The Emotional Intelligence Competence: A Perception of Project Managers Construction Industry

Opuruiche Echeonwu, Peace; Dan-Jumbo, Nimi

Abstract

This study aims to highlight the importance of emotional intelligence competence of project managers and their influence on Project success in the Scottish construction industry. Goleman (1998) defined EI as the capacity to recognise, analyse, and be aware of one's own and other's emotions then channel one's thoughts and actions toward cultivating peaceful, productive, success-driven environments for work. Traditionally, the construction project industry is saddled with uncertainties, stress, and frustrations arising from project failures and unresolved conflicts. Construction projects are complex, unique, and temporary, involving the management of various resources and people (Rahimi, 2015). Projects can take days or years to complete its cycle from planning to execution. A project manager is a speciality advisor who represents client’s employers and facilitates communication among team members. The project managers are expected to manage teams, run the day-to-day management of a project, and often directly participate in the projects and its activities which produces a successful project delivery as end results. Additionally, help to aid collaboration among team members to reduce the risks of project failure while maximising benefits and cost control. They operate the integral aspect of the project from design phase to evaluation and final closure. Competence such as soft skills i.e., EI are required in a sector like the construction project sector. Most often the sector focuses on technical skills lacking behind the relevant competence necessary for human interactions. Studies have shown that EI competence, such as self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and relationship management, are vital competences that significantly influence construction workers. Therefore, this quantitative study was conducted to confirm whether components such as collaboration, communication, conflict management and teamwork are related to project managers' EI competence and their effect on project success. Twenty studies were conducted with Scottish construction project professionals. The respondents are five project leaders, three project directors, five project managers, three project team members, and other designations four. Questionnaires were completed online via Napier survey Novi website. Using a Five-point Likert scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree. The finding indicates that communication, collaboration, and teamwork in addition to EI competence are effective and significantly impacts on project managers performance level in successfully delivering projects. This study recommends that EI competence should be included in the training and recruiting process of construction workers.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (Published)
• Conference Name: The International Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society Conference (SEEDS) 2023
• Start Date: Aug 29, 2023
• End Date: Aug 31, 2023
• Acceptance Date: Jun 29, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jan 8, 2024
• Keywords: Emotional Intelligence (EI), Teamwork, Collaboration, Conflict Management, and communication
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/3458691
• Related Public URLs: https://international-seeds.co.uk/seeds2023.php