Life stressors of mechanical contracting supervisory personnel

Wentz, B (2015) Life stressors of mechanical contracting supervisory personnel. International Journal of Construction Education and Research, 11(4), pp. 268-279. ISSN 1557-8771

Abstract

Retention of high quality management personnel is a priority for all companies in the construction industry, including mechanical contracting companies. Over the past several years there has been a decrease in managers in the construction industry, and firms that fail to retain these employees will be left with an understaffed workforce, which will hinder their ability to be competitive in the marketplace. In order to aid in retention efforts, mechanical contracting firms need to focus their attention on the factors that affect burnout, which leads to turnover of their management personnel. The majority of the research in the construction industry has focused on work related stress. There have been studies on life stressors in general and there are several tools available to measure these stressors, but no studies have been done on life stressors on mechanical contracting supervisors. Life stressors were identified using the LISRES-A survey for mechanical contracting supervisors. The results showed that these supervisors had well above-average levels of stress in regards to their children. The results suggest that contracting firms should tailor their employee assistance programs (EAPs) to help combat this stressor. By doing this, mechanical contracting firms can combat burnout and help retain their management personnel.;Retention of high quality management personnel is a priority for all companies in the construction industry, including mechanical contracting companies. Over the past several years there has been a decrease in managers in the construction industry, and firms that fail to retain these employees will be left with an understaffed workforce, which will hinder their ability to be competitive in the marketplace. In order to aid in retention efforts, mechanical contracting firms need to focus their attention on the factors that affect burnout, which leads to turnover of their management personnel. The majority of the research in the construction industry has focused on work related stress. There have been studies on life stressors in general and there are several tools available to measure these stressors, but no studies have been done on life stressors on mechanical contracting supervisors. Life stressors were identified using the LISRES-A survey for mechanical contracting supervisors. The results showed that these supervisors had well above-average levels of stress in regards to their children. The results suggest that contracting firms should tailor their employee assistance programs (EAPs) to help combat this stressor. By doing this, mechanical contracting firms can combat burnout and help retain their management personnel.;

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: burnout; management; retention; EAPs; life stressors; occupational stress; management theory; employee turnover; construction industry
Index terms: occupational stres, survey, stressors, turnover, personnel, burnout, manager, management theory, employee assistance program, children, retention, employee turnover, supervisor, quality management, construction industry, life stressors
Subjects: management, industry analysis, quality assurance, occupational health and safety management, demography, health conditions and diseases, practitioner, data collection methods, business management, psychology
Topics: Human Resources, Quality Management, Urban Studies, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Health and Safety
Descriptive scope: 4 PCTE

N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here