Research conducted by the University of Ulster has found that managerial Emotional Intelligence is linked to employee absenteeism – one of the biggest costs to industry. A Chartered Institute of Personnel Development survey published last year calculated the annual cost of absenteeism at just over £600 per employee – representing a £12bn loss to the UK economy.

Dr Robert Kerr, of the UU's Business and Management Research Insitute, who investigated supervisors and employees at a large Northern Ireland manufacturing plant, discovered that the supervisors with the highest emotional intelligence had the lowest levels of absenteeism among their staff.

Dr Kerr – who worked with colleagues Dr Emily Boyle and Norma Heaton from the University’s School of Business Organisation and Management - said: “This was a study on the shop floor of a manufacturing plant. It was an almost entirely male dominated environment – one which traditionally would have been ruled with a very firm hand.”

He said the study suggested that tests for emotional intelligence should be considered in the recruitment and selection process and in the training and development of managerial personnel.

Dr Kerr presented his findings to the British Academy of Management conference being held in Belfast this week for the first time. It has been organised in association with the University of Ulster and Queen's University Belfast.

The conference theme is on Building International Communities Through Collaboration, looking at the way in which 'management' as a field of study adds to the knowledge and understanding of how individuals, groups and organisations can work together in a way that promotes enhanced performance.

UU’s Professor Marie McHugh, who is co-chair of the conference, said: “The UU has had a long association with the BAM, and we’re delighted that they are holding their 20th conference here. The BAM event is  the leading management research conference in the UK, and it’s a tribute to the calibre of business-oriented research under way here in Northern Ireland that they have chosen Belfast as the venue for this event.”

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David Young
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