Sommerville, J (2011) Ethical views of micro-enterprises delivering project and asset management services in West-Central Scotland. Built Environment Project and Asset Management, 1(1), pp. 91-103. ISSN 2044-124X
Abstract
Purpose: There is little in the way of research on ethical views on the project and asset management sides of the construction industry, and an absence of work on micro-enterprises. This paper seeks to build material in this area aimed at establishing micro-enterprise views on ethical issues. Design/methodology/approach: Micro-enterprises, operating in west-central Scotland, engaged in a series of questionnaires and case studies. The questionnaires, issued to 300 businesses, sought views on four main thrusts within the ethics arena and responses received were expanded through case studies on three businesses. Findings: The research findings indicate that a range of ethical considerations are important to micro-construction enterprises. However, no one single ethical viewpoint was found to be dominant and variation was evident in management attitudes based on age, experience and education. The wider business community may take heart from the view that the micro-enterprises were law abiding, and so reinforce in the publics' view that they are sound businesses to deal with. Research limitations/implications: The research was limited to a single geographic region, within one country: expansion to cover the full country and at the same time replication in other countries would provide a broader and more wide ranging view of the underlying stance on ethical issues. Originality/value: This paper is the first that specifically targets micro-enterprises in the project and asset management spheres and sets out findings that are useful to practitioners and researchers who are trying to evaluate the underlying premise by which micro-enterprises operate.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction management; ethics; project management; scotland; small businesses |
| Index terms: | ethics, asset management, micro-enterprise, case study, heart, construction industry, project management, variation, small business, methodology, Scotland, questionnaire, practitioner |
| Subjects: | industry analysis, asset management, Geography, contractual condition, project management theory and practice, medical science and clinical practice, research methods, ethical practice, business development, practitioner, data collection methods, organization |
| Topics: | Contract Administration, Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Project Management, Roles and Professions |
| 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