Emotional intelligence in the Greek public sector.

Abstract

Emotional intelligence (EI), in the sense of the ability to recognize and manage emotions in the self and in others, has become a widespread notion in managerial studies all over the world, and it is claimed that high EI can improve job performance and facilitate change management. However, the notion of EI is absent from literature on Greek Public Administration. While the Greek Public Sector is currently asked to implement a major administrative reform, the question that rises is whether long-lasting deficiencies of the public administration and the perceived ineffective change implementation can be considered as indication of low levels of EI among civil servants. This master thesis is a case study aiming to delve into this question by analysing the answers of 52 civil servants employed in the Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Communication, a newly founded organization which, in addition to the general administrative reform, had to deal with the changes brought about by the merging of institutions and the introduction of new areas of policy. Following a positivist approach, the ESCI Goleman – Boyatzis model is the base of a questionnaire with twenty closed questions aiming to explore the level of EI, and five open-ended questions focusing on change management. Primary data statistical analysis leads to the conclusion that the specific sample of civil servants possess a rather high level of EI with an average of 79,08, in a scale with a maximum value of 100. Content analysis of the open-ended questions reinforces statistical analysis conclusions and furthermore proves that the cause of resistance to change is not lack of EI but rather the structural problems of the Greek Public Administration. Moreover, regression analysis of the EI model reveals that by eliminating certain statistically non-significant variables, the ESCI model has higher validity.