1

Utilizing Emotional Intelligence to Improve Project

Performance
 2

1. Introduction
Emotional intelligence refers to the capability of understanding, managing, and controlling
emotions for better work throughput. Moreover, emotions can also be used as a driving force to
stimulate motivation, impact and influence project team, that is why it holds great importance in
Project Management, especially for Project Managers. Emotional Intelligence has become a
great topic of research discussion in Project Management domain. This is due to the increasing
importance of soft skills in team-building. With the increasing competition and globalization,
companies usually have cross-sectional teams having members from diverse backgrounds, which
makes Emotional Intelligence all the more important (Gunter, 2020). The project manager has to
deal with those members to successfully sign off the project. This is why EI competencies has
become a benchmark for the leaders in Project Management. The reason behind this is successful
leadership is a blend of cognitive, technical, and emotional competencies. Better management of
these factors lead to effective team management. The current business environment and
especially the pandemic has taught project managers a lesson that they have to manage teams
that are diverse, multicultural, having specific emotional needs which are to be managed
efficiently in physical as well as in the virtual environment.

2. Research Aims and Objectives

2.1. Aim of the Research
The aim of the research is to explore and evaluate the extent to which emotional intelligence
impacts the project outcomes and leads it to the success.
2.2. Objectives of the Research
Following are the objectives of the research:
1) To explore and study the key dimensions of Emotional Intelligence that are worth
considering in Project Management.
2) To study the essentiality and use of Emotional Intelligence by the Project Managers
and the leaders in PM domain.
3) To evaluate the impact of Emotional Intelligence on the Project Success.

3. Research Questions
Following are the research questions for the given initiative:
 3

1) What are the key dimensions of Emotional Intelligence that are worth considering in
Project Management?
2) What is the essentiality and use of Emotional Intelligence by the Project Managers
and the leaders in PM domain?
3) What is the impact of Emotional Intelligence on the Project Success?

4. Literature Review
4.1. Emotional Intelligence in Project Management
Project management is about the application of skills, knowledge, methodologies, practices, and
experience to achieve the objectives of a project. Today, business organizations are becoming
more projectized which has increased the need of competent project managers. According to the
report of Project Management Institute (PMI), there is a skill gap between the need for skilled
personnel and the supply, especially the soft skills, emotional intelligence while dealing with
diverse teams (Afzal et al., 2018). Emotional Intelligence in broader perspective is the ability to
understand, manage and apply the power of emotions as a source of energy and motivation that
brings out best from the people. It is about taking humanistic approach to work and making a
sustainable environment. According to Gilar-Corbi et al. (2019), suppressing the emotions results
in the discrepancies in information which might affect the outcomes. Emotions cannot be
regarded as good or bad, rather they are a source of information. The more emphasis as a
professional need to be on the management of emotions. Emotional Intelligence is about being
aware of one’s emotions and managing them in a way that they work both in personal and
professional settings.
4.2. Emotional Intelligence and Role of Project Managers
Project Management field is related to obtaining information and interpreting it. The information
is used in estimation, mitigation, and critical problem-solving (Black et al., 2018). Without the
input, a project manager cannot define scope, that is, cost, time and quality. With the
globalization and emergence of Multinational Corporations, projects are becoming more
complex. The stakeholders have become more demanding and require urgent delivery. This
demands expansive decision-making which is well-curated. It has been seen that often technical
data and information is not available to make quick decisions, so professionals have to rely upon
intuitions. Hence, feelings and emotions are another source of information that are essential to be
considered in project decision-making. Assaad et al. (2020) established that the project managers
 4

