Elsevier

Journal of Professional Nursing

Volume 25, Issue 1, January–February 2009, Pages 23-29
Journal of Professional Nursing

Original article
The Impact of Trait Emotional Intelligence on Nursing Team Performance and Cohesiveness

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2007.12.002Get rights and content

Claims about the positive influence of emotional intelligence (EI) on work team performance are very numerous, both in commercial and scientific literature. However, despite the huge interest that media and business consultants put in EI and its fast-growing use in organizations, there is very little empirical evidence to support these claims. In this study, we investigated the relationships between EI, performance, and cohesiveness in 23 nursing teams. EI was assessed using the modified version of the Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale and cohesiveness with the Group Cohesiveness Scale. Finally, nursing team performance was measured at four different levels: job satisfaction, chief nursing executives' rating, turnover rate, and health care quality. Results showed that health care quality was positively correlated with emotion regulation. Emotion regulation was also positively correlated with group cohesiveness. Surprisingly, it also appears that emotion appraisal was negatively correlated with the health care quality provided by teams. These results suggest that EI and, more specifically, Emotional Regulation may provide an interesting new way of enhancing nursing teams' cohesion and patient/client outcomes.

Section snippets

EI and Performance

Despite the huge amount of claims about EI's positive influence on job performance and its fast-growing use in organizations, studies investigating relationships between EI and performance at individual level suggest that the current excitement surrounding the potential benefits from the use of EI in the workplace may be premature or even misplaced. Indeed, although EI appears to be related to performance and effective outcomes in some cases (Bachman et al., 2000, Bar-On, 1997, Dulewicz &

EI and Cohesiveness

Despite the very few studies on this topic, EI seems to be a facilitating factor for group cohesion. In this way, according to Prati, Douglas, Ferris, Ammeter, and Buckley (2003), team members who are emotionally intelligent form strong relationships and a solid team support system. Moreover, empathy that shares close relationships with EI (Miville, Carlozzi, Gushue, Schara, & Ueda, 2006) also has been argued to be an important characteristic necessary for team cohesion. Empathy can be defined

Aims and Hypotheses

The purpose of this study was to explore among real-work nursing teams the relationships between EI, work team performance, and team cohesiveness firstly, by taking into account not only the mean score but also the minimum and maximal scores, as well as the groups' variance; secondly, by measuring the multiple aspects of team performance relying on an acknowledged theoretical model.

Based on the above discussion of EI at the group level, the following hypotheses are suggested: (1) Team EI will

Participants

The participants in this study were 421 nurses, auxiliary nurses, and physiotherapists working in 23 nursing teams in the regional hospital center (Liege, Belgium). Medical doctors were not included in the study because they usually do not belong to a specific team and are not considered by nurses as part of their team. All the members in each team participated in our research. The average size of teams was 18.3 members (SD = 2.78). The smallest one was composed of 14 participants, and the

Results

The correlation coefficients between team performance and total EI and subscales are reported in Table 1. As shown in Table 1, there is a positive correlation between the minimal score of Optimism/Mood Regulation and team output (r = .52; P = .011), a positive correlation between the maximum score of Optimism/Mood Regulation in the team and team output (r = .48; P = .019), and a negative correlation between the mean score of Appraisal of Emotion in teams and team output (r = −.41; P =.049).

Discussion

Although the importance of EI for group effectiveness is often claimed, few studies have investigated this topic. The present data indicate that the relationship between EI and team performance is more subtle than first thought. Consistent with previous findings by Feyerherm and Rice (2002), the data are best understood by focusing on the details that isolate specific elements of performance and components of EI versus making a sweeping generalization that all components of EI relate to all

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