Measuring, Modeling, and Assessing Safety Communication in Construction Crews in the US Using Social Network Analysis

Effective safety communication has been found as a major practice to enhance safety performance. Open discussion from supervisors to employees, immediate feedback and corrections, and implementing a lesson-learned program are examples of practices that help managers to improve on-site safety communication. Yet, safety communication has become more challenging, especially for bi or multi-lingual construction work crews in which Hispanic workers account the majority of the construction workforce in some States. Beside the language barrier, cultural differences have also influenced safety practices for Hispanic workers. This dissertation employs social network analysis approach to quantify and model the weaknesses and potential points of safety communication for small work crews. Additionally, it uses exploratory interview and Photovoice techniques to study safety challenges for Hispanic workers. This dissertation follows a three-journal paper formation. The first paper is an exploratory study that models and quantifies the five safety communication modes of local small construction crews; in addition, it generates visualized networks of communication patterns. The second paper investigates the relationships between personal attributes, communication patterns, and safety performance of 161 participants from 14 different work crews. The third paper proposes research to study and determine the cultural challenge of safety for Hispanic workers. Further, it aims to determine theoretical and practical solutions about existing concerns and issues from Hispanic workers' perspectives

A rapid simulation modelling process for novice software process simulation modellers

In recent years, simulation modelling of software processes have has promoted as a tool to understand, study, control, and manage software development processes. Claims have been made that simulation models are useful and effective at gaining insight into software development processes. However, little has been said about the process of developing simulation models for software engineering problems. Simulation modelling is a young discipline in software engineering. Consequently, many number software process simulation modellers are thought to be novices. The simulation modelling process is believed to have had an effect on the quality of a simulation study. Although there is a body of knowledge available in the general simulation literature to guide and educate novices, the software process simulation modelling literature lacks information for novice software process simulation modellers to understand and adopt a simulation modelling process. This thesis aims to develop a simulation modelling process for novice software process simulation modellers. This thesis reports how the development and evaluation of a simulation modelling process for novice software process simulation modellers. The rapid simulation modelling process (RSMP) is based on an empirical study of the contexts and practices of expert simulation modellers in SPSM and Operational Research (OR). The RSMP is intended to be independent of a particular simulation technique (i. e. system dynamics or discrete event simulation) and guides novice software process simulation modellers through a set of steps that should be undertaken during a simulation study; the RSMP emphasises heavy client contact and provides guidelines for model documentation. The RSMP has been evaluated through controlled experiments with novice software process simulation modellers using system dynamics (SD) modelling. In the future, it will be further evaluated with software process simulation modellers using discrete event simulation. The RSMP has also been evaluated with a panel of expert software process simulation modellers. The main contribution of this study lies in providing novice software process simulation modellers with a simulation modelling process, which embodies real world simulation practice and is intended to be independent of a particular simulation technique

The role of culture in organisational and individual personnel selection decisions

The present consensus in the literature is that the traditional personnel selection paradigm is flawed and as a consequence, it has not readily been adopted into practice (Cascio & Aguinis, 2oo8). This disparity between research and practice has particularly been attributed to researchers' lack of awareness of the complex variables impacting organisational decision-making processes (Herriot & Anderson; 1997; Hodgkinson & Payne, 1998); the conceptualisation of scientific selection along a continuum based strictly on criterion validity indices (Hough & Oswald 2000; Borman, Hanson & Hedge, 1997) and a lack of clarity on the role of culture in selection research (Ryan, McFarland, Baron & Page, 1999; Moscoso & Salgado, 2004). In an attempt to identify the impact of these variables on personnel selection decisions, this thesis examines the landscape of what is generally viewed as scientific personnel selection by taking the discussion to a setting that is atypical of those normally represented in the selection research literature. The current scheme of research utilises samples from Jamaica to examine the role of culture in individual and organisational selection decisions. In so doing, studies throughout this thesis aim to challenge the assumption of universality espoused by the traditional psychometric paradigm in the measurement and understanding of personnel selection outcomes. Through a series of 6 studies quantitative, qualitative and experimental methods were adopted to determine the influence of cultural, internal and external factors on organisational decisions to utilise criterion-based selection techniques, applicant's decisions to pursue a job and selector decisions in a simulated managerial task. Findings revealed: a) Jamaica's colonial history, workermanager relationships and worker expectations influenced perceived personnel challenges, selection decisions and the likelihood of Jamaican organisations using criterion-based selection techniques; b) the cultural history necessitated a fit-based approached to selection and preference for techniques such as structured interviews, references and application forms; c) as represented by a multidimensional perceptual map, factors influencing Jamaican selection decisions are most similar to countries characterised by moderate power distance and masculinity indices (Australia and Canada) and most divergent to cultures characterised by extremely low individualism, high power distances and high long-term orientation (Taiwan and China); d) job and organisational factors influencing applicants' decisions to apply varied across cultures and applicant performing ability. Compared to UK graduates, higher-performing Jamaican applicants were more confident when applying to jobs emphasising performance although they preferred applying to jobs emphasising fit; e) for higher-performing Jamaican applicants, overall perceptions of structured interviews mediated the attractiveness of pay in their decision to pursue a job; f) framing and information order may mediate the process and outcomes of decisions rather than act as predictors of choices in and of themselves; and g) Jamaican selectors make attributions about a candidate's suitability based on perceptions of both functional and psychosocial consequences. Fit-based factors are given priority as fit with the organisation and team is cognitively weighted as better indicators of effective performance. Findings from all six studies emphasise the role of culture in individual and organisational personnel selection decisions and indicate 'scientific' personnel selection is more fit-based and culturally determined than previously suggested. It is therefore proposed that the dominant paradigm of personnel selection be reconceptualised from a psychometric emphasis to an attitudinal-cognitivebehavioural theoretical perspective which takes into account the impact of cultural and social variables on selection decisions. The implications of this alternate approach are discussed in relation to organisational, selector and applicant selection decisions and tackling future selection research agenda