Human resource management for const management

MD MANZOOR AKHTAR
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JAWAHARLAL NEHRU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY HYDERABAD
M. Tech – I year I Sem. (Construction Management)
HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION
(Elective-I & II)
UNIT-I
Challenges of managing people in construction, Organization.
UNIT-II
Management theory I - Human resources management theory- strategic human resources
management approaches.
UNIT-III
Management theory II- Operational approaches of Human resources management
employee relations.
UNIT-IV
Employee empowerment-salient features-diversity and work life balance.
UNIT-V
Employee welfare-strategic Human resource development- employment legislation
legal aspects.
Text Books:
1. Langfor D.A. Human Resource management in construction, Longman,1995.
2. Martin Loosemore, Andrew Dainty, Helen Lingard, Human Resource Management in
construction projects: strategic and operational approaches, Taylor and Francis, 2010

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UNIT- 1
CHALLENGES IN MANAGING PEOPLE IN
CONSTRUCTION, ORGANIZATION
 Challenges in managing people in Construction
 Challenges in managing people in Organization
1. CHALLENGES IN MANAGING PEOPLE IN CONSTRUCTION
 Introduction
 The construction industry accounts for a sizeable proportion of worldwide economic activity
 Despite recent advances in technology and production management techniques, construction
remains one of the most people-reliant industrial sectors.
 Human resources represent the large majority of costs on most projects, and the industry
employs an extremely diverse range of people from a wide range of occupational cultures and
backgrounds, including people in unskilled, craft, managerial, professional and administrative
positions.
 The challenges of managing people in construction
A. Their unique, one-off nature
 Unlike other sectors, where prototypes can be tested before real production gets underway,
construction projects tend to be one-off, unique organisations that are designed and constructed
to meet a particular client's product and service needs.
 This can lead to significant risks for people working on a project, which largely arise from
learning-curve problems associated with new work activities and ever-changing workplace
relationship.
B. Their tendency to be awarded at short notice
 Many construction projects are awarded following a period of competitive tendering, where
possibilities for thorough planning are often limited.
 Having been awarded a contract, a design consultancy or contractor has to mobilise a project
team comprising an appropriate blend of skills and abilities to meet the project demands
quickly.
 The resourcing function may need to respond to sudden changes in workload, as there can be no
guarantee of how much work will be being undertaken at any particular time
C. Their reliance on a transient workforce:
 Construction projects are, for the most part, constructed in situ. Even with the increased use of
offsite fabrication and the wider use of prefabricated components, the final product is normally
assembled and completed in the required site location.

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 This necessitates the employment of a transient workforce which can move from one project
location to the next. This transience poses many problems for workers, such as longer working
days, more expense in travelling to work and managing work-life balance issues, since their
families may not be as mobile.
D. Increasingly demanding clients:
 In recent years there has been a steady increase in the quality of service and product expected
by clients procuring construction work.
E. A male-dominated culture
 Construction is one of the most male dominated industries in virtually every developed society.
Men dominate both craft trades and professional and managerial positions within the sector.
 This reliance on male employment leads to many challenges, such as skills shortages caused by
recruiting from only a portion of the population, difficulties in the management of equal
opportunities and workforce diversity, and considerable challenges in terms of creating an
accommodating atmosphere in which individuals' diverse skills and competencies are fully
utilized.
2. THE ORGANISATIONAL-BASED NATURE OF CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY
AND THE DEVOLUTION OF THE HRM FUNCTION TO THE PROJECT
MANAGER
• We have pointed out that construction is a project-based industry and that this involves bringing
together different combinations of clients, designers, constructors and suppliers for relatively
short periods of time.
• In construction the multidisciplinary characteristics of its project teams present particular
challenges for managers attempting to secure appropriate staff for projects at different stages
and based in geographically dispersed locations.
• The construction projects demand attention to a variety of human, technical and financial
variables. However, the training and education of line managers, and therefore project
management strategies, have traditionally focused on the issues of structuring and planning
operations, with relatively little attention being paid to the human resource factor in defining a
project's success.
• Construction companies require managers of projects to make HRM decisions that align with the
overall strategic philosophy of the organisation and which meet the operational staffing
requirements of their individual team.
• Project managers may be aware of the need to provide training for their staffs' personal
development, but the time and resource pressures of a project and the day-to-day problems at
arise may prevent them from doing so. Inevitably, since project success is nearly always
measured in monetary terms, people-related issues become a second priority to the core
procurement challenges of meeting time, cost and quality targets.