especially have to inculcate this aspect in project team-building and dealing with stakeholders.
For example, if a stakeholder shows stress and aggressiveness, then project manager has to
understand that such person will be less open in his approach and could create problems later;
hence, all of his dealings need to be duly documented. By negotiating with the said stakeholder
on the basis of the information provided, successful project delivery is ascertained with
satisfaction (DOAN, NGUYEN and NGUYEN, 2020). Another aspect of team-building, the
project manager has to give reward to his team-members based upon performance, having
emotional intelligence will help to assess whether a member prefers social reward or economic
reward. The Emotionally Intelligent Project Management Personnel are also aware that the way
they show up at work will determine the path of their project results (Sergey, Boris and Nadiia,
2019). People are greatly influenced by emotions, failing to understand how the stakeholders and
team will react to decisions, might result in scope creep with not achieving the desired project
objectives.
4.3. Self-Regulation
The second dimension of Emotional Intelligence is self-regulation. As suggested by the name, it
refers to controlling and managing moods and impulses at the work. In practice, it entails having
the ability to think before acting and avoiding judgement. According to Kotsou et al. (2019) the
professions exercising self-regulation are seen to be more open to change, adapting to dynamic
environment, and appreciate innovation. All these things are essential part of project
management. such professionals tend to demonstrate trustworthiness and integrity which are core
part of a successful leadership. Moreover, according to Maqbool (2019), motivation is also an
important element of emotional intelligence. As per the study of Rezvani et al. (2018),
motivation refers to going beyond the monetary gains and accepting challenges to accomplish
the work successfully. It is about being persistent and passionate about fulfilling the objectives of
the project. Project Management Personnel who exhibit a strong drive to achieve goals, remain
optimistic even during ambiguous times, and are committed to work even in pressure situations.
4.4. Influencing and Making an Impact
High emotionally Intelligence correlates to be more authentic at work and make an impact.
Especially in the cross-sectional teams, it is about taking the innovative ideas and suggestions of
the project team while understanding their background and ethnic influences and respecting them
(Miao, Humphrey and Qian, 2018). This helps the project managers to develop a sound
mechanism of communication, as per the report of PMI, 70 percent of the projects fail due to
 5

discrepancies in communication (Quisenberry, 2018). Emotional Intelligence helps in team-

building, effective communication, while keeping the members aligned with project objectives
throughout its duration. Besides, it also removes barrier in working in a team by increasing trust
and developing cohesive working strategies. It also helps in managing conflicts and quickly
transform changes.

5. Research Methodology
The Research Methodology chosen for the future research is the primary method of research. The
reason for choosing this method is to get first hand data to make the research unique and
worthwhile. The aim is to enhance the existing literature on given research topic with more
concrete data and analysis.
5.1. Type of study
This research initiative has chosen the exploratory type of study. It will extract the information
about the viability of emotional intelligence and its direct impact on the project outcomes from
the professionals who are already serving in the field of project management.
5.2. Population
Since approaching the project managers from different regions will be difficult due to time and
financial constraints. Hence, the project managers working in the private sector of United
Kingdom are chosen as population for the future research.
5.3. Sample
It is increasingly difficult to reach out to each and every professional in the private sector of U.K;
therefore, the research will be done following the random sampling mechanism. The project
managers from different private companies of London will be contacted to make them part of the
research.
5.4. Data collection tool
The data will be collected through a questionnaire survey, which will be close-ended in nature,
based upon the Likert scale to extract direct information from the respondents.
5.5. Tool of Analysis
In order to prove the hypotheses and the argumentation set out in the research, the data which
will be collected in for research initiative will be analyzed by using the SPSS tool. SPSS is a
statistical tool which will generate quantitative analysis for proving the authenticity of the
research. The tests which will be run through the tool are: Frequency Distribution, One-way
 6

ANNOVA, correlation, regression, reliability, and validity tests. All these tests will be made part
of data analysis section of the thesis with the data interpretation.

6. Ethical Consideration
There are some ethical considerations under the assigned initiative. First, the respondents will be
informed about the nature of the research and will be assured that their data will not be shared
with a third-party. In addition, the respondents will also be given the option to fill out the survey
anonymously, provided that the information provided should be authentic with no biases and
personal inferences. Moreover, the data will be collected after seeking an approval from the
university ethics and discipline committee. Furthermore, while developing the literature of the
research, the studies involved will be duly cited and accredited to maintain the integrity of the
work.

