Moodley, K; Smith, N and Preece, C N (2008) Stakeholder matrix for ethical relationships in the construction industry. Construction Management and Economics, 26(6), pp. 625-632. ISSN 1466433X
Abstract
The construction industry in general has a poor ethical reputation, being widely regarded by the public as a sector with corrupt practices, health and safety failures, and causing damage to the environment. A modern 21st century industry needs to consider how it orientates itself to the dilemma of conflicting stakeholder and ethical demands. The implications for stakeholders of the all pervasive drive for globalization in the construction industry is reviewed, leading to a consideration of the ethical relationship interfaces that construction organizations have with their stakeholders from the viewpoint of ethics, social contracts and corporate responsibility. Building upon earlier work a prototype stakeholder ethical responsibility matrix (SERM) is proposed as a management tool. Stakeholder management using an ethical perspective can meet the needs of both agency and stakeholder requirements. The increasingly complex global construction industry presents many challenges as key business decisions in construction are in reality moral decisions also. A completed version of the SERM offers a way forward for managing the ethical dimension of construction industry decision making.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | ethics; responsibility matrix; social contracts; stakeholders |
| Index terms: | health and safety, corporate responsibility, prototype, decision-making, globalization, agency, stakeholder management, construction organization, ethics, global construction, dimension, construction industry |
| Subjects: | decision analysis, sociology, industry analysis, economic factors, health safety and environment, modelling and simulation, ethical practice, participation process, health monitoring assessment and metrics, strategic management, organization, business |
| Topics: | International Construction, Stakeholder Management, Risk Management, Governance, Health and Safety, Business Strategy, Engineering Principles, Research Practice |
| 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