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Hello,

If you are interested in sharing your experiences or thoughts about difficulties in the workplace please email us at workconflict.research@utas.edu.au.

Alternatively you can do this survey. It will be open until the end of June, 2016.

Thank you,

Jane Hyde

Information Sheet for Participation in a Research Project

Emotional Skills in the Workplace

Invitation

You are invited to participate in an online research survey investigating Emotional Skills in the Workplace. The study is being conducted in partial fulfilment of a PhD for Jane Hyde under the supervision of Dr Rachel Grieve and Professor Jenn Scott.

1.What is the purpose of this study

The purpose of the study is to understand how and why someone may use their emotional skills to influence others in the workplace and how this might affect others at work. It also aims to assess the prevalence of such behaviours by measuring how often people engage in these behaviours and whether they or others have been the recipient of them. An increased level of awareness may help employees and workplaces identify and evaluate the usefulness of the behaviour. You are eligible to participate in this study because you meet the requirements of being aged over 18 and being currently employed.

2. What does this study involve?

The survey should take about 45 minutes to complete. Firstly, demographic information will be collected, including gender, age, position and management status.

Secondly, you will be directed to one of two versions of the survey. One version contains 12 questionnaires and the other contains 9 questionnaires. Most of the questionnaires involve rating each item on a scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree, or from Now and Then to Daily. Examples of items include ‘I can pay someone compliments to get in their good books’, ‘If I lied to someone, that’s my business’, and ‘When I am faced with obstacles, I remember times I faced similar obstacles and overcame them’.

It is important that you understand that your involvement in this study is voluntary. While we would welcome your participation, we respect your right to decline. If you decide to discontinue the survey at any time, you may do so without providing an explanation. All information will be treated in a confidential manner and as the survey is anonymous, your name cannot be used in any publication arising from the research. Employers will not have access to the data, however, they will be provided with a summary of the overall results.

3. What are the potential benefits of taking part in this study?

The information from this survey will enable the researchers to develop an understanding of the characteristics of those who have ability to use their emotional skills to engage others, which will result in enabling organisations to recognize such behaviours.

4. Are there any possible risks from participation in this study?

There are no risks anticipated with participation in this study.

5. What if I have questions about this research?

If you would like to discuss any aspect of this study please feel free to contact either Dr Rachel Grieve (03) 62 262244 or email rachel.grieve@utas.edu.au, or the student researcher, Jane Hyde (jane.hyde@utas.edu.au). We are willing to discuss any aspects of the research with you. Once the information has been analysed we would also be happy to provide you with a summary of our findings if required. You are welcome to contact us at that time to discuss any issue relating to the research study. This study has been approved by the Tasmanian Social Sciences Human Research Ethics Committee. If you have any concerns or complaints about the conduct of this study, please contact the Executive Officer of the HREC (Tasmania) Network on (03) 6226 7479 or email human.ethics@utas.edu.au . The Executive Officer is the person nominated to receive complaints from research participants. Please quote ethics reference number H0013705.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this study.

Your consent to take part is implied by your completion of the survey.