Ethical issue, or issues, affecting the construction indistry today - Research Paper Example

These problems are getting more serious everyday because proper framework is not present to avoid ethical issues. In this essay two of the most prevalent ethical problems in the construction industry will be discussed that is use of low quality material and employee related issues. Use of Low Quality Material The use of low quality material is prevalent in construction industry because it is difficult to account for the materials beings used in constructions of buildings, houses, roads or bridges.

Contractors and firms can use low quality material without any chance of being caught by the relevant authorities and this is why compromising quality is quite common in the construction business. The main focus of the construction companies is on cost cutting and as they attempt to crib expenses they are enticed to use low quality materials in their constructions. The article by Yosoff et al. (2006) explains that construction companies are prone to quality issues. The article explains how construction firms are coming under enormous pressure from authorities to mend their ways and therefore they are trying to adopt total quality management.

The ethical issues like use of raw material are prevalent in the industry because of absence of any international standard. This leads to subjective decision making where room for unethical practices exist. It is also suggested that focus should be on changing the culture of construction industry in order to improve quality standards in the industry. Top level management should see quality management as essential and only then malpractices can be eradicated. Construction industry is also more likely to get affected by ethical issues because it spans over a large geographical areas.

Especially in the developing countries construction is happening at a great speed therefore it is difficult to track problems. The use of low quality material in industries only gets noticed when there is a calamity. The earthquake in China revealed that low quality bricks were used in many buildings which caused many deaths and injuries (Krishnan, 2011). Use of low quality material also exists because people are poor and cannot afford to comply with safety standards (2011). Human Resource Management Issues Constructions industry is also known to deal with human resource in unethical ways.

Many problems have been seen including low wages, lack of better safety standards and long work hours. These problems are a violation of employee ethics but they are ubiquitous in construction industry. This is because mostly unskilled workers are employed in construction firms therefore managers have a higher degree of bargaining power and can force workers to work for longer hours at a lower wage. The ethical issues the industry is facing are growing because no framework is present to reduce these problems.

There is a divide between organizational and individual needs in construction industry (Yankov & Kleiner, 2001). This causes many employee related problems in the construction industry. Construction firms are reducing the number of skilled employees and are hiring unskilled worker who cost less for companies. The relationship between less skilled workers and management are destined to be volatile because they both have different preferences. Low skilled worker can only be motivated to work hard by giving monetary benefits while managers are trying to reduce costs all the time.

This forms the basis of ethical issues related employees in the construct