Organizational flexibility management in construction

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Changes in Job Situations for Women Workforce in Construction during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced unique circumstances to women workforce in construction including the need to work from home, changes in job situations and family responsibilities following the lockdowns. This exploratory study was conducted around six months into the pandemic in examining the changes of their job situations, and their perceptions of career aspects during the pandemic. The results show that most respondents were employed full-time at the time of survey, and that there were profound changes to their work location and working hours including working from home and worked more hours than usual. Their perceived negative impacts of the pandemic on their capacity to engage in paid work activities due to caring responsibilities, pay or earnings, job security, and career progression and advancement are modest. They were also seemingly confident in staying in their job in the next 12-month. Their perceptions have been found significantly associated with their age, education level, and years of experience in the industry. These findings provide a critical insight on women’s job situations in the industry during the pandemic, with implications for human resource practices towards addressing the challenges in retention of women workforce during and post COVID-19 pandemic

Sustainable Procurement in Australia: Quantity Surveyors' Perception on Life Cycle Costing

Life cycle costing (LCC) has long been recognised as one of the essential techniques for sustainable development. Over the past decades, the use of LCC in the industry has been restricted and building stakeholders are blaming each other for its limited application. The research aims to investigate quantity surveyors'perception towards LCC implementation in Australia by specifically examining their general awareness and application of LCC; determining the key obstacles hindering LCC implementation; and identifying the key enablers for LCC implementation. An online survey of 24 quantity surveying professionals was undertaken. The overall results indicate that quantity surveying professionals do have basic knowledge of LCC and appreciate its benefits. However, the results suggest that clients and architects are the key culprits for hindering the implementation of LCC by placing greater emphasis on initial costs and design over strategic value of an asset. For wider application, it is suggested that government and professional bodies play a vital role to enforcing and promoting the future use of LCC. In conclusion, the research informs building stakeholders the key issues in LCC implementation and adds to the existing body of knowledge on LCC application for future research to be undertaken

Women Workforce in Construction during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Challenges and Strategies

Changes and challenges in employment are inevitable under the measures enacted to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. Early evidence suggests that the pandemic would disproportionately affect women compared to men. Focussing on women workforce in construction, this exploratory study examines the challenges associated with changes in their job situations, the adopted strategies in addressing the challenges and their opinions on employment situation of women workforce during the pandemic. Results of a content analysis show that the top ranked challenges are: (i) overworked; (ii) working space; (iii) social interactions; (iv) collaboration; and (v) parenting. The most cited strategies in addressing these challenges are: (i) increased visual communication; (ii) a dedicated workspace; (iii) self-scheduling; (iv) flexible working arrangements; and (v) breaking out work time and personal time. The evidence is suggestive that most challenges are interrelated, and the strategies adopted by the respondents are multi-level and interdependent. The results also show that the most mentioned opinion is the increased caring and domestic responsibilities among women workforce. Under the uncertainty about the duration of the pandemic and future contagion waves, these findings are critical in informing employing organizations’ human resource management challenges to better support their female employees during pandemic time and beyond

Early career women in construction: Are their career expectations being met?

The recruitment, retention and development of early career women have always been a challenge in the construction industry. With the focus on early career women or new female construction management degree graduate hires in construction, this study explores: (i) factors influencing their choice of career in construction; (ii) the extent of which their career expectations were met in their first few years of job experience; and (iii) how their met or unmet career expectations are related their overall job satisfaction. Data was collected using an online survey questionnaire. The results show that the top significant factors influencing the respondents’ career choice are career opportunities and belief of getting better pay. Their career expectations, on the other hand, were met or exceeded to a great extent for almost all the measurement items. The results also show that the respondents have a relatively high overall job satisfaction level. Although there is lack of evidence that their overall job satisfaction increased as met career expectations increased, there are statistically significant positive correlations among the career expectation measurement items. These findings have implications for human resource practices of construction employers that aimed to attract early career women into the industry, and to reinforce their met career expectations and job satisfaction

Employee perception of work stress in a large construction company in Australia

Managing stress effectively is touted to be a key determinant of increased performance. It is however believed that individuals perceive and cope with stress differently. This thus makes stress management more complicated in construction. The aim of this research is to investigate the perceived work stress of construction employees by examining how perceived stress vary across employees and the perceived stress correlate with employee performance. In addressing these, an online questionnaire survey of 187 construction employees was undertaken, and data were analysed using the relative prevalence indexing method, ANOVA and Pearson correlation tests. The overall results show that poor work-life balance and work overloads are the major negative perceived stressors for construction professionals. Furthermore, there were differences in the perceived stress among cadets, operational staff, middle and top management. Lastly, the findings reveal the interpersonal and organisational climate have strong association with employee performance. In conclusion, the findings shed lights on the spectrum of work stress underling employee performance and how different cohorts of employees perceive and experience work stress

Employee perception of work stress in a large construction company in Australia

Managing stress effectively is touted to be a key determinant of increased performance. It is however believed that individuals perceive and cope with stress differently. This thus makes stress management more complicated in construction. The aim of this research is to investigate the perceived work stress of construction employees by examining how perceived stress vary across employees and the perceived stress correlate with employee performance. In addressing these, an online questionnaire survey of 187 construction employees was undertaken, and data were analysed using the relative prevalence indexing method, ANOVA and Pearson correlation tests. The overall results show that poor work-life balance and work overloads are the major negative perceived stressors for construction professionals. Furthermore, there were differences in the perceived stress among cadets, operational staff, middle and top management. Lastly, the findings reveal the interpersonal and organisational climate have strong association with employee performance. In conclusion, the findings shed lights on the spectrum of work stress underling employee performance and how different cohorts of employees perceive and experience work stress

Women Workforces’ Satisfaction with Personal Protective Equipment: A Case of the Australian Construction Industry

Despite the anecdotal evidence that construction women workforces have faced difficulties in accessing adequate and properly fitting personal protective equipment (PPE), there have been very few studies addressing their experiences and satisfaction with PPE. This study aimed to provide an overview of women workforces’ satisfaction with PPE in the Australian construction industry. The specific research objectives were to: (i) examine their satisfaction regarding the functional, expressive and aesthetic (FEA) need attributes of PPE and (ii) investigate factors affecting their overall satisfaction with PPE. Data were collected using an online questionnaire survey. The results indicated a rather low satisfaction level among the respondents for all the thirteen FEA need attributes of their PPE. A regression model showed that their overall satisfaction with PPE was significantly affected by their experiences of PPE use (i.e., the need for alterations or adjustments to PPE, adequacy of training for PPE use, the perceived impact of ill-fitting PPE on work productivity) and satisfaction with FEA need attributes but not their demographical factors. The research findings call for action among construction training organizations, PPE designers and manufacturers and construction employers to recognise and address the low satisfaction level for PPE use among women workforces in the industry