The Strategies for Improving the Image and Perception of the Construction Industry - Literature review Example

A Report on: The Strategies for Improving the Image and Perception of the Construction Industry NAME: UNIVERSITY: COURSE: INSTRUCTOR: DATE: © 2012 1.0 Introduction This report reviews the literature on the strategies for improving the image and perception of the construction industry in Australia. Clarke (2006, p248) suggests that this industry is known for high levels of organizational and interpersonal conflicts, while Ahmed and colleagues (2008, p85); Boyd and partner (2011, p19); Byrne (2005, p1027); and Linda and Maria (2008, p2) all pointedly assert that construction industry is male-dominated and requires strong muscular culture. In addition, Emmitt and Gorse (2003, p21) cite poor communication as a source of conflict amongst the stakeholders in the construction industry. This report will, therefore, explore the triple aspects of conflict, gender and communication among others in attempting to suggest the appropriate strategies that are needed to improve the image and perception of this industry. Specifically, the report scrutinises the theory that there is a more mannish manner of communication in the construction industry, resulting in a profound source of organisational and interpersonal conflicts. The report also considers the possibility that men and women in the said industry communicate in different ways in situations of conflict (Emmitt and Gorse, 2003). Due to these factors, there has been an increased interest in the image and perception of the construction industry as from the early1990s as reported by Boyd and associate (2011, p20) and Sevier (2003, p16). The first part of this report (Sections 2 through 8) will sketch the image and perceptions of the construction industry before outlining the strategies necessary to correct the purported image. The report finally presents concluding remarks in Section 11. 2.0 Preliminary barriers For a long time, the construction industry has been perceived to be a low status industry in which working conditions are deemed inflexible and hard. This negative image is further compounded by the fact that its environment is usually male-dominated, and hence male values prevail. In view of this therefore, the recruitment of female workers in most building sites becomes a big challenge. Simply said, the construction industry has a poor image as reiterated by a number of observers. Boyd and Clarke (2011) for instance use very demeaning terms such as ‘cowboy builders’ to describe the industry. The same is concurred by Florence and Stephanie (2012) who effectively portray the construction industry as one that not only has hard and inflexible work, but also extremely dirty. As far as a career in building and construction industry is concerned, the available literature offers very little evidence that indicate rejection of such a career in small ethnic communities and/or in the entire population. However, there is a general lack of awareness of the existing career opportunities for career counselors in schools and colleges. Actually, chance and verbal words have consistently played the major role in informing college trainees of the possibility of robust employment opportunities in the construction industry. Therefore, a lack of good and adequate counseling as well as availability of communication networks disadvantages both the small ethnic students and the general population. Moreover, there is a strong negative observation faced by ethnic minorities: they face racial discrimination at recruitment as well as at contractors’ offices of many construction firms because of the deep-seated racism and/or exclusionary practices in the said firms. 3.0 Practices and policies on equality and diversity In spite of public statements by construction firms and government agencies regulating construction industry indicating positive intent; equal employment opportunities; and action plans, the construction industry has consistently been unable to initiate profound changes relating to equal employment opportunities and diversity in action plans. However, there is wide-ranging acceptance of the policy of diversity in employment opportunities by majority of industry leaders, but implementing the policy is only restricted to large construction companies. What is more, many construction firms do not understand the importance of setting equal employment targets and as such they hesitate to set these targets. Important as it is, monitoring of ethnic backgrounds and origins has been generally accepted and has been attempted by several construction firms as well as other organisations. However, this monitoring practice is presently ineffective. Race Equality Duty (RED) obliges public firms and organisations to practice equality. Regrettably, it has had a very minor impact in the procurement process in construction projects in the general public sector. Consider business case. This case argues that any industry which presently under-utilises the talents and skills of the general Australian population should increase its organisational effectiveness and efficiency, and should inculcate more adaptability and innovation (Miller and Siobhan, 2007 p45). Such an industry should also satisfy and get nearer to the customer base. However good this business case may be, it has not been fully convincing to majority of construction firms. What is more, it has yet to show marked results in settling the issue of under-representation of small ethnic minorities in construction industry. 4.0 Opportunities for training and education In this section, this report considers the courses, teaching and curriculum and finally looks at the staff attitudes as well as the expectations of the trainees and the support they receive from their teaching staff. Firstly, it is evident that there exist a higher proportion of ethnic minority students in colleges than in formal employment, resulting in under-utilisation of ethnic minority talent (Byrne et al, 2005; Caplan et al, 2009). However, small ethnic students are far more represented in majority of the building professional subjects and construction projects courses at higher education levels. Secondly, it is also evident that a significant percentage of small ethnic students at university and college levels undertake construction-orientated courses in which they fail to complete and therefore seek employment outside construction industry. Open instances of racism are very scarce in higher education environments as observed by (Boyd et al, 2011 p24). This notwithstanding, there is the issue of giving more emphasis to non-Western styles in the design and construction courses, which do not benefit ethnic minority students much since they cannot draw reference materials from the community backgrounds of their origin. Finally, it is disturbing that the teaching staff in colleges and/or universities frequently fails to comprehend the extent of antagonism, hostility and antipathy that the ethnic minority students face in their daily encounters in the learning environments, not to mention, in the construction industry. This may lead to under-estimation of these students’ talents, skills or competencies. These students often quote the difficulties they face in seeking work placements and cite a general lack of faculty cooperation in order to rise above these difficult situations. These students suggest the strategy of putting more emphasis in teaching the important skills of mentoring and establishing positive exemplar models. Optimistically, several positive comments about the industry have been advanced. For example, a participant in a sample survey conducted by Boyd and colleague (2011) acknowledged the trappings of the construction industry, citing its contribution to development of beautiful sites for Olympics games. The same participant also suggested that girls, just like boys, should be advised to consider a career in construction industry, as one way of correcting the gender balance in this industry (Boyd and Clarke, 2011 p38). 5.0 Recruitment in the industry In the following paragraphs of this section, the report considers the triple issues of exclusivity, procedures and practices in recruitment, in addition to procurement procedures. The low representation level for ethnic minority people in the construction industry adds on to the perception that these people are generally unwelcome. This results in a lower recruitment level for ethnic minority people than should otherwise be the case. Furthermore, white-dominated construction firms persist in utilising a white labour force rendering ethnic minority people jobless in this industry because they lack the necessary networks to surmount this barrier in the process of making job applications for work placements and in seeking contracts. However, there have been spirited attempts and examples of necessary initiatives to deal with the twin issues of lack of or under-representation. Notwithstanding this attempt, an increased representation of ethnic minority people in construction industry is still forthcoming. For example, official procedures and paths for securing contracts and recruitment are usually undermined by the recommendation procedures for potential contractors and the use of word-of-mouth recruiting styles (Ahmed et al, 2008 p87). Albeit the directive by official-regulating bodies that public organisation should promote race-equality and avoid racial discrimination in procurement process, there is no fruit for the procurement arrangements. Traditional methods of procurement together with the use of approval and/or recommendation lists are examples of indirect discrimination against ethnically minority contractors as noted by Caplan and associates (2009, p98). 6.0 Workplace experiences Firstly, the literature from which this report is founded has isolated racial discrimination against ethnic minority people at work places in the construction industry. This discrimination comes in the form of name-calling and intimidation. Staffs in the construction industry have been known to withhold professional benefits, training opportunities, prospects of promotion, and overtime benefits for this group of workers. Secondly, the professionals in this group of workers perceive a short “ceiling” to their career progression. Further, construction companies lack strategies that could bring about change in representation for ethnic minority people at senior levels of management. This minority group has formed a strongly ingrained perception that unless they work extra hard in comparison to their white counterparts, they cannot get recognition or make progress at the construction organisations. Meanwhile, guidance and support for this group have steadily improved over the last few years although this group’s professional workers still think that they are not getting the adequate support from their managers in order to progress to the levels of their white counterparts (Byrne et al, 2005 p1030). Advertently, it has been observed that minority groups have been frequently pressurised to follow and adhere to the norms of the white workers. Auspiciously, a lot in the industry have changed. However, there are remnant feelings of differences in backgrounds of origins that cause frictions at the workplace. Again, despite public statements from various sections in the construction industry claiming equality and intolerance to racism, banter and bad jokes persist within the construction industry workplace. 7.0 Why is construction industry viewed negatively? In addition to what has been reviewed in the preceding paragraphs, which centered on the ethnic minority groups’ mistreatment in the construction industry, giving negative image to the industry, the following are more reasons why this industry is viewed negatively: There is a general lack of knowledge about the industry in the general population. Most of the times, the work in this industry is erratic, with long hours of working. The jobs in the industry are considered dangerous, demanding, harsh, stressful, and generally masculine and unsafe in nature. Most people think of this industry’s workers to be poorly paid labourers, lacking “class and respectability”. Construction jobs are generally not autonomous. 8.0 Health and safety Another cause for the poor image in construction industry is because of the dreadful safety measures at the building sites. Although to ensure that strategies for avoiding accidents in this fragmented industry is difficult, surely ways of preventing accidents must be drafted and practiced. Laws must be enacted (if they are non-existent) in generally all the countries, providing for safety measures in the construction industry in line with the “Safety and Health in Construction Convention, 1988 (No. 167)” (Reese and Vernon, 2006 p22), which requires that: Both the workers and employers and all other stakeholders in the industry, should cooperate and take appropriate measures in ensuring that all workplaces are free of risks and are safe. All of the parties involved in a construction contract, including designers, sub/contractors, managers, planners, etc, have responsibilities and should plan for the projects adequately. “the chief contractor should be responsible for the coordination of the approved measures and an individual employer should take responsibility for the application of these measures for the workers in his jurisdiction”; and The workers should take the responsibility of reporting any risks, and also have the right of removing themselves from any danger. According to International Labour Organisation (cited in Winch and Clarke, 2004 p511), this Convention must prescribe a service that inspects construction sites and other areas in the construction industry, and ensures that adequate and appropriate penalty measures are instituted to penalise those that contravene this Convention. 9.0 Summary on image and perception of construction industry In summarising the first part of this report, the industry portrays a picture in which little has been done to reduce the disadvantages that ethnic minority groups encounter in pursuit of their construction careers. However, some improvements have been achieved following the recommendations by various public and private studies. Still, these recommendations have had very minimal impact in increasing the overall percentage for the representation of ethnically minority people in the industry. In this section, the report has reviewed and highlighted the following important issues concerning the image and perception of the construction industry: ethnic minorities are under-represented, especially in professional roles and managerial positions there is a lot of difference in training and educational experiences between ethnic minorities and white people the ethnic minority communities are not fully aware of the whole range of opportunities that exist in the construction industry verbal recruitment styles are prevalent although there are high levels of ethnic minority representation in higher levels of education, this has not helped increase their representation in construction industry there is undying perceptions of racial discrimination in the industry for ethnically minority communities, lack of information networks has reduced their chances of representation in the construction industry equal opportunities and monitoring policies have not been fully implemented 10.0 Strategies to Improve the Image Firstly, there is need for synchronisation of the activities and initiatives by construction professionals and practitioners; the government and institutions that offer higher learning in order to equip students of construction courses adequately, and improve the perception of the industry (Clarke, 2006 p250). One way of doing this is to incorporate news media including TV, print media, social networking and the Internet as highlighted by Miller and Siobhan (2007, p27). Secondly, training programs should be meticulously drafted in an attempt to avoid skilled labour shortage. For example, Winch and Clarke (2004, p515) state that: “the notion of taking on young trainees, in particular school leavers is favoured over the re-training of adult entrants”. In order to build a future capacity for the industry, Winch and Clarke (2004) further argue that “it is necessary to create a deeper focus on the efforts made in schools in promoting the construction industry as a possible career route”. Indeed, the awareness and learning experience for career opportunities in the industry that are developed at school are influential for a school-leaver to decide whether or not to adopt a career in this industry. Furthermore, in order to attract younger trainees to the construction industry, it is important to promote, as well as improve the necessary vocational apprenticeship programs. Thirdly, award-giving can be used as a means to placate the image of construction industry. In this connection, a national academy for construction (NAC) board could be established to offer these awards transparently as possible (noted by William and Spencer, 2003 p61). Such awards should touch on areas such as (a) construction professional, (b) construction company (c) educator (d) student (e) project management, and (f) safety. In the views of William and Spencer (2003), the elements that could be considered in award evaluation may include: Criteria which implies to the method(s) to be used in giving the awards, Segmentation which is involved in putting awards into categories in accordance to some common characteristics in the construction industry, Credibility which is tied to the reputation of the sponsor of any one award; the impartiality of the selection and nomination process as well as the clarity and preciseness of the metrics used in measuring the awards, and Prestige of the award should be impeachable to both the awarding board and the winners. Fourthly, this report advocates for the adoption of the recommendations in Section 8 on health and safety in the construction industry. Summary on strategies In this section, the report recommends the following strategies in order to improve and correct the prevailing image and perception of the construction industry: outstanding leadership capabilities for industry’s heads and its corresponding professional bodies, diversify the supply cycle in order to encourage ethnic minority-led business so as to seize opportunities for tendering, promote good construction practices using the professional Skills’ Bodies, promote careers counseling in schools especially those with large population of ethnically minority students, develop standards for the construction industry in order to foster equality in monitoring procedures establish a continual evaluation procedures to encourage campaigns that are positively active; feedback on impact procedure in which the construction sector and the general public participate; giving prominence to the ethnically minority models increase participation of ethnically minority students on vocational apprenticeships and learning programmes. In addition, this report shows that there is need for further information and research on the following: change the current and prevailing recruitment practices that focus on ethnically minority applicants, vocational apprenticeships, representation of ethnically minority students on vocational training, study how feasible it is to remove the barriers hindering progression of careers for ethnically minority employees, remove exclusionary practices like verbal tendering, establishment of a systematic evaluation and monitoring techniques, research on practical strategies that can tackle and eliminate discrimination in the construction industry, and further and more detailed study on the construction industry’s image 11.0 Conclusion On a bird’s eye view, the negative image and perceptions of the construction industry seem to be evolving into a positive sense, albeit in a slow manner. This industry appears to be robust, offering a lot of opportunities for young trainees according to careers advisers as well as the general population alike. However, these views cannot be presented as conclusive or comprehensive as has been previously discussed. This is mainly because the literature on which this report is based indicates “a positive bias towards the industry” (Florence and Stephanie, 2012). Furthermore, the report outlined major causes for the poor image of the construction image, including appalling health and safety measures, racial discrimination, gender insensitivity, frequent conflicts, poor communication styles, mistreatment of ethnic minority communities, and lack of adequate knowledge of the industry, among others. Additionally, the report laid bare the major perceptions of the industry. Extant literature indicates that the industry’s perception prominently leans towards the negative, and hence the need to remedy this situation. As the major theme of the report was to outline the strategies that can be applied in order to improve the image and perceptions of the construction industry, these strategies have been obediently outlined in the foregoing sections of this report. Finally, the report recommends that the changes in the image and/or perceptions of the construction industry need to be continuously reviewed, since the world has become a global village due to the advent of newer and better methods of doing things, as exemplified by the Internet and information and communications technology in general. Indeed, it is evident that these perceptions are slowly, but surely, changing for the better, and that job seekers are realising that they can earn from any sector so that they are slowly discarding the image of “dirty work” associated with the construction industry. The report further implores the need for more and deeper study in this area, because the construction industry is world-wide and perennially significant, not only for economic purposes, but also for providing shelter. Works cited Ahmed, V., Pathmeswaran, R., Baldry, D., Worrall, L. and Abouen, S. ‘An Investigation into the Barriers Facing Black and Minority Ethnics within the UK Construction Industry’, Journal of Construction in Developing Countries. 2008, 13, 2, pp 83–99 Boyd, B. J and Clarke, S. N. Youths’ Perceptions of the Construction Industry: An Analysis at the Elementary, Middle, and High School Levels. Clemson, South Carolina. 2011 Byrne, J., Clarke, L and Van Der Meer, M. ‘Gender and ethnic minority exclusion from skilled occupations in construction: a Western European comparison’, Construction Management and Economics. 2005, pp 1025–1034 Caplan, A., Aujla, A., Prosser, S and Jackson, J. Race Discrimination in the Construction Industry: A Thematic Review. 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William, B and Spencer, R. “Construction Industry Awards” Associated Schools of Construction International Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference. 2003, 59-66. Winch, C and Clarke, L. Apprenticeship and applied theoretical knowledge. Educational philosophy and theory, 2004; 36(5), 509 – 521. Read More