Bula-Diaz, C; Dainty, A and Burns, N (2005) The employment relationship of site and office-based managers in SME construction firms. In: Khosrowshahi, F (ed.) Proceedings of 21st Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2005, London, UK.
Abstract
A positive employment relationship forms the cornerstone of a successful business within today's construction industry. Tight labour market conditions and an increasing tendency towards inter company mobility have necessitated firms to go to efforts to ensure that the needs of their employees are met effectively. This paper reports on research which investigated the nature of the employment relationship of managers working for a medium sized construction company. Interviews were carried out with managers based in both project and office environments and a comparison made of their motivation and attitude towards their employing organisation. The results indicate that site managers tend to exhibit less commitment, have lower expectations and less satisfaction than those in office based positions. Reasons for the breakdown of the employment relationship stems from the distributed nature of construction projects and the failure of employers to recognise the needs of their employees based in remote locations. Tentative recommendations are provided as to how construction firms might address such issues in the future through their HRM approaches in relation to career development.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | commitment; employment relationship; project managers; psychological contract; SMEs |
| Index terms: | interview, manager, satisfaction, mobility, project manager, commitment, employment, motivation, construction company, construction firm, construction project, career, psychological contract, site manager, labour market, construction industry |
| Subjects: | practitioner, organization, profession, data collection methods, project delivery, psychology, professional development, production management, economics, management, industry analysis, infrastructure and transport systems |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Project Management, Research Practice, Information Management, Business Strategy, Organizational Design, Human Resources, Supply Chain Management, Urban Studies |
| 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