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Emotional competence is a crucial performance elementMany organisations, previously not involved with project work, are becoming involved with projects and project management, believing that it will create improved business value and assist the organisations to move beyond the competitive edge. This perceived eagerness to implement project management in organisations to deliver sustainable results needs a renewed focus on project leadership with an emphasis on emotional intelligence.
The concept of emotional intelligence was made famous by Daniel Goleman, who popularised the theory of emotional intelligence and its implications for personal and work-
place success.
Emotional intelligence is constructed into a four-cluster model, including key competencies within each (Goleman, 1998) adapted for project management environment, comprising:
Self-awareness
* Emotional awareness: Recognising one’s emotions and its effects on the project;
* Accurate self-assessment: Knowing one’s strengths and limits in managing a project; and
* Self-confidence: A strong sense of one’s self-worth and capabilities as project manager.
Self-management
* Self-control: Keeping disruptive emotions and impulses in check during the project life cycle;
* Trustworthiness: Maintaining standards of honesty and integrity;
* Conscientiousness: Taking responsibility for personal performance;
* Adaptability: Flexibility in handling change, as a project is a change in itself;
* Achievement Orientation: Striving to improve or meeting a standard of excellence; and
* Initiative: Readiness to act on opportunities as they emerge during the project life cycle.
Social awareness
* Empathy: Sensing project stakeholders’ feelings and perspectives, and taking an active interest in their concerns;
* Organisational awareness: Reading a project team’s emotional currents and power relationships; and
* Service orientation: Anticipating, recognising, and meeting the needs of customers.
Relationship management
* Developing others: Sensing others’ development needs and bolstering their abilities in liaison with line manager or project office, as applicable;
* Energising: Inspiring and guiding project team members;
* Influence: Wielding effective tactics for persuasion during negotiation for resources or project scope;
* Communication: Listening openly and sending convincing messages during project life cycle;
* Change catalyst: Initiating or managing change during the project life cycle;
* Conflict management: Negotiating and resolving disagreements as it may occur during project life cycle;
* Building bonds: Nurturing instrumental relationships with key stake-holders; and
* Teamwork and collaboration: Working with project team toward shared goals. Creating group synergy in pursuing collective project goals.
Dulewicz and Higgs (2000) indicate that intellectual competence (IQ) accounts for 27% of leadership performance; managerial competence (MQ) accounts for 16%; and emotional competence (EQ) accounts for 36% of performance.
Therefore, to be an effective and efficient project manager, it is not simply about managing but mostly about leading people towards the achievement of the project deliverables and outcomes by applying emotional intelligence.
Early definitions of project management focused on the variables of time, cost, and quality or scope – otherwise known as the “iron triangle” (Atkinson, 1999).
Recent definitions of project management are more collaborative and emphasise the inclusion and importance of project stakeholders in defining project needs, expectations and tasks.
The latest project management definitions are inclusive of structural, practical, cultural and interpersonal elements (Cleland & Ireland, 2002), accentuating both the ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ aspects and not only the ‘hard’ or mechanistic aspects of the earlier definitions.
Due to the interdependent nature of projects and involvement of numerous stakeholders, multiple interpersonal interactions take place during the project life cycle. Successful personal interactions require the utilisation of ‘soft skills’.
Soft skills are required by project stakeholders to interact successfully with one another in building sound interpersonal relationships.
Emotional intelligence and dealing with emotions is a ‘soft skill’ phenomenon and is often neglected in the project environment.
A reason for this neglect of emotions and interpersonal relations in project management is due to the early mechanistic approach of project management that has entrenched the mindsets of many project managers still operational today.
Barry and Du Plessis (2004) have found that emotional intelligence is an important attribute for project managers in the 21st century.
Ashkanasy and Daus (2002) emphasise that an understanding of emotions and emotional management is critical in the workplace, and managers must come to grips with it in order to ensure improved performance.
Verma and Wideman (1994) mention the importance of leadership for the success of projects, because leadership is essentially about inspiring people in order to achieve a desired outcome.
