Responses to the vision zero articles

Responses to the vision zero article

Coming out and staying in industry: How sexual orientation and gender identity matters in construction employment

Over the last three years the New Civil Engineer, Architects’ Journal and Construction News have conducted a survey investigating the experiences of LGBT workers in the sector. The surveys reveal that homophobia is commonplace in the construction industry, with many gay men and women encountering homophobic comments in the workplace and few feeling that they could be open about their sexuality in the workplace (Ramchurn, 2015a; 2015b). Furthermore, respondents had little faith that their managers would handle such issues effectively. In this literature review paper we explore the theoretical and empirical explanations for the apparent institutionally homophobic situation of the sector. A key concern is what are the experiences of LGBT people and in what ways does gender/sexual identity present challenges in working lives? The results reveal the importance of sexuality in the reproduction of social relations in construction, the nature of sexualised banter and physical harassment of LGBT workers and the effects that this has on equality of opportunity. The cultural landscape represents a toxic environment for those who do not conform to the white, male, heterosexual stereotype of the construction worker and the homosocial relations that surround it. Furthermore, the review highlights how research has evolved to now present a critical perspective on how gender and sexualities are performed in organizational contexts (Rumens, 2013). The results presented set the agenda for empirical explorations of the experiences of workers. The main contribution of the paper is that it begins to unpack the institutional landscape that sustains the status quo and which must be challenged if more inclusive practices are to take hold within the sector

Disaster risk reduction and 'built-in' resilience: towards overarching principles for construction practice

The emerging emphasis on disaster risk reduction has broadened the range of experts whose knowledge must be garnered to resolve complex socio-technical challenges. This paper examines the role and position of the construction sector for addressing these concerns. Specifically, it examines the recursive nature of practices within the built environment, which can be seen as deeply ingraining fragmented approaches to the development process. These, in turn, render the industry a difficult arena within which to enact structural and cultural change. Based on a wide body of literature on resiliency a set of overarching principles are proffered to help inform efforts to overcome some of the barriers to creating a more resilient built environment. It is argued that these principles offer a point of departure for embedding resilience considerations at both project and institutional levels, although real change would demand challenging some of the conventions that currently underpin construction development

Integrating uncertainty management in strategic planning practice

Despite competing in highly turbulent and competitive industry, evidence suggests that construction firms have not put sufficient emphasis on strategic planning. Further, the practice of strategic planning in construction is dominated by informal nd sporadic approaches/processes, which rely heavily on the subjective judgement of top management and tacit knowledge of individuals involved. Literature indicates that the identification of possible risks and opportunities is the most critical in this process, but little guidance is available with regards to the most effective approaches in dealing with the inherent characteristics of strategic planning. A review of underlying aspects (including decision theory, cognitive and behavioural psychology) is presented with a view of developing a framework for improving this process in a construction firm. The framework attempts to engage stakeholders and capture both explicit and tacit knowledge in the strategic thinking for organisational learning. The framework is viewed as a better alternative to the top-down approach of strategic decision making in the construction industry. Benefits from adopting such anapproach and future direction of research in this area are then discussed. Copyright ASCE 2009

The influence of practice culture on designed artefacts

Design can be viewed as a complex and on-going social accomplishment, a product of everyday trajectories between a milieu of human and material registers. Seen in this way the design practice serves as an arena for these quotidian activities. We seek to construct a more dynamic picture of architecture by connecting process and product, supplementing a project narrative with one of practice, highlighting the context in which the outcome was created. We address the research question: how does practice culture become intertwined within the designed product? A research model emerged from the review of the literature and evolved as a loose framework to discuss the practices and projects at hand. The research focused on the particular design consideration of adaptability in an effort to direct and ground the study. The research was conducted in two stages -at first a set of interviews were conducted to gain broader insights into the everyday accounts of the practices and secondly, project case studies were selected to further investigate the topic. The narratives reveal the culture of each practice to stress a particular meaning in each context: for Make it is about a beautiful object; for ABA a piece of social infrastructure and; for CGL a business asset. Adaptability finds itself subdued, promoted, compromised and sold as part of the design process and the resultant architecture. Our contribution extends the argument that design is entangled within its socio-cultural surroundings and grounds the culture of practice in the designed artefacts - the way in which a practice handles decision-making contingencies, both endogenous and exogenous forces, will together shape a practice disposition towards design (adaptability). Design that is driven by a strong culture that embeds exogenous influences in the approach tends to provide more adaptable solutions as part of a quest to satisfy long-term, societal concerns

Perceptions of construction organisations on developing successful inter-organisational relationships

The purpose of this study is to investigate the general perceptions of UK construction organisations on developing successful inter-organisational relationships, with the paper reports on five case studies of different construction organisations, which include the main contractors, a specialist contractor and a managing agent contractor. The investigations explored their business relationships with other organisations in the supply chain including clients, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. The findings show that the organisations realise the importance of developing good relationships with their partners, which in turn increases their financial performance. The results also revealed the practices that lead to successful relationships and barriers to the successful relationships. The implication of these preliminary findings show an evidence of a successful relationship can be achieved even though in the context of a temporary organisation structure. This paper adds some important elements of inter-organisation relationship from construction organisations perspective to the current body knowledge

The concept of 'relational contracting' as a tool for understanding inter-organizational relationships in construction

Managing the relationships between the various parties involved in construction is becoming more crucial as the industry moves away from fragmented and adversarial ways of working. Under less-adversarial procurement routes and contractual arrangements such as partnering, it is essential that the parties develop mutually beneficial objectives and a high level of commitment, cooperation and trust. When disputes do occur, without good relationships between the parties they are likely to refer back to the clauses of the contract which, in turn, may start a return to adversarial ways of working. The concept of 'relational contracting' has been developed by Macneil (1974, 1980, 1981 and 1983). This considers a contract to represent a relationship between the parties and introduces a degree of flexibility into the contract on the basis of understanding the other party's objectives. Based on a review of recent literature, this paper explores the dimensions of relational contracting that are applicable to the construction industry. Since the principles of relational contracting have received relatively little attention in the construction management literature, work from other disciplines have been explored in order to promote a fuller understanding of its implications to understanding the way in which people from different organizations work together. It is suggested that previous work has viewed the concept of relational contracting in isolation rather than as an integrated set of relational principles. It is argued that when viewed as a joined-up set of dimensions, relational contracting has the potential to facilitate a better understanding of inter-organizational relationships within the industry

An assessment of construction craft trainee career priorities through the Analytical Hierarchy Process

New Entrant Trainees (NET) to construction trades have a number of concerns, motivations and interests surrounding the nature of their employment. However, it has been suggested that some of these trainees subordinate their consideration of career development in favour of satisfying hygiene factors such as work conditions and pecuniary concerns such as basic pay and bonus incentives. This may not lead to an appropriate career choice, and in the long term may contribute to the industry's high attrition rates. Using the psychometric technique known as the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the primary career choice motivations and perspectives of 563 trainees were profiled. AHP was used to evaluate and empirically test the relative importance of career development against five other career related stimuli: financial incentives; work conditions; social relations; job content; and job security. The results reveal the central importance of career development in retaining new entrant trainees to the construction industry. Indeed, it suggests a more sophisticated set of career priorities amongst the craft group than was expected. It is therefore recommended that the industry devotes more attention to the career development of these often overlooked employees in order to redress the high attrition rates and skills imbalances throughout the industry

Strategic approaches to managing human relations within construction SMEs

Organisational success is dependent upon the effective management of people. At the heart of this process is an organisation’s HRM strategy, which should seek to align HRM practices with the wider organisational objectives. This paper investigates employee relations as one key area of Strategic Human resource management (SHRM) within construction SMEs. The aim of this part of the research is to examine the multi facetted nature of the SHRM function and particularly the perspectives of employee relations. These issues were explored via semi-structured interviews with the strategy makers and HR or middle mangers of construction SMEs. It provides an insight into the way in which employee relations are implemented as part of the SHRM function. A wide range of techniques were utilised within a small number of organisations, the larger organisations within the group exhibited highly structured objectives and procedures. It forms part of a wider study which aims to explore further the components and types of SHRM strategies used by construction SMEs in order to improve organisational performance. The ultimate outcome of the research is to develop a model of SME SHRM practice that helps firms to reconcile their HRM needs with the problematic operating context provided by the industry

The development of a tender analysis support tool for use in social housing best value procurement

A number of studies have highlighted the problems and challenges that have been encountered with the analysis of best value tenders carried out in the UK public sector. This research has developed a methodology which enables project stakeholders to streamline the tender analysis procedure allowing tenders to be dealt with effectively and efficiently whilst also creating a transparent and auditable decision making process. A robust support tool has been developed which aids the multi objective decision making process by provoking rational discussion with respect to; the construction industry's key performance indicators (KPI's), the client's attitude to risk and provides a transparent audit trail of the decisions taken. The underlying rationale for the support tool is based on a combination of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), multi utility attribute theory (MAUT) and whole life costing (WLC). The methodology has been developed into user friendly software and the paper demonstrates the practical utility of the tool in operation