EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND PROJECT LEADERSHIP

Abstract

Project management models and frameworks are continuously developing through best practices and standards to improve productivity in project organizations. Project leadership is one of the most important elements in the successful delivery of projects (Müller and Turner, 2010; Srica, 2008). According to Association for Project Management Body Of Knowledge (APMBOK) (2006, p. 69): "The role of leadership promotes the project objectives, encourage relationships that are positive, support teamwork that is effective, raise morale and inspire individuals." Naturally, different situations arise during a project life cycle, but it is the skill set of the Project Manager that dictates the project outcome. Problem-solving skills are also essential for the Project Manager, and according to Schön (1983), to become good at it an individual needs to consciously analyze their experiences and reflect-in-action. Furthermore, individual’s Emotional Competences have been discovered to be associated as becoming a reflective practitioner (Winter etal., 2006). However, the project failure rates are high, and interestingly much of the project failure is not related to knowledge or know-how, but to project participants’ lack of social intelligence, personal skills, poor leadership, inadequate communication and inability to solve conflicts (Srica, 2008). In other words, failure seems to depend largely on the human side of project management.