Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to study the level of emotional intelligence among executives in the small and medium sized enterprises particularly from the manufacturing sector. In the difficult times, it is important to maintain the level of employee engagement at a high. SMEs do have problems in attracting and retaining their employees and many of the organizations do not survive more than 10 years. SMEs need new blood to navigate the organisation into steady waters and new land. For the purpose of the study, the GENOS Emotional Intelligence questionnaire developed by Palmer and Stough (2001) has been used. A total of 96 employees from different manufacturing sectors took part in the survey. It was found that emotional intelligence did not have a significant relationship with organizational citizenship behaviour.