7. Conclusion and Recommendations

In conclusion, emotional intelligence is one of the most anticipated skills in the modern business
and project management field. This is because of the fact that technical knowledge cannot suffice
the need for establishing a foundation for taking concrete decisions. In addition, while working
with diverse members in a team, the project managers should be aware of the motivational
triggers and emotional inclinations of each member. Furthermore, emotional intelligence is also
essential for negotiating with the key stakeholders of the project for mitigating the diverging
points of interests and reaching a pragmatic solution. Following are the recommendations drawn
for the research:
 Expanding the scope of research beyond the private sector and including more
professionals in the study;
 Extracting the research article out of the given research thesis and publishing it in
accredited research journal of Management or Project management.
 7

8. Timeline
 8

References
Assaad, R., El-Adaway, I.H. and Abotaleb, I.S., 2020. Predicting project performance in the
construction industry. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 146(5),
p.04020030.
Afzal, A., Khan, M.M. and Mujtaba, B.G., 2018. The impact of project managers' competencies,
emotional intelligence and transformational leadership on project success in the
information technology sector. Маркетинг і менеджмент інновацій, (2), pp.142-154.
Black, J., Kim, K., Rhee, S., Wang, K. and Sakchutchawan, S., 2018. Self-efficacy and emotional
intelligence: Influencing team cohesion to enhance team performance. Team Performance
Management: An International Journal.
DOAN, T.T.T., NGUYEN, L.C.T. and NGUYEN, T.D.N., 2020. Emotional intelligence and
project success: The roles of transformational leadership and organizational
commitment. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 7(3), pp.223-233.
Gunter, R.C., 2020. Emotional intelligence and its relationship to project manager leadership
competencies and project success (Doctoral dissertation, Saint Leo University).
Gilar-Corbi, R., Pozo-Rico, T., Sánchez, B. and Castejón, J.L., 2019. Can emotional intelligence
be improved? A randomized experimental study of a business-oriented EI training
program for senior managers. PloS one, 14(10), p.e0224254.
Jamshed, S. and Majeed, N., 2018. Relationship between team culture and team performance
through lens of knowledge sharing and team emotional intelligence. Journal of
knowledge management.
Kotsou, I., Mikolajczak, M., Heeren, A., Grégoire, J. and Leys, C., 2019. Improving emotional
intelligence: A systematic review of existing work and future challenges. Emotion
Review, 11(2), pp.151-165.
Khosravi, P., Rezvani, A. and Ashkanasy, N.M., 2020. Emotional intelligence: A preventive
strategy to manage destructive influence of conflict in large scale projects. International
Journal of Project Management, 38(1), pp.36-46.
Maqbool, R., Sudong, Y., Manzoor, N. and Rashid, Y., 2017. The impact of emotional
intelligence, project managers’ competencies, and transformational leadership on project
success: An empirical perspective. Project Management Journal, 48(3), pp.58-75.
 9

Miao, C., Humphrey, R.H. and Qian, S., 2018. A cross-cultural meta-analysis of how leader
emotional intelligence influences subordinate task performance and organizational
citizenship behavior. Journal of World Business, 53(4), pp.463-474.
Quisenberry, W.L., 2018. Exploring how emotional intelligence contributes to virtual teams:
Interpretive analysis of a phenomenological study. European Scientific Journal, 14(5),
pp.19-36.
Rezvani, A., Barrett, R. and Khosravi, P., 2018. Investigating the relationships among team
emotional intelligence, trust, conflict and team performance. Team Performance
Management: An International Journal.
Sergey, B., Boris, K. and Nadiia, R., 2019, June. Modeling of empathy, emotional intelligence
and transformational leadership to the project success. In International scientific-
practical conference (pp. 209-222). Springer, Cham.