{"id":143366,"date":"2022-06-08T20:05:38","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T14:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regenesys.net\/reginsights\/?p=143366"},"modified":"2025-11-14T17:00:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T11:30:33","slug":"the-role-of-emotional-intelligence-in-enhancing-project-managers-competencies-to-achieve-project-success-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regenesys.net\/reginsights\/the-role-of-emotional-intelligence-in-enhancing-project-managers-competencies-to-achieve-project-success-part-1","title":{"rendered":"The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Enhancing Project Managers\u2019 Competencies to Achieve Project Success: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When you think of your leader or your project manager, what comes to mind? Would you remember them long after the project is done? A memorable manager is one who never loses control of his temper no matter what issues he faces. Someone who has earned the trust of his or her team, one who listens attentively, is approachable, gets along with others, and always makes well-informed decisions. This soft skill of emotional intelligence is the foundation upon which successful projects are built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Postgraduate<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to understand, use and manage one\u2019s emotions in a positive way that empathizes with others, and allows one to communicate effectively, overcome challenges and resolve conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A project is defined as a sequence of tasks that must be completed within a stipulated timeline to achieve a desired predetermined outcome and is managed by a leader called the Project Manager, who according to Pant and Baroudi (2008: 124), has the technical competencies of project management, the capability to understand the situation and the people and then dynamically integrate it with his appropriate leadership qualities. Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet the requirements of a project.  It covers aspects of planning, monitoring, coordination, and control (Kuster, Huber, Lippmann, et al. (2011:9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inevitably though, all projects comprise people who are complex and have different personalities and temperaments, and who are under immense pressure to deliver a product within budget and time, hence making emotional intelligence an essential ingredient in the mix for project success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This study aimed to determine whether the emotional intelligence of project managers is crucial for project success, with specific reference to the construction and building industry in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Foundation of Emotional Intelligence:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For decades, the focus was always placed on a high intellectual prowess for academic and business success and success in one\u2019s career and personal life, as was advocated by the Stanford-Binet Intelligence IQ score. Kelly (1998), and Spencer and Spencer found that IQ alone is not a primary predictor of work success and job performance. This then gave rise to a new school of thought called social intelligence, the roots of which were laid down by the American psychologist Edward Thorndike (1920) who developed the concept (Chamorro-Premuzic, Von Stumm and Furnham (2011:657). Social intelligence according to Thorndike is the ability of people to understand and manage people to act wisely in human relations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The theory of Multiple Intelligence, according to Gardner (1993:43) includes both the concepts of intra-personal and interpersonal intelligence. Interpersonal intelligence is a person\u2019s capacity to understand the intentions, motivations, and desires of other people and how to work with other people. Intrapersonal intelligence focuses on the ability to understand oneself and how to regulate one\u2019s behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the concept of emotional intelligence was introduced way back in 1964 by Michael Beldoch, it was only later popularized by Daniel Goldman in his book \u201cEmotional Intelligence: What it can Matter more than IQ\u201d which led to the models of emotional intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Models of Emotional Intelligence:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Emotional intelligence models have aided in the development of several construct evaluation instruments. Each theoretical paradigm conceptualizes emotional intelligence from different perspectives. The three main models are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ability Model<\/u> \u2013 considers emotional intelligence as a pure form of mental ability hence pure intelligence. The ability model focuses on perceiving, understanding, and managing emotions, and using that information to facilitate and guide our decisions. Their emotional intelligence framework has four branches of human abilities which are perceiving emotions, facilitating thought, understanding emotions, and managing emotions to enhance the advancement of new intelligence and using these more intelligent methods of building a trusting relationship<\/p>\n\n\n\n