Mo, Y; Dainty, A and Price, A (2007) An assessment of the emotional intelligence of construction students: An empirical investigation. In: Boyd, D (ed.) Proceedings of 23rd Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2007, Belfast, UK.
Abstract
Concerns have been expressed as to the appropriateness of the skills and abilities of construction graduates since late 1980’s. In particular, employers have raised concerns about the extent to which non-technical or “soft” skills, such as communication, leadership, teamwork and management, are exhibited by graduates. Many of these behaviours comprise components of Emotional Intelligence (EI), high levels of which have been correlated with superior performance, leadership behaviour and success across a variety of professions. This paper investigates the EI level of almost 200 undergraduates from a range of construction disciplines. It investigates the extent to which construction educational programmes develop students' EI and puts forward recommendations as to how EI can be integrated into future construction curriculum. The results reveal that, whilst there is no significant relationship between the types of programme and the EI levels of students, construction students possess lower levels of EI relative to other professions and societal groups. It is suggested that a better understanding of students' EI levels could enhance educational programmes in line with future requirements of the construction industry. Tentative recommendations for improving the EI of students on built environment educational programmes have been put forward.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | emotional intelligence; construction education; undergraduates; leadership skills |
| Index terms: | profession, undergraduate, construction education, investigation, built environment, emotional intelligence, construction industry, teamwork, programme |
| Subjects: | curriculum development, psychology, institututions, data collection methods, industry analysis, infrastructure and transport systems, project controls, professional education, management |
| Topics: | Urban Studies, Human Resources, Organizational Design, Education, Time Control, Research Practice, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here