Raidén, A B; Dainty, A R J and Neale, R H (2008) Understanding employee resourcing in construction organizations. Construction Management and Economics, 26(11), pp. 1133-1143. ISSN 1466433X
Abstract
In recent years the literature on employee resourcing has consistently advocated the importance of adopting a holistic, strategic approach to employee deployment decision making rather than adopting a reactive needs-based approach. This is particularly problematic in construction where the multi-project environment leads to constantly changing resource requirements and to changing demands over a project's life cycle. This can lead to inappropriate decisions, which fail to meet the longer-term needs of both construction organizations and their employees. A structured and comprehensive understanding of the current project team deployment practices within large construction organizations was developed. Project deployment practices were examined within seven case study contracting firms. The emergent themes that shaped the decision-making processes were grouped into five broad clusters comprising human resource planning, performance/career management, team deployment, employee involvement and training and development. The research confirms that a reactive and ad hoc approach to the function prevails within the firms investigated. This suggests a weak relationship between the deployment process and human resource planning, team deployment, performance management, employee involvement and training and development activities. It is suggested that strategic HR-business partnering could engender more transparent and productive relationships in this crucial area.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | employee involvement; human resource management; project team; recruitment; strategic management |
| Index terms: | performance management, career, strategic management, large construction organization, partnering, recruitment, decision-making process, employee involvement, case study, decision-making, construction organization, life cycle, project team, human resource, human resource management |
| Subjects: | management, partnership management, economic analysis, organization, decision analysis, data collection methods, psychology, performance measurement, value management, project delivery, professional development |
| Topics: | Risk Management, Research Practice, Human Resources, Quality Management, Business Strategy, Stakeholder Management, Project Management, Information Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
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