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 Challenges in managing people in Organization
A. The variable demand for construction products and services
 The level of economic activity within the construction industry is highly sensitive to wider
economic activity, and construction has always suffered from being one of the first industries to
be affected by an economic downturn and one of the last to recover from it.
 Conversely, in the event of an upturn in business, construction is likely to be one of the last
investments committed to, because of the need to assure a relatively certain period of economic
stability and growth ahead.
 Consequently, most construction companies adopt a flexible model of HRM, in which they
employ the bulk of their workforce on temporary contracts or as subcontracted labour.
 The dangerous result of not being able to control such practices in such a competitive industry is
that other companies are forced to lower their performance to the lowest common denominator
in order to survive.
 The large construction firms who employ these small companies, construction clients and
government agencies have an extremely important responsibility to ensure that these practices
do not occur.
B. The shrinking labour market and the image of the construction sector
 Like any industry, construction has to compete for its workforce from the limited pool of people
who are able and willing to work. Historically this has not been a problem for the construction
industry.
 However, a sustained downturn in population growth in many developed countries and changes
in gender demographics affecting traditional recruitment sectors have made this market more
competitive and raised the real possibility of the industry being affected by skills shortages in
the near future.
 Clearly, high-achieving individuals are Likely to gravitate towards industries and sectors which
are seen as offering good wages, good working conditions and good career opportunities, and as
being the most glamorous and attractive to work in.
 Thus, the unattractiveness of construction as a career choice has become a topic of concern and
debate amongst the industry's various bodies and training organisations.
 The reasons put forward for the construction industry's poor public image have been
numerous, and they include:
• The site-based and hence itinerant work patterns, which result in job insecurity or require many
construction workers continually to relocate in pursuit of new project opportunities.
• The poor on-site working conditions, health and safety record and employee welfare
provision within the industry.
• The industry's association with manual, blue-collar occupations rather than more highly
regarded white-collar positions.
• The male-dominated and discriminatory 'macho' culture that is commonly portrayed as
the way the industry operates.

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C. Employee turnover and retention
 Employee turnover, or 'wastage', is an extremely important issue for construction companies'
strategic HR planning, yet a culture of mobility has emerged in the industry which has led to a
workforce of corporate mercenaries that coldly drift from job to job with little sense of loyalty to
their employers.
 Thus the need for companies to retain their staff seems set to become a major HRM issue in the
construction industry of the future.
 Without an increase in labour resources, only companies offering competitive salary packages,
good working conditions and exciting career opportunities will be able to satisfy their labour
requirements. Indeed, recent reports have suggested that skills shortages are already leading to
increased salary levels.
 However, increased remunerative costs lead to competitive labour markets, which has
inflationary effects on the cost of construction work.
D. Subcontracting and self-employment in construction
 The construction industry relies on subcontracting for the majority of its production effort.
Hence the construction industry comprises a large number of small and medium-sized
enterprises which operate in a subordinate productive role to larger 'main' contractors.
 This more flexible structure was perfectly suited to the fluctuating workloads of the construction
industry and led to major structural changes where the majority of the workforce became self-
employed.
 However, this also produced problems of reduced control, which lie at the heart of many of the
industry's inefficiencies today.
 Research also suggests that small businesses do not manage occupational health and safety risk
as effectively as larger businesses and may be unaware of their responsibilities under
occupational health and safety law.
 These factors present difficulties for the prevention of occupational injuries and disease, which likely
contribute to the higher incidence of occupational injury in small construction firms.
E. Training, employee development and knowledge creation
 Training, personal development and knowledge creation lie at the very heart of achieving a
motivated workforce and an efficient, effective, creative and innovative industry which has a
positive public image.
 Training is the most effective way to maintain, update and enhance the intellectual capital of the
industry's workforce and to ensure that its activities contribute positively to the well-being of
society as whole.
 However, construction professionals are now more educated and sophisticated than at any time
in the past and have higher expectations of their employers to provide for their personal career
development.
 Consequently, organisations which operate in dynamic environments (such as construction) will
need to be proactive in managing their employees' career development and in ensuring that the
needs of the individual are aligned with the needs of the organisation.

