The Ethics of Engagement in an Age of Austerity: A Paradox Perspective

Our contribution in this paper is to highlight the ethical implications of workforce engagement strategies in an age of austerity. Hard or instrumentalist approaches to workforce engagement create the potential for situations where engaged employees are expected to work ever longer and harder with negative outcomes for their well-being. Our study explores these issues in an investigation of the enactment of an engagement strategy within a UK Health charity, where managers and workers face paradoxical demands to raise service quality and cut costs. We integrate insights from engagement, paradox, and ethic of care literatures, to explore these paradoxical demands—illustrating ways in which engagement experiences become infused with tensions when the workforce faces competing requirements to do 'more with less' resources. We argue that those targeted by these paradoxical engagement strategies need to be supported and cared for, embedded in an ethic of care that provides explicit workplace resources for helping workers and managers cope with and work through corresponding tensions. Our study points to the critical importance of support from senior and frontline managers for open communications and dialogue practices

Factors influencing project delivery within construction clients' multi-project environments

The single project paradigm which dominates the literature of both project and construction management research does not accurately reflect the reality of many construction clients, who have large ongoing construction portfolios rather than one-off construction projects. Although several concepts of multi-project environments (MPEs) exist, an investigation of the form and dynamic interactions of components within MPEs of construction clients was lacking. This paper presents the factors identified as exerting greatest influence on project delivery within construction clients’ MPEs

Maintenance cost implications of utilizing bathroom modules manufactured offsite

Though the benefits from using offsite technologies have been rehearsed, their uptake within the UK construction industry is slow. A critical barrier is the lack of cost data of using such technology. Another is the unsubstantiated perception that maintenance of offsite solutions is difficult and expensive. But, yet again, there appear to be no data publicly available on this topic. This knowledge gap is addressed by presenting the cost data of maintaining offsite and insitu bathrooms for student accommodation. The records of 732 maintenance jobs were investigated. These jobs span three years for 398 bathrooms, including precast concrete modules, glass reinforced polyester (GRP) modules and insitu bathrooms. The results suggest that GRP modules required the lowest maintenance costs, while insitu bathrooms were significantly more expensive to maintain. For offsite modules, drainage, toilets, vents and sink were identified as the main problematic areas for maintenance. The maintenance of insitu bathrooms was more complex and involved a wider range of problematic areas. The design imposed significant effects on the long-term cost of offsite bathrooms. Aspirations of clients need to be fully understood and integrated into design. The findings should facilitate the design decision making of using offsite bathrooms for residential buildings.Bathroom modules, maintenance costs, offsite, student accommodation,

Structural Equation Modeling to Analyze the Critical Driving Factors and Paths for Off-site Construction in China

© 2017 Korean Society of Civil Engineers and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature Off-site Construction (OSC) is an alternative to conventional construction. However, China lags behind developed countries in terms of its OSC development. The chief goal of this study is to demonstrate the critical driving forces and solutions that promote OSC development. A total of 21 hypotheses are established to present the interrelations among eight driving forces. Based on 176 valid responses from developers in mainland China, a structural equation model is built to explore the key solutions and the critical driving forces. Most driving forces, such as Pursuit of Sustainable Competitiveness (PSC), Governmental Policies and Regulations (GPR), Technological Innovation (TI), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and Construction Market Demand (CMD), can affect a Corporation’s Willingness and Behavior (CWB) in adopting OSC through two mediating factors, namely, Economic Benefits (EB) and social and environmental benefits. The findings highlight five main driving solutions to promote OSC, namely, “PSC ? EB ? CWB,” “PSC ? TI ? EB ? CWB,” “GPR ? TI ? EB ? CWB,” “GPR ? CSR ? CWB,” and “GPR ? CMD ? CWB.” Governments and project clients are also identified as important players in the development of OSC in China. These results provide a valuable reference for the government to understand the underlying interrelationships among the driving forces and key solutions to the development of OSC in China