Abstract
Background and Objectives: A basic difficulty underlying many of the serious problems of academic administration is the inability to deal effectively with conflict among faculty members, between faculty members and administrators, between faculty and students, and between representatives of the institution and external stakeholders. When those responsible for institutional policy are able to focus and resolve conflicts arising from different ideologies, values and vested interests, it is possible for decision-making and problem-solving to be governed by commitment to the pursuit of academic excellence. The objectives of the study was to analyze the correlation of emotional intelligence (EI) and conflict management styles (CMS) of faculty members teaching nursing and other allied health programs.

Methods: Adopted questionnaires were used to collect data from respondents (n=104) and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to tabulate and statistically analyze the data.

Results: Some EI components of faculty members affect their CMS skills; specifically, on EI awareness and management to CMS collaborating (β=-0.157, p<.05), EI social skills to CMS competing (β=-0.216, p<.05), and EI social skills to CMS avoiding (β=0.198, p<.05).

Conclusion: Some aspects of EI were significantly related to CMS. Further study is needed to explore other indicators for both EI and CMS in higher education and other sectors to create appropriate recommendations and theory-based actions to optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of organizations.

Key words: Educational Management; Emotional Intelligence; Conflict Management Styles; Saudi Arabia