Contributions of women managers to the UK construction industry

Women are constantly underrepresented in the UK construction industry due to various barriers they face in entering, remaining and progressing in the industry. The lack of women employees has become a prominent issue as the industry needs to tackle the shortage of skilled labour and manage equality and diversity issues in construction. Taking both of these problems into account, there is a need for a 'two-way' dialogue between women and the construction industry to increase women's representation while benefiting the construction industry through women's contributions. Many research studies have focused on how the industry could help women by removing any barriers they face. However, there is a dearth of research focusing on the contributions made by women to the construction industry to benefit the industry. This has been identified as the knowledge gap in the field of study. Women managers are the focus of this study for three reasons namely; they have been in the industry for long enough to understand the context, culture and difficulties; they have already progressed in their career while in the industry, despite the barriers identified and they have attained a position where they possess a certain level of power and authority to make decisions and influence policy. This research is philosophically placed in the phenomenological paradigm and adopts an exploratory, multiple and holistic case study research approach. A literature review and a series of interviews with experts were undertaken to improve the knowledge of the field of study and associated concepts pertaining to the research. In-depth interviews, personal attributes questionnaires, multifactor leadership questionnaires and a literature review formed the data collection techniques. Content analysis and cognitive mapping techniques were used for analysis of the semi structured interviews. The contributions made by women managers at various levels of the construction industry have been explored, and during this exploration the research analysed the leadership styles and personal attributes of women managers. Mentoring and coaching; problem resolution; team management; collaboration; leadership; decision making; role models; career awareness and image campaign; and cultural improvements are identified as the major contributions made by women managers to the construction industry. The research also identified the factors influencing and the benefits of the contributions made by women managers.