Understanding the emotional intelligence of project managers working within the Australian mining industry

Project Management Practitioners (PMPs) traditionally rely on their extensive knowledge base and background experience to manage a project (Ramazani & Jergeas 2015). Having an extensive knowledge base and experience for a particular project topic can provide confidence within a project manager and project owner, however a report conducted by Chaos (2009) pointed out that 68% of all projects end up failing regardless of knowledge or experience. A balance between a PMP’s technical ability and leadership capabilities is needed to increase personal development of their professional career (Ramazani et al. 2015). The importance of understanding the fundamentals of a project can prepare PMPs for managing and developing projects and project teams. The results of a study undertaken by Ramazani and Jergeas (2015) revealed a gap in project management education. Researchers believe that to overcome these challenges in managing projects, fresh innovative ideas are needed (Ramazani et al. 2015). An innovative idea is to deliver effective education as this is a fundamental tool that is needed to deal with projects in today’s complex work environment. The aim of this research is to measure a project manager’s level of comprehension about EI and understand the extent at which project managers believe that EI will help them perform better in the workplace.