solutions. Moreover, employers need to teach their employees on how to deal with their emotions in the event of an emotional turmoil. In conclusion, self-efficacy perceived stress and emotional intelligence are three vital factors, which a skilful manager should comprehensively understand. These factors enable a manager to provide a solid management strategy that will enable employees to integrate these three elements in order to achieve an efficient result.  References Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215. Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction with Life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, (7) 1–7. Gibbons, F. X., & Buunk, B. P. (1999). Individual differences in social comparison: Development of a scale of social comparison orientation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 129–142. Gundlach, M. J., Martinko, M. J. & Douglas, S.C. (2003). “Emotional intelligence, causal reasoning, and the self-efficacy development process.” International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 11(3), 229-246. Hays, J. R., & Buckle, K. E. (1992). Self-efficacy among hospitalized mentally ill patients. Psychological Reports, 70, 57–58. Luszczynska, A., Gutierrez-Dona, B. & Schwarzer, R. (2005). “General self-efficacy in various domains of human functioning evidence from five countries.” International Journal of Psychology, 40(2) 80-89. Panda, Y. (2008). “Emotional intelligence and perceived stress.” ICFAI Journal of Organizational Behavior, 7(3), 13-16. Rathi, N. & Rastogi, R. (2008). “Effect of emotional intelligence on occupational self-efficacy.” ICFAI Journal of Organizational Behavior, 7(2), 46-56. Schwarzer, R., & Born, A. (1997). Optimistic self-beliefs: Assessment of general perceived self-efficacy in thirteen cultures. World Psychology, 3, 177–190.