Foster, S R (2020) Management strategies for improving construction industry ethics. PhD thesis, Walden University, USA.
Abstract
Despite the existence of ethical codes, ethical lapses continue to occur frequently in the construction industry. Ethical violations can have negative effects on society. The specific research problem was that many executive managers in construction companies may not understand what ethical strategies to implement to align practical ethical conduct in the construction industry with existing codes of ethics. The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory case study was to explore the perceptions of construction industry professionals on how to achieve alignment between industry ethical conduct and published codes of conduct. A conceptual framework based on Bandura's concept of reciprocal determinism was used for this study. Social change concepts, personal and social ethics, and aspects of the construction industry ethical environment were reviewed to support the conceptual framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 19 project managers and superintendents from 13 construction companies in the Northeast United States in various trades who were subject to codes of ethics. The data were analyzed using Yin's pattern matching and were coded manually and with NVivo. In the results, study participants shared several strategies to improve the construction industry ethical environment. These strategies included improving frequent communication of industry codes of conduct, training in expectations and procedures, stressing ways to improve corporate ethical culture, developing a sense of self-ethical behavior, and the importance of leadership in modeling ethical behavior. The social change implications of this research include the potential for reduced project duration and cost, improved stakeholder trust, and improved quality of construction.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Lolas, A |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | communication; duration; leadership; training; professional; project manager; culture; ethics; trust; case study; interview; USA |
| Index terms: | violation, conceptual framework, ethical behaviour, construction company, strategy, society, interview, manager, United States, duration, construction industry, modelling, ethical conduct, executive, ethics, project manager, case study, management strategy |
| Subjects: | Geography, health safety and environment, theoretical framing, communities and social development, practitioner, organization, analytical methods, ethical practice, management, regulatory law, industry analysis, project controls, profession, data collection methods, ethical issues |
| Topics: | Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Time Control, Health and Safety, Geographical Context, Engineering Principles, Legal Issues |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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