Greasley, K; Bryman, N K A; Dainty, A R J and Price, A D F (2003) Perceptions of empowerment by construction senior management. In: Greenwood, D J (ed.) Proceedings of 19th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2003, Brighton, UK.
Abstract
The research reviews the potential of team and individual empowerment as performance improvement strategies for construction. The important role of empowerment has been emphasized through a discussion of recent trends in the construction industry, for example the Rethinking Construction report on respect for people, which highlighted the central role of empowerment in improving people management practices within the sector. The recent focus on the effective integration and management of supply chains within the Construction Sector has emphasized the need to ensure that all key stakeholders contribute fully to the achievement of project objectives. However the process of empowering organizations and individuals within this framework has been largely ignored. This is surprising given the industry’s reliance upon virtual teams, fragmented work groups, sub-contracted labour and multi-organizational project delivery structures. The aim of the first phase of the study is to examine the nature, content and effectiveness of current levels of organizational and individual empowerment, teamwork and leadership strategies within the UK construction sector. The methods used to achieve this exploratory aim were two workshops in which a large range of project stakeholders provided an insight into industry perceptions and the current utilization of empowerment strategies. This exploratory research forms part of a much wider study which aims to identify appropriate empowerment strategies for achieving given project criteria and performance objectives. An outcome of the research will be a typology for facilitating the management of organizational and operational employee empowerment for improved project delivery.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | empowerment; leadership; project performance; teamwork |
| Index terms: | construction sector, construction industry, project delivery, employee empowerment, management practice, performance improvement, respect for people, integration, project performance, exploratory research, project stakeholder, effectiveness, strategy, individual empowerment, empowerment, virtual team, workshop, teamwork |
| Subjects: | construction type, project delivery, ethical practice, research methods, performance management, management, performance measurement, project management theory and practice, social justice, sociology, organizational analysis, information systems, industry analysis |
| Topics: | Project Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Procurement, Construction Technology, Stakeholder Management, Ethics, Human Resources, Quality Management, Digital Applications, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
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