In project management, this will refer to the project manager’s leadership capability, inclusive of emotional intelligence competence, to inspire or energise the project team, which includes him/herself, towards delivering the project objectives to customer satisfaction and realising sustainable outcomes.
In South Africa, project management is very popular as a management approach in traditionally projectised organisations, matrix organisations and presently also new entries to project management.
The business environment in which projects have to be delivered often calls for the project manager, as well as other stakeholders, to exhibit an extraordinary high level of emotional intelligence.
The reason for this lies in the following typical description of the present project environment in a South African competitive arena which necessitates the application of emotional intelligence:
* Demanding fast delivery of project results, within specialised quality parameters. It is known that projects cannot be delivered fast if the plans are not in place, well communicated and aligned with the needs and expectations of all stakeholders and the required resources are not available in time.
* Demanding fast delivery of project to cut costs or due to poor planning, will inevitably compromise quality and possibly customer satisfaction.
* Conflict of interest, due to democracy and transparency policy. Many stakeholders who do not understand the underlying principle of project management get involved. The needs and expectations of all cannot be met, as they come from diverse interests and experience basis. Unrealistic needs and expectations cause conflict of interest and a lack of resources to satisfy everybody.
* Multiple stakeholders, with often different needs and expectations, have to be aligned in a short time and deliver. Obviously, this calls for networking and building relationships across boundaries of expertise, culture and personality.
* To execute projects successfully, the relevant complementary competencies are needed and every person in the project team has to have a specific role and responsibility in terms of the project execution plan or scope of work. A lack of competence, by recruiting or assigning people who still need training and experience in project management and their specific role in the project, can result in the project being delayed or not progressing
as desired.
* The influence of bureaucratic structures and power play by certain authorities cause extraordinary organisational political behaviour, which often puts the project manager in a difficult situation – having to balance among power, politics and execution and deal with status and authority while having to make decisions pertaining to
the project.
As projects are mostly carried out in a very competitive environment, and as the basic principle of project management is to deliver under conditions described above, it renders itself to multiple influences, emotions and behaviours.
Therefore, to be efficient and effective, a project manager requires something more than merely the traditional project management skills of planning, scheduling and controlling.
Gadeken (1997) found that people who were inexperienced in project management but possess the personal attributes (people skills) needed in managing projects, will much sooner develop into more effective project managers than those who have greater knowledge, skills, and experience in the traditional project management principles and processes.
Therefore, those project managers who lack the personal attributes and emotional intelligence competencies that are so vital for project leadership in the 21st century will not be able to contribute as successfully towards project management and project delivery.
It is of utmost importance that organisations who engage in project work ensure that emotional intelligence is fostered as a key competence of project managers to ensure project leadership.
Professor Yvonne du Plessis
Department of Human Resources Management
School of Management Sciences: University of Pretoria
References
Ashkanasy, N.M. and Daus, C.S. 2002. Emotion in the workplace: The new challenge for managers. Academy of Management Executive. 16 Feb (1): 76-86
Atkinson, R. 1999. Project management: Cost, time, and quality, two best guesses and a phenomenon, its time to accept other success criteria. “International Journal of Project Management”, 17(6), 337-342
Barry, M.L. and Du Plessis, Y. 2004. An Investigation into Emotional Intelligence as Important Attribute for Project Managers. PMI SA Global Knowledge Project Management Conference in Johannesburg, 10 to 12 May: 36-46
Cleland, D. I. and Ireland, L. 2002. “Project management: Strategic design and implementation”. 4th ed., Vol. 1, New York: McGraw-Hill
Dulewicz, V. and Higgs, M. 2000. Emotional intelligence – A review and evaluation study. “Journal of Managerial Psychology”, 15(4): 342-372
Gadeken, O.C. 1997. Project managers as leaders, Army R &DA, January-February
Goleman, D. 1998. “Working with emotional intelligence”. New York: Bantam Books
Verma, V.K. and Wideman, R. M. 1994. Project Manager to Project Leader and the Rocky Road Between... Paper presented at the Project Management Institute’s 25th Annual Seminar & Symposium, held in Vancouver, BC, Canada, 17 October
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