Making an impact: Team building as an alternative education to enable construction management honours students to deliver

Students' post-intervention perceptions of an event provide insight relative to their understanding and appreciation of the intervention, as well as the impact thereof. Experience and anecdotal evidence indicate that Honours students experience challenges in terms of completing the academic year. Furthermore, the ten core competencies that fall within the categories of self-concept, traits, and motives, as well as the fifteen attributes / states of emotional intelligence (EI), impact on students' performance as well as their performance in the work environment post-graduation. The purpose of the study reported on is to determine the impact of a one-day team building event directed at, inter alia, developing the core competencies of students, and enhancing attributes / states relative to the EI of students, based upon a self-administered questionnaire survey conducted in a South African university. The students were surveyed after the completion of the event. The salient findings include - the team building activities contributed to: an enhancement of seventeen skills, and an improvement in understanding and appreciation of ten core competencies as well the development thereof; an enhancement of the ability to strategise, evolve tactics, take action, and plan, and an enhancement of fifteen attributes / states relative to EI. The students also benefitted from and enjoyed the team building activities. Based upon the findings it can be concluded that the one-day team building event had the desired impact in terms of the development of the core competencies, and the enhancement of attributes / states relative to the EI of students. It is recommended that the one-day team building event continue to be staged at the beginning of the Honours year, and that the post-event research be conducted on an annual basis.