Anumba, C (2006) Application of GIS to labour market planning in construction. EngD thesis, Loughborough University, UK.
Abstract
The fluctuations in the demand for construction work have often resulted in skills shortages. This has led to the need for effective construction labour market planning strategies, which enable the construction industry to meet its skills requirements, particularly in periods of peak demand. Existing approaches to construction labour market planning have several limitations. They do not shed light on the socio-economic and spatially influenced issues within which the industry’s skills shortages are rooted. There is, therefore, a need for more appropriate decision-support mechanisms that can take account of spatial problems in terms of skills demand and supply influences. Through industry involvement, this research has explored how GIS can enhance the labour market planning process in construction. The research briefly reviews the nature of labour market planning in construction, introduces geographic information systems, and highlights the opportunities they offer for overcoming the limitations of existing approaches. The implementation of the GIS-based system and its application to a specific labour market planning initiative is then presented. The evaluation of the system by prospective end-users reveals the enablers, barriers and benefits of the system implementation. Organisational issues that had a bearing on the implementation are also examined and recommendations made for further research.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction labour; evaluation; geographic information system; information system; labour; labour market; skills; valuation; market |
| Index terms: | information system, shortages, peak demand, strategy, construction labour, labour market, construction work, implementation, construction industry, geographic information system, organizational issue, planning process, support mechanism |
| Subjects: | organization, business, economic analysis, contractual arrangements, energy systems, operations management, economics, management, information systems, industry analysis, geographical techniques and analysis, project controls |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Business Strategy, Digital Applications, Site Management, Organizational Design, Time Control, Geographical Context, Project Management, Sustainability, Procurement, Supply Chain Management |
| 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