In recognition that resilience development during university can increase positive employment outcomes, academics at RMIT Australian University have been exploring how students can gain these skills before entering the industry.
This study explores the baseline resilience levels for project management students. It also examines priority areas for resilience development and the relationship between resilience at well-being.
292 RMIT Australian University, project management undergraduate and postgraduate university students participated in this study. An adapted measure of the Resilience at Work (R@W) Scale was used, with items modified for use in a university setting.
The results indicated two key areas of difference between the students. Postgraduates had a higher capacity in the R@W components of Finding their Calling and Living Authentically than undergraduate students, together with the capacity to manage stress and maintain balance (the Mastering Stress component of R@W).
Gender differences were also found with females scoring higher for Finding their Calling and Living Authentically with males having a high capacity for Staying Healthy and Maintaining Perspective. Maintaining Perspective was the lowest R@W component score factor for all participants – an aspect considered critical in the project management profession.
This research also explored the relationship between resilience and well-being, with the results showing that resilience is positively linked to mental well-being and attaining adequate sleep.
Findings here support the call for a greater emphasis on resilience development in project management during study with a priority on maintaining perspective.
You can read the full article here: https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/IJMPB-01-2018-0001