TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ii
APPROVAL FOR SUBMISSION iii
ABSTRACT vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix
LIST OF TABLES xiii
LIST OF FIGURES xv
LIST OF SYMBOLS / ABBREVIATIONS xvi
LIST OF APPENDICES xvii
CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION 1
11 Background 1
12 Problem Statement 3
13 Research Aim 4
14 Research Objectives 4
15 Research Questions 5
16 Research Hypothesis 5
17 Research Scope 7
18 Significance of Research 7
19 Structure of Dissertation 8
2 LITERATURE REVIEW 10
21 Overview 10
22 Introduction of Mindfulness 11
221 Historical Development of Mindfulness 13
222 Scientific Perspectives on Mindfulness 15
223 Mindfulness Meditation 16
23 Introduction of Emotional Intelligence 19
24 Emotional Intelligence - Intrapersonal Competencies 21
241 Self-Awareness 22
242 Self-Management 24
243 Motivation 25
25 Emotional Intelligence - Interpersonal Competencies 26
251 Social Awareness 27
252 Relationship Management 29
26 Relationship between EI and Gender 31
27 Relationship between EI and Age 32
28 Effects of Mindfulness on EI of Project Team Members 34
281 Improved on Empathy 35
282 Improved on Affective Regulation 36
283 Increased on Focus 36
284 Ethical Decision Making 37
29 Conclusion 38
3 METHODOLOGY 39
31 Overview 39
32 Research Method 40
33 Survey Instrument 42
34 Survey Sample 44
35 Survey Questionnaire 45
351 Individual Survey 45
35
2 Mindfulness Practice Survey 46
353 WLEIS Survey 46
36 Analysis of Data 47
361 Demographics of Respondents 47
362 Cronbach's Alpha Test 48
363 One-way ANOVA Test 48
364 Independent T-Test 49
365 Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation Test 49
37 Conclusion 50
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 51
41 Overview 51
42 Demographics of Respondents 52
421 Genders of Respondents 53
422 Ages of Respondents 54
423 Academic Qualifications of Respondents 55
424 Professions of Respondents 56
425 Working Experiences of Respondents 57
426 Mindfulness Practices of Respondents 58
427 Frequencies of Mindfulness Practice 59
428 Experiences of Mindfulness Practice 60
429 Durations of Mindfulness Practice 61
43 Cronbach's Alpha Test 62
44 One-way ANOVA Test 64
441 Relationship between Age and EI of Project Team
Members 64
45 Independent T-Test 68
451 Relationship between Gender and EI of Project
Team Members 68
452 Comparison on the EI of Project Team Members
with and without Mindfulness Practice 70
46 Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation Test 73
461 Effects of Mindfulness Practice and the EI of Project
Team Members 73
47 Conclusion 79
5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 81
51 Overview 81
52 Conclusions 81
53 Limitations 83
531 Number of Respondents 83
532 Shortage of Knowledge for the Respondent 84
54 Recommendations for Further Research 84
REFERENCES 85
APPENDICES 96
CHAPTER 1
1INTRODUCTION
11 Background
One of the largest industries that aid on the development of a country and the
economic growth is construction industry (Rohaida & Hock, 2013) Due to the
traditional way of management in construction industry, it has been resulted a slow
adaption on the new management techniques compared to other industries in the
globe (Loosemore, et al, 2003) However, some recent researches had showed that a
possible way of facilitating the interest in the improvement of the construction
project performance, planning, judgement and decision making of a project team
member by enchancing the emotional intelligence of a person (Ioannis & Ioannis,
2002) According to research, by enhancing the emotional intelligence of one's can
result the changes and improvements on performance of a project team member
(Mayer, et al, 2003)
Furthermore, some articles published have shown than emotional intelligence
may hold the key to improve the performance of a project team member (Zhang &
Fan, 2013) This argue that the successful collaboration among project participant
can achieve the result of effective interaction and which can help to improve the
project performance Also, this is related to the competencies of emotional awareness
and emotional regulation (Songer & Walker, 2004) For instance, tasks that require
more emotional processing, such as tasks involving interpersonal interactions (eg,
communication) are more likely to be related to emotional intelligence than those
tasks that involve thinking ability (eg, ordering material) or heuristics (eg,
scheduling work)
Charoensukmongkol (2014) found that mindfulness practice can helps to
enhance the emotional intelligence of one's Mindfulness has been defined as paying
attention at the present moment awareness with an observing and non-judging stance
(Reb et al, 2014) The purpose of mindfulness practice is to train the mind to be
calm and start to pay attention to the sensation of the body (Tan, 2012) By practising
mindfulness meditation, it can help to develop a high resolution awareness of project
team members to enhance their focuses such as ability to understand own and other
team member's emotions (Darwin, 2015) Furthermore, Darwin (2015) also found
that mindfulness practice can allows project team members to establish a higher
emotional intelligence by understand other's emotions more accurately Also,
mindfulness practice can associate postively on the clarity of project team member's
feelings and attention to other team member's feeling (Charoensukmongkol, 2014)
In another words, mindfulness practice is associate with the positive impact on the
emotional intelligence of project team members (Tan, 2012)
Last but not least, this research seeks to study on the relationship between age,
gender and emotional intelligence of project team members, to determine the
emotional intelligence of project team members with and without mindfulness
practice in construction industry and to examine the effects of mindfulness practice
on the emotional intelligence of project team members in the construction industry
12 Problem Statement
A project team is formed by a group of professional consultants, contractors,
labourers and etc There are some solid evidences showing that increasing number of
people in the project team of the construction industry can cause conflicts and
disputes Construction work is always related to the work that required proper
planning, professional judgement and wise decision making from the beginning until
the completion of a project Therefore, a project team member's ability on managing
their emotions is vital for the project success If a project team does not manage their
emotions mindfully, it might ruin the project success Also, it might cause the delay
of schedule and loss of profit to the project if the project team members do not make
a wise decision In addition, a low EI project team member will also create
unnecessary trouble to other project team members that involved in the same project
Lastly, EI of a project team member is vital for project success because intrapersonal
and interpersonal skills can cause positive and negative impact to the project
Therefore, this study attempts to study the relationship between age, gender and
emotional intelligence of project team members, to determine and examine the
effects of mindfulness practice on the EI of project team members which might help
to enhance the performance of project team members to achieve a better project
success
13 Research Aim
The main aim of this research paper is to explore the effect of mindfulness practice
on the emotional intelligence of project team members in the construction industry
14 Research Objectives
The objectives of this study are:
a To identify the relationship between age and emotional intelligence of
project team members in the construction industry
b To identify the relationship between gender and emotional intelligence of
project team members in the construction industry
c To determine the emotional intelligence of project team members with
and without mindfulness practice in the construction industry
d To examine the effects of mindfulness practice on the emotional
intelligence of project team members in the construction industry
15 Research Questions
Furthermore, in line with the above aim and objectives, this study seeks to
investigate on the following questions:
a Is there a relationship between age and emotional intelligence of project
team members in the construction industry?
b Is there a relationship between gender and emotional intelligence of
project team members in the construction industry?
c Is there a different in emotional intelligence of project team members
with and without mindfulness practice in construction industry?
d Are there any effects of mindfulness practice on the emotional
intelligence of project team members in the construction industry?
16 Research Hypothesis
Some studies have reported on the positive relationship between mindfulness
practice and emotional intelligence (Baer, 2003) This study aimed to study the
relationship between age, gender and emotional intelligence of project team members
and to determine and examine the effects of mindfulness practice which can
significantly facilitate on the emotional intelligence of project team members
According to some researches, the following hypothesis can be proposed to allow for
further analysis on the relationship between age, gender, mindfulness practice and
emotional intelligence of project team members:
