Management of Human Resources, Recruitment and Selection in a Construction Company - Coursework Example

Management of Human Resources, Recruitment and Selection in a Construction Company BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HERE Management of Human Resources, Recruitment and Selection in a Construction Company Introduction The construction industry is considered highly complex and multi-faceted, which causes problems in successfully managing people. The cultural and operational situations that are faced by construction businesses create difficulties in overcoming a variety of performance concerns (Dainty & Loosemore, 2012). For instance, the construction industry is still male-dominated in contemporary society. The National Association for Women in Construction provides statistics that women make up only nine percent of the industry and, of this nine percent, 76 percent of them are working in office and sales positions (Godfrey, 2012). The small volume of women who do hold lower-level positions, such as carpenters, masons, and even electricians (just to name a few), are often subject to inferior networking opportunities, discrimination and inflexible working conditions that create very high stress outcomes (Watts, 2007; Lingard & Francis, 2006). Hence, stereotypes, gender-oriented prejudices, and the impact on women’s emotional health are considerable concerns for human resource managers, which impact the ability to recruit and retain qualified female workers. This essay attempts to describe best practices in human resource management, with emphasis on recruitment and selection practices, in the construction industry as it pertains to ensuring diversity policy development and promoting equal opportunities for female construction workers. Research indicates that female role modeling, conscription of pre-apprenticeship female graduates, offering flexible working packages, and using advertisement depicting female images are appropriate methods for recruitment and selection. Recruitment and Selection In the construction industry, HR recruitment means attracting capable employees on the basis of a variety of internal job analyses. Strategically, recruitment involves establishing a solid employer brand to better engage qualified candidates. Advertising, marketing, and professional networking are three of the most fundamental strategies in this industry for recruitment. Selection in this industry includes processes of screening potential job candidates based on credentials and identified competencies, and ultimately matching the right individual that will be a proper fit for a specific job. Conducting interviews with candidates at career fairs, consultation with appropriate community partners (i.e., vocational school leaders or community college administration), and formal interviews in-house are the most effective best practices in selection in the construction industry. For construction companies that value the importance of diversity in recruitment and selection procedures, engaging female candidates is highly difficult due to pre-existing conceptions about the construction industry. Women are often reluctant to pursue careers in this industry due to the predominant image of the environment and culture within construction organizations. The image of the industry is perceived negatively by many women in society. The main impression is that the culture is ultra-masculine, where workers utilize foul language and where the industry maintains specific requirements for brute strength and substantial tolerance for inclement weather conditions (Agapiou, 2002). Many construction cultures still maintain very sexist attitudes and male managers involved in the recruitment process create promotional recruitment brochures that illustrate male actors, male sets of values and discriminatory unstructured interview activities that are driven by a boy’s club mentality (Fielden, Davidson, Gale & Davey, 2000; Dainty, Bagilhole & Neale, 2000). Though the aforementioned biases in the recruitment and selection processes in construction industries are changing as a result of business policy evolutions and legislation development that provides more emphasis on equal opportunities, it is increasingly difficult to establish a repertoire with female candidates and convince them that there are career opportunities for women applicants. Hence, in the human resource management process, removing the cultural and structural barriers to effective diversity-oriented recruitment and selection procedures is becoming a paramount objective in this industry. These barriers are fundamental problems that affect female recruitment methodologies (Sang & Powell, 2012). Index Best practices in the construction industry for managing diversity and engaging female candidates include such activities as: Review and classification of job role qualifications through recurring job analyses Analysis of required work hours expected and revision of general conditions of work Coordination of cultural training for internal managers to improve diversity deliberation Establishing career development policies to better implement gender equality. Collaboration with internal marketing division to build an employment brand suitable for gaining female candidate interest and enthusiasm for application. Development Best practices for recruiting and selection procedures with gender diversity considered as a primary goal include mobilization of HR activities toward recruiting recent graduates from pre-apprenticeship programs. Such programs provide future female construction workers with fundamental knowledge of the trade and tools required for success in this career. It provides the underpinning knowledge of apprenticeship, including the rigor of the construction trade, issues of safety and human health in the industry, and general skills training required of apprenticeship (Tradeswomen Inc., 2010). New graduates of these programs have been taught about the equal opportunities available in the construction industry and instructors of such program assist in breaking down pre-existing biases about the culture and environment which assists in gaining female interest in applying for a construction position. Recent female graduates of pre-apprenticeship programs have been taught what are referred to as soft skills, dealing with effective communications in the industry and conceptions of inter-organizational trust and diversity which assist in establishing positive perceptions about construction job opportunities. The establishment of an employer brand, conducted through advertising promotion, also assists in enlarging the labor pool to include more dedicated and interested females. Construction companies are using female representatives at career fairs that are equipped with training to discuss the nature of the work, tools required of the job role, and generally serve as role models for the female gender. Websites in contemporary recruitment practices also depict female tradeswomen as important social and professional reference groups that gain more interest in the industry and the career opportunities it provides to women. Community colleges and vocational schools also serve as quality community partners for recruitment and selection processes in the construction industry. Many of these organizations have already trained women in a variety of construction trade careers and have put female students through the appropriate testing and ensured appropriate physical requirements necessary for the job role (Tradeswomen Inc, 2010). This reduces laborious efforts in the selection process to put candidates through such testing procedures and also reduces costs, thus improving comparative advantage in the industry by ensuring that recruited candidates already maintain the tangible skills required of the demanding construction career field. Case Study Analysis – Tarmac Construction Tarmac Construction is an organization which produces concrete, lime and a variety of aggregates using in heavy building projects as well as being experts in roadway construction. The company currently sustains an employee population of 4,500 employees. As part of its Diversity and Inclusion policies, the company actively advertises on a website known as Equality Britain to expand its employer brand and gain attention of female candidates, thus expanding its available labor pool (The Times 100, 2014). Tarmac also utilizes the best practice of creating family-friendly working conditions, a work-life balance approach, that gains more interest and application ratios from female candidates. Lingard and Francis (2002) identify this as a significant barrier to improving gender equality and diversity in the construction industry. Tarmac recognizes that work-life issues complicate the process of gaining female candidate interest in the construction industry as a career field, thus serving as an innovator in contemporary recruitment best practices. Conclusion As indicated by the research, the construction industry is becoming more conducive to building organizational cultures that remove impediments and prejudices against women. Diversity is known to create competitive advantages in terms of human capital advantages by injecting a new type of attitude and culture of inclusion that is appropriate in a globalized construction industry. Recruitment activities are improving the image of the industry through utilization of female role models in branding functions and providing a greater and more qualified labor pool for selection and ensuring proper fit between candidate competencies and job roles. Best practices in HRM, with emphasis on recruitment, selection and diversity policy development are changing the industry reputation which is highly beneficial for companies that want to build cultures of inclusion and comply with equality mandates in a variety of equal opportunities legislations. This is fundamentally important in the contemporary construction industry today. There is also a skills shortage in the industry which is one of the most economically-beneficial industries to nations across most of the developed and developing world. Therefore, companies need to establish similar policies and procedures such as Tarmac in order to exploit new labor opportunities and avoid staffing problems in the future in the face of construction business expansion. By breaking down barriers to engaging female candidates, changing the image of the industry from male domination to inclusion, and creating policies (such as work-life balance programs) that are conducive to female candidate needs, the company will have more opportunities for quality selection procedures and ensuring proper job role fit through these HRM practices. References Agapiou, A. (2002). Perceptions of gender roles and attitudes toward work among male and female operatives in the Scottish construction industry. Construction Management and Economics, 20, 697–704. Dainty, A., & Loosemore, M. (2012). Human resource management in construction (2nd ed.). Routledge. Dainty, A.R.J., Bagilhole, B.M. & Neale, R.H. (2000). A grounded theory of women’s career under-achievement in large UK construction companies. Construction Management and Economics, 18, 239–250. Fielden, S.L., Davidson, M.J., Gale, A.W. & Davey, C.L. (2000). Women in construction: The untapped resources. Construction and Economics, 18, 113–121. Godfrey, A. (2012). Women in construction: Nailing a male-dominated industry. Retrieved February 6, 2014 from http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/09/women-in-construction- nailing-a-male-dominated-industry-80063.html. Lingard, H., & Francis, V. (2006). Work–life balance in construction: Promoting diversity. In A.W. Gale and M.J. Davidson (eds.), Managing Diversity in the Construction Sector. Spon Press. Lingard, H., & Francis, V. (2002). Work–life issues in the Australian construction industry: Findings of a pilot study. Construction Institute of Australia, Brisbane. Retrieved February 7, 2014 from http://www.ciia.qut.edu.au/docs/Work_Life.pdf. Sang, K.J.C., & Powell, A. (2012). Equality, diversity, inclusion and work–life balance in Construction. In A. Dainty & M. Loosemore, Human resource management in construction: A critical approach. Spon Press. The Times 100. (2014). Competitive advantage through diversity: A Tarmac case study. Retrieved February 7, 2014 from http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/tarmac/competitive- advantage-through-diversity/diversity-as-a-hr-strategy.html#axzz2t6u3aTdN. Tradeswomen Inc. (2010). Hire a woman: Recruiting women for your workforce. Retrieved February 5, 2014 from http://www.tradeswomen.org/PDFs/HireAWoman-recruit.pdf. Watts, J. (2007). Porn, pride and pessimism: Experiences of women working in professional construction roles. Work, Employment and Society, 21(2), 219–316. Read More