The purpose of this study was to determine if a significant relationship exists between faculty members' perceptions of organizational climate and their chairs' emotional intelligence competencies. The organizational climate description questionnaire for academic departments of colleges and universities (OCDQ-HE-Partial) was used to assess faculty members' perceptions of organizational climate. Chairs' emotional intelligence competencies were measured by the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i). Faculty members and chairs were all employees of the West Virginia State Community and Technical College System.

The entire population of chairs (N=40) and the entire population of faculty members in the West Virginia Community and Technical College System (N=326) were provided surveys. Eighty-three percent of the chairs participated and 51% (n=165) of the faculty members returned surveys. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation and the chi square test of independence were used in data analysis. An alpha level of .05 served as the level of significance for the study.

Results of the study indicated that a statistically significant negative correlation was found between chairs' levels of emotional intelligence and faculty members' perceptions of organizational climate. Results also indicated that chairpersons' emotional intelligence increases with age and a significant negative correlation exists between chairpersons' age, total administrative experience, and administrative experience in the current department or division and their faculty members' perception of organizational climate. Data indicated that there is a statistically significant difference between OCDQ-HE scores for female chairpersons as compared to male chairpersons, and faculty members perceive organizational climate to be more positive for female chairpersons than male chairpersons. Data also indicated a statistically significant negative correlation between the faculty members' teaching experience in the current department or division and their perceptions of organizational climate.