Raidén, A B; Dainty, A R J and Neale, R H (2003) A strategic employee resourcing framework (serf) for construction. In: Greenwood, D J (ed.) Proceedings of 19th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2003, Brighton, UK.
Abstract
The characteristics of the construction industry require contractors to set up temporary organizational structures at dispersed geographical locations, within which unique projects are managed. Thus, the project team forms the basic unit of working life in construction. Despite this, surprisingly little attention has been paid to managing delegation and empowerment, concepts widely associated with teamwork within other sectors. An EPSRC funded research project set out to begin to address this shortfall by examining the challenges this type of organizational structure poses on managing construction organizations and their workforce and suggesting potential solutions to responding to such challenges. Employee resourcing, and more specifically the team deployment function, was identified as being an immensely challenging management activity. In particular, the short period construction projects have for mobilization, the transient workforce and the temporary nature of construction project teams were found to make planning difficult and thus, decision-making is largely ad-hoc. In response to this, a Strategic Employee Resourcing Framework (SERF) has been developed. The framework combines a fully integrated computerized resourcing tool, a human resource information system (HRIS), user-friendly web interface and a set of procedural guidelines to provide managers and employees alike with easy access to a wide range of information. Together, the SERF should encourage employee involvement and support effective knowledge management within construction organizations. Utilizing such an approach should also result in more transparent communications and organizational procedures, improved job satisfaction, more informed employee resourcing decision-making and thus, improved organizational performance.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | employee resourcing; employee involvement; human resource information systems; teams |
| Index terms: | information system, construction industry, knowledge management, project team, decision-making, construction project, human resource, organizational performance, job satisfaction, construction organization, manager, empowerment, employee involvement, teamwork, organizational structure, construction project team |
| Subjects: | information systems, industry analysis, sociology, decision analysis, professional development, production management, management, performance measurement, project delivery, psychology, practitioner, organization |
| Topics: | Information Management, Project Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Roles and Professions, Risk Management, 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