Date of Award:

5-2008

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Applied Sciences, Technology, and Education

Department name when degree awarded

Agric Systems Technology and Education

Committee Chair(s)

Gary S. Straquadine

Committee

Gary S. Straquadine

Committee

Maurice G. Thomas

Committee

Steven H. Hanks

Committee

Rudy S. Tarpley

Committee

Gary Carlston

Abstract

This study sought to determine whether an MBA degree from Utah State University (USU) was meeting the emotional intelligence (EI) needs of the workplace from the perception of its graduates. This research assessed perception of EI skills with a researcher-designed instrument that consisted of a 22-question survey that was e-mailed to USU students who completed an MBA between 2000 and 2006. The survey questionnaire given to MBA graduates was titled Assessment of Emotional Intelligence and was divided into three distinct parts. The first category (questions 1-10) had to do with industry expectations as perceived by MBA graduates. The second category (questions 11-20) emphasized curriculum in USU’s MBA program, and the third category (21-22) asked for demographic information that was not available from student records or the initial participation postcard. The findings from this research present evidence of the MBA program’s strength in teaching teamwork and collaboration. There was strong agreement that the program taught these skills and that they are expected skills in the workplace. This finding, however, was both affirming and concerning at the same time because it was found that the ratings for none of the other related EI competencies were comparably equal with those of teamwork and collaboration. The lack of correlation between the latent variables, or constructs, employed in this analysis implied that the MBA program could benefit by offering more instruction in EI competencies.

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