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F. Communication
 HRM communications must have an internal and external dimension.
a) The internal dimension must focus on ensuring effective communications between
managers and workers in different parts of an organisation, particularly project staff
and central HRM departments.
b) In contrast, the external dimension should focus on communications with external
interest groups such as governments, pressure groups, local communities and unions.
G. Employee relations
 In its broadest sense, employee relations concerns the process of establishing and negotiating
the terms and expectations of the employment relationship
 This process is especially important for employees in an industry that is renowned for its unsafe
and unfair practices.
 Traditionally, this negotiation was undertaken by trade unions on behalf of members in the form
of collective agreements, although recent legislative changes have provided greater flexibility in
allowing for non-union collective bargaining, individual contract-based employment and
project-specific labour agreements.
H. Equal opportunities and diversity
 Providing equality of opportunity for all of those working in a particular industry or
organisation should form a cornerstone of good employment practices.
 Discriminating against people on the grounds of their gender, race/ethnicity, age or disability
leads to an under-utilisation of people's skills and talents and to a stifling of workforce diversity,
which could promote innovation and improved working.
I. Health, safety and welfare
 Few areas of HRM can be as important as managing people's health, safety and welfare at work.
 However, despite advances in occupational health and safety legislation, research and
management techniques construction remains one of the most dangerous sectors to work in.
 In particular, health and safety must be made a top priority if it is to be taken seriously and
incorporated into all management-system procedures to ensure a consistent approach.
 Furthermore, the commercially oriented, male-dominated, macho culture of construction is
unlikely to promote a safety-conscious attitude amongst employees.

MD MANZOOR AKHTAR
UNIT- 2
MANAGEMENT THEORY- I
 Human resources management theory
 Strategic human resources management approaches.
1. HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT THEORY
 Introduction
 The application of theories of organisational behaviour to the context of people management
has, in the last three decades, led to the development of various schools of thought, such as
personnel management, industrial relations (IR), HRM and, more recently, SHRM
 The broad function of personnel management has been in existence since the industrial
revolution, where it fulfilled the welfare-officer role, supporting underprivileged factory
workers through the provision of various benefits.
 Today the role of the human resource manager is broader and more complex than that of the
personnel manager.
 The function of human resource management is considered a core managerial function rather
than a specialist support function, and it is considered good practice for anyone with managerial
responsibility to be involved with employee management issues.
 Human resource management
 A managerial perspective, with theoretical and prescriptive dimensions, which argues for the
need to establish an integrated series of personnel policies consistent with organization strategy,
thus ensuring quality of working life, high commitment and performance from employees, and
organizational effectiveness and competitive advantage.
(Huczynski and Buchanan)
 Human Resources Management is mainly directed toward the needs of management for the
provision and use of human resources (this may not always be employees). Activities are carried
out with other members of management who deal with human resources, rather than directly
with employees, and the emphasis is on planning, monitoring and control, not on mediating. The
differences between these two approaches are shown in the second scheme
(Torrington)
 Basic characteristics of human resources management are:
 Employees are viewed as assets or as human capital which should be invested in by providing
opportunities for learning and development of "learning organization".
 Human resources are viewed as a source of competitive advantage.
 Reducing the number of management levels for more direct communication between the
managers and employees.

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 Decentralization of the management process and the transfer of part of management
competencies from higher to lower levels of management.
 Participation of employees in management through the involvement and active participation in
performing management activities.
 Ongoing flexibility of management process and control activities in order to find acceptable and
sustainable solutions for environmental requirements.
 Increased independence of employees in decision-making and work, making them happier and
more motivated to work.
 Favoring knowledge, skills and creativity, "which leads to the intellectualization of work overall,
when thoughts and ideas become fuel of economy".
 Orientation to the man and his values as the most important resource of the organization.
 Commitment to achieving individual goals and interests, not only organizational.
 Humanization of productive relations between the organization's management and employees.
 Current trends in human resources management
a) Growing competition
 The novelty that human resource management is faced with in contemporary environment is
growing competition in the labor market, which lowers prices and affects the organizational unit
of human resources to cancel certain workplaces and to develop new ways for intensifying work.
 If the organization decides to increase the value and quality rather than reduce prices, this will
entail the need for finding and motivating highly skilled workers. Regardless of whether the
strategy of "low price" or "higher values" is adopted, we need fundamental changes towards
employees.
b) Management of international business
 A consequence of globalization is an increase in the number of multinational organizations,
which requires more employed HR professionals working in organizations that are owned and
controlled by someone from abroad
 The problems that arise in the globalization are institutional and cultural differences. It is
therefore necessary to develop a global standardization and establish a balance of global and
local human resources managers.
c) Technological innovation
 Information technology, telecommunications, laser applications and alike, are constantly
evolving and have a direct impact on the development and management of human resources
 It is possible to define three types of challenges that are put in front of the organizational unit for
human resources, as a consequence of the aforementioned progress.
i. The first type of challenge is how the organizational units for human resources are
engaged in their work, namely: the use of electronic mail and the Internet for
communication and gaining information; use of the Internet as a new way for
recruitment; development of Internet access to training and learning; the use of
computer databases for storing information about employees and report writing; and
application of computer technology in everyday tasks such as planning of human
resources, administration relating to the calculation of earnings, and alike

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ii. The second type of challenges that technology causes is a general change in the
organization, demanding a response by the organizational unit for human resources,
reflected in the need of recruitment, selection and bringing people of different skills
and qualities. Experts in human resources have to plan and implement changes in
technological development.
iii. The third type of technology that affects the change in management of human
resources is the need for finding new ways of managing employees who work on
research and development for the progress of the organization.
d) Doing business in accordance with applicable regulations
 Experts in human resources must follow and comply with laws and regulations whose number is
growing, and which are related to employment, health and social welfare, gender and racial
discrimination, arbitrary dismissals, birth right throughout, union recognition and more.
 This all leads to an increase in employment costs, the unwillingness of creating new job
positions, but also to greater social security of workers.
e) Trade union action
 For the management of human resources, it is essential to establish good and productive
relationship with the union, which tries to improve business success. Trade unions often support
constructive initiatives and contribute to management and help us notice things that otherwise
we would not be aware of.
f) Ethical issues
 Human resource management has always had an ethical dimension, but it often meets ethical
dilemmas typical of cases where there is conflict between what is in the interest of the
organization and what individuals on the basis of their ethical principles consider right.
 When it comes to human resources, the organization can be criticized on ethical grounds, such
as: avoidance of answering about the organization work
 Dismissing an employee because of ill health, ignoring the need for changes in health security
because it requires greater investment, providing training opportunities to some individuals,
and denial to others, discrimination on the basis of age, and more.
g) Best practice versus best fit
 This view has a consequence on the entire field of human resources and it refers to management,
which is currently the most important theoretical debate in the field of human resources.
 This view raises a question whether there is a best way for carrying out activities related to
human resources, and that is applicable everywhere.
Human resource practices implement their positive influence by
i. Providing and improving the competence of employees
ii. Impact on their motivation and commitment,
iii. Planning job so that employees are encouraged to give their best at work.

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 Approaches to HRM in construction
 Construction companies face a dilemma in having to maintain staffing levels that can
comfortably deal with the cyclical demands of the industry's market whilst maintaining
organisational growth and development.
 Given the high levels of competition and resulting low profit margins that characterize the
industry's operation, avoiding workforce overcapacity has been a core priority for most
construction companies over the last 30 years.
 In markets characterised by fluctuating workloads there are clear financial advantages in this
approach. Savings for employers using contracted-out labour include National Insurance
contributions, the administrative costs of making tax deductions from the employee, payments
for sickness or holidays, etc.
 Contractors who rely on labour only subcontracting and the hiring of self-employed operatives
also avoid the costs of training their direct employees.
 In times of economic downturn or recession the organisation can quickly offload their indirect
workforce and then rehire them when required. This prevents them employing non-productive
staff between contracts, thereby ensuring the maximum possible output from their workforce.
 modern organisations now commonly adopt multiple and parallel forms of flexibility in response
to pressures such as changing demographics, expectations, technologies and an increasingly
uncertain business environment
2. 2. STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (SHRM)
 One of the aspects that define the transition from 'personnel' management to HRM is the need to
integrate HR planning within the strategy of the organisation.
 Considering HRM as a strategic function rests on the belief that an organisation's human assets
offer it a sustainable source of competitive advantage. Indeed, some take the radical view that
SHRM offers organisations the main source of competitive advantage in the long term.
SHRM is concerned with the development and implementation of people strategies
which are integrated with corporate strategies and ensure that the culture, values and structure
of the organisation and the quality, motivation and commitment of its members contribute fully
to the achievement of its goals.
(Armstrong 1991)
 Models of SHRM
 In recent years many competing models of SHRM have been developed, which have all tried to
capture the ways in which organisations can align HRM practices with their wider strategic
objectives.
A) The Michigan Model
• It approaches the SHRM function in a rather dispassionate manner, treating people like any
other resource that should be managed in such a way as to maximise utility whilst minimising
cost.
• The Michigan Model emphasizes the interaction of functional aspects of the SHRM role, such as
selection, appraisal, rewards and development.

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• These must be linked to (or aligned with) the strategy of the organisation in order that SHRM
practices support the strategic direction of the organisation.
• Recently the applicability and utility of this model have been criticized as being limited in the
context of modern organisations because it treats the SHRM function as a closed system,
ignoring the hostile business environments in which many companies operate.
• In practical terms, this means that for organisations operating in highly dynamic environments
there would be little point in developing SHRM policies which emphasize adherence to strict
protocols and procedures.
B) The Harvard Model
• The Harvard School has made a major contribution to the development of SHRM by providing a
useful open-systems model of how SHRM policy influences other organisational functions and is
constrained by stakeholder interests and situational factors.
• Stakeholders are people who are influenced by or can influence the operations or outputs of an
organisation. They could include senior managers, employees, shareholders, external pressure
groups, customers and suppliers
• The Harvard School Model provides an important link between SHRM decisions, the business
environment and an organisation's performance.
• The ability to take account of situational and stakeholder interests is particularly important in
construction projects, which employ a wide range of interest groups and often have a major
impact upon the general public.
• Here the mutual interdependence of those involved, those affected and those who can influence
the project's outcome must be taken into account through appropriate SHRM policy decisions.

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Figure: The Harvard Model of HRM
• Here the mutual interdependence of those involved, those affected and those`who can influence
the project's outcome must be taken into account through appropriate SHRM policy decisions.
• For example,
 every project will require decisions to be taken as to whether to employ project team
members directly or to hire in agency staff for the duration of the work.
 This decision will be contingent upon both the wider situational factors (such as the state
of the internal and external labour market) and the wider interests of the organisational
stakeholders (the employees already employed and those both internal and external to the
organisation who stand to be affected by the project's success).
• These factors should inform and influence SHRM policy decisions, which in turn will define the
success or otherwise of the approach adopted.
C) The Warwick Model
• A problem for researchers considering the strategic role of SHRM is that the majority of the
accepted models were developed within an American context.
• Approaches outside of the USA demand a perspective on the SHRM function that reflects the
particular cultural context that exists in different countries.
• This model, shown in fig, differs from the others discussed above in reflecting European
traditions and management styles.
• The model comprises five interrelated elements, which allow an analysis to be made of how
external factors impact upon the internal operations of an organisation.
• The main contribution of the Wanvick Model is that it incorporates culture and business outputs
into the SHRM framework. Each box within the model reflects a particular context within which
the organisation operates and shows how strategic change impacts on the SHRM function.

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Figure: The Warwick Model of strategic change and HRM
 SHRM has six key characteristics:
 It recognises the outside environment: this comprises a set of opportunities and threats to the
organisation that must be recognised and taken account of by the strategic decision-making
process. They can include social, demographic and labour-market changes, legislation, economic
conditions, technology, political forces, etc. All of these factors can impact on an organisation's
ability to recruit, develop and retain people who will take the organisation forward.
 It recognises competition and labour-market dynamics: these affect wagel benefits levels,
unemployment rates and working conditions, and define the necessary conditions that an
organisation must provide to remain competitive in the labour market.
 It has a long-range focus: a strategic focus implies that consideration is given to the long-range
direction and objectives of the organisation. This will depend on the management philosophy of
the organisation regarding where it wants to position itself.
 It has a decision-making focus: this means that the organisation consciously chooses to direct
and commit its human resources in a particular direction.
 It considers all stakeholders: a strategic approach demands that the organisation take account of
the views and interests of all stakeholders, internal and external.

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 It is integrated with corporate strategy: perhaps the most important characteristic is that HR
strategy should be integrated with the firm's overall corporate strategy. For example, if a
company sets out to grow rapidly and to dominate a particular market, then the strategy should
be rapidly to acquire new human resources with the necessary skills in order to achieve that
goal.
 Developing an SHRM strategy
Thinking strategically about HRM demands that an organisation look beyond the here and now to
consider the external and long-term factors likely to impinge upon its business over the next few years.
A) Recognising and responding to the environment
 Central to strategy formulation is a recognition that construction companies do not operate
within a vacuum and that the outside environments present opportunities and threats to the
future development of the business.
 The role of the HRM strategy is to capitalise on the opportunities and to mitigate the threats
through its people-management policies. For example, a construction company may see an
opportunity in government-sponsored infrastructure projects over the next five years
 By exploring its human resource capabilities it may find that it has an overcapacity of skills in
general building construction, but not enough in heavy civil engineering.
B) Recognising and responding to labour-market dynamics
 The labour market is as competitive as the commercial market, which means that attracting,
rewarding, deploying and retaining people should be a primary focus within an SHRM strategy.
 In construction this is a particularly complex issue as the workforce is itinerant and the industry
relies on a wide range of different skills, ranging from craft-operative to support services and
production-management functions.
 For example, a construction company may recognise a future national shortage of quantity
surveyors and seek to address this potential shortage by reviewing its recruitment and training
activities, perhaps by sponsoring students or actively recruiting surveyors through targeted
campaigns. Alternatively, it could retrain some of its other staff in surveying skills to offset the
shortage
C) Considering all organisational personnel
 Every individual working for the organisation must be considered as part of the overall strategy,
regardless of their gender, race, physical ability or seniority.
 Workforce diversity is a strength which should be planned and managed effectively to harness
its productive potential.
 a construction company must make appropriate adjustments for the different tasks that people
perform within the organisation. The key to avoiding any potential problems is to do this
sensitively and fairly and with an awareness of the market for each unit of labour.
D) Taking a long-range view
 The problem in construction is that the cyclical nature of the market makes this difficult and
engenders a short-term view on almost all business functions.

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 The traditional competitive tendering system creates so much workload uncertainty that it
would be foolish to recruit until a project has been won. Finally, the devolution of HRM
responsibilities to project level in many companies does nothing to engender a long-term
attitude.
 For example
• A construction company may identify a strategic priority as being to move into a
new market over a five-year period, which would highlight the need to start
recruiting and retraining staff with new skills now. This strategy does not dictate how the
organisation is to achieve this target, but provides a long-term vision and overall direction that
will influence future recruitment, training and development activities.
E) Focusing on choice and decision-making
 Strategising involves looking into the future and planning the best way forward from a range of
alternative ptions.
 When considering HRM strategy, a choice has to be made about the future direction of an
organisation and how its employees will help it to achieve this goal.
 For example,
• An organisation may look at three distinct market opportunities – housing
refurbishment, public new-build housing and private new-build housing. A strategic
decision cannot be made on market opportunity alone, as it often is, but must also
consider the available skills and resources to take advantage of it.
 Too often companies decide to enter a market without having fully considered the HRM
implications of doing so. The result is workforce intransigence and extra pressure and stress for
those who have to shoulder the burden of a lack of human resources.
 If the organisation is badly placed from an HR perspective to exploit the most lucrative market
opportunity, then it must consider in advance whether it should refocus on an alternative
market or reorient its workforce to exploit the opportunity.

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UNIT- 3
MANAGEMENT THEORY- II
 Operational approaches of Human resources management
 Employee relations.
1. OPERATIONAL APPROACHES OF HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
 Organization Design
Organization Analysis
i) The external environment.
 The economic, market and competitive factors that may affect the organization. Plans for
product-market development will be significant.
ii) The internal environment
 The mission, values, organization climate, management style, technology and processes of the
organization as they affect the way it functions and should be structured to carry out those
functions.
iii) Strategic issues and objectives
 As a background to the study it is necessary to identify the strategic issues facing the
organization and its objectives.
 These may be considered under such headings as growth, competition and market position and
standing. Issues concerning the availability of the required human, financial and physical
resources would also have to be considered.
iv) Activities
 Activity analysis establishes what work is done and what needs to be done in the organization to
achieve its objectives within its environment.
 The analysis should cover what is and is not being done, who is doing it and where, and how
much is being done.
v) Structure
 The analysis of structure covers how activities are grouped together, the number of levels in the
hierarchy, the extent to which authority is decentralized to divisions and strategic business units
(SBUs).
 Where functions such as finance, personnel and research and development are placed in the
structure (eg as central functions or integrated into divisions or SBUs) and the relationships that
exist between different units and functions (with particular attention being given to the way in
which they communicate and cooperate with one another.

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 Organization guidelines
There are no ‘rules’ or ‘principles’ of organization but there are certain guidelines that are worth
bearing in mind in an organization study. These are:
a) Allocation of work.
 The work that has to be done should be defined and allocated to functions, units, departments,
work teams, project groups and individual positions.
 Related activities should be grouped together, but the emphasis should be on process rather
than hierarchy, taking into account the need to manage processes that involve a number of
different work units or teams.
b) Differentiation and integration
It is necessary to differentiate between the different activities that have to be carried out, but it is
equally necessary to ensure that these activities are integrated so that everyone in the organization is
working towards the same goals.
c) Teamwork
 Jobs should be defined and roles described in ways that facilitate and underline the importance
of teamwork. Areas where cooperation is required should be emphasized.
 The organization should be designed and operated across departmental or functional
boundaries.
 Wherever possible, self-managing teams should be set up and given the maximum amount of
responsibility to run their own affairs, including planning, budgeting and exercising quality
control.
 Networking should be encouraged in the sense of people communicating openly and informally
with one another as the need arises. It is recognized that these informal processes can be more
productive than rigidly ‘working through channels’ as set out in the organization chart.
d) Flexibility
 The organization structure should be flexible enough to respond quickly to change, challenge
and uncertainty.
 Flexibility should be enhanced by the creation of core groups and by using part-time, temporary
and contract workers to handle extra demands.
 At top management level and elsewhere, a collegiate approach to team operation should be
considered in which people.
e) Role clarification
 People should be clear about their roles as individuals and as members of a team. They should
know what they will be held accountable for and be given every opportunity to use their abilities
in achieving objectives to which they have agreed and are committed.
 Role profiles should define key result areas but should not act as straitjackets, restricting
initiative and unduly limiting responsibility.
f) Decentralization

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 Authority to make decisions should be delegated as close to the scene of action as possible.
Profit centers should be set up as strategic business units which operate close to their markets
and with a considerable degree of autonomy.
 A multiproduct or market business should develop a federal organization with each federated
entity running its own affairs, although they will be linked together by the overall business
strategy.
g) De-layering
 Organizations should be ‘flattened’ by removing superfluous layers of management and
supervision in order to promote flexibility, facilitate swifter communication, increase
responsiveness, enable people to be given more responsibility as individuals or teams and
reduce costs.
 Job design and role development
Principles of job design
 Robertson and Smith (1985) suggest the following five principles of job design:
 To influence skill variety, provide opportunities for people to do several tasks and
combine tasks.
 To influence task identity, combine tasks and form natural work units.
 To influence task significance, form natural work units and inform people of the
importance of their work.
 To influence autonomy, give people responsibility for determining their own working
systems.
 To influence feedback, establish good relationships and open feedback channels
Approaches to job design
The main job design approaches are:
 Job rotation which comprises the movement of employees from one task to another to reduce
monotony by increasing variety.
 Job enlargement, which means combining previously fragmented tasks into one job, again to
increase the variety and meaning of repetitive work.
 Job enrichment, which goes beyond job enlargement to add greater autonomy and
responsibility to a job and is based on the job characteristics approach.
 Self-managing teams (autonomous work groups) – these are self-regulating teams who work
largely without direct supervision. The philosophy on which this technique is based is a logical
extension of job enrichment.
 ● High-performance work design, which concentrates on setting up working groups in
environments where high levels of performance are required.
 HIGH-PERFORMANCE WORK DESIGN
High-performance work design, as described by Buchanan (1987), requires the following steps:
• Management clearly defines what it needs in the form of new technology or methods of
production and the results expected from its introduction.

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• Multi-skilling is encouraged – that is, job demarcation lines are eliminated as far as possible and
encouragement and training are provided for employees to acquire new skills.
• Equipment that can be used flexibly is selected and is laid out to allow freedom of movement and
vision.
• Self-managed teams or autonomous working groups are established, each with around a dozen
members and with full ‘back-to-back’ responsibility for product assembly and testing, fault-
finding and some maintenance.
• Managers and team leaders adopt a supportive rather than an autocratic style (this is the most
difficult part of the system to introduce).
• Support systems are provided for kit-marshalling and material supply, which help the teams to
function effectively as productive units.
• Management sets goals and standards for success.
• The new system is introduced with great care by means of involvement and communication
programmes.
• Thorough training is carried out on the basis of an assessment of training needs.
• The payment system is specially designed with employee participation to fit their needs as well
as those of management.
• Payment may be related to team performance (team pay), but with skill-based pay for
individuals.
• In some cases, a ‘peer performance review’ process may be used which involves team members
assessing one another’s performance as well as the performance of the team as a whole.
2. EMPLOYEE RELATION
• 'Employee relations' (traditionally known as industrial relations) refers to the relationship
between operatives and managers and the system that attempts to control this.
• It has informal and formal dimensions that define and control the nature of the employment
relationship. It is important to understand that good industrial relations are an automatic
outcome of managing the topics covered in this book, such as occupational health and safety,
equity and cultural diversity, compensation, reward, termination, etc.
• Employee relations must be understood within the economic, cultural, social and political
context of specific countries.
• Consequently, this chapter focuses on general trends in industrialised countries, where
employee relations have traditionally been negotiated through collective agreements with the
workforce, often brokered through workforce representatives and trade unions
 Managing The Employment Relationship
The dynamic and often nebulous nature of the employment relationship increases the difficulty
of managing it. The problem is compounded because of the multiplicity of factors that influence
the contract: the culture of the organization; the prevailing management style; the values,
espoused and practised, of top management; the existence or non-existence of a climate of trust;
day-to-day interactions between employees and line managers; and the HR policies and practices
of the business.

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HR specialists can contribute to the development of a positive and productive employment
relationship in the followingways:
i. During recruitment interviews – presenting the unfavourable as well as the favourable aspects
of a job in a realistic job preview.
ii. In induction programmes – communicating to new starters the organization’s personnel policies
and procedures and its core values, indicating to them the standards of performance expected in
such areas as quality and customer service, and spelling out requirements for flexibility;
iii. By issuing and updating employee handbooks that reinforce the messages delivered in induction
programmes;
iv. By encouraging the development of performance management processes that ensure that
performance expectations are agreed and reviewed regularly;
v. By encouraging the use of personal development plans that spell out how continuous
improvement of performance can be achieved, mainly by self-managed learning;
vi. By using learning and development programmes to underpin core values and define
performance expectations;
vii. By ensuring through manager and team leader training that managers and team leaders
understand their role in managing the employment relationship through such processes as
performance management and team leadership;
viii. By encouraging the maximum amount of contact between managers and team leaders and their
team members to achieve mutual understanding of expectations and to provide a means of two-
way communications;
ix. By adopting a general policy of transparency – ensuring that in all matters that affect them,
employees know what is happening, why it is happening and the impact it will make on their
employment, development and prospects
x. by developing HR procedures covering grievance handling, discipline, equal opportunities,
promotion and redundancy and ensuring that they are implemented fairly and consistently;
xi. developing and communicating HR policies covering the major areas of employment,
development, reward and employee relations;
xii. by ensuring that the reward system is developed and managed to achieve equity, fairness and
consistency in all aspects of pay and benefits;
xiii. generally, by advising on employee relations procedures, processes and issues that further good
collective relationships.
 Defining The Employment Relationship
• Transactional contracts have well-described terms of exchange, which are usually expressed
financially. They are of limited duration, with specified performance requirements.
• Relational contracts are less well defined with more abstract terms and refer to an open-ended
membership of the organization. Performance requirements attached to this continuing
membership are incomplete or ambiguous.

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 The Effect Of Unions
a) The monopoly perspective
 The monopoly view of unions starts with the premise that unions raise wages above competitive
levels.
 People living in economically deprived areas and blue-collar workers seem to gain the most
from unionisation, perhaps because members of these groups possess relatively low levels of
individual influence.
 Thus, although unions undoubtedly have some impact on wages and benefits, this varies across
different employee groups.
b) Elasticity of labour demand
 Union power largely depends on the union's ability to take wages out of competition. Wages can
be taken out of competition if labour demand is relatively insensitive to wage changes (inelastic)
- that is, if consumers will absorb increased labour costs without offsetting employment effects.
 Factors that contribute to labour-demand inelasticity include labour costs being a small
proportion of total costs; insensitivity of product demand to changes in prices; and an inability
to substitute labour for capital, either through technology or through markets.
 In construction labour costs are generally accepted as accounting for about 45 per cent of the
total costs of a building, making the demand relatively elastic and making it more difficult to
negotiate wage increases without affecting job security.
c) The extent of unionization
 The extent of union organisation in a particular market also affects union monopoly power:
more unionised markets have greater unionlnon-union wage differentials because of less non-
union wage competition.
 The extent of bargaining coverage further augments this effect, maximum influence being
exerted when one union bargains for the entire market, meaning that all firms in the industry
are covered by the same terms and conditions.
 Trade unions were actively involved, through collective bargaining, in establishing the content of
these awards, which regulated employees across entire industries.
d) The collective-voice perspective
 Workers have several choices when they feel dissatisfied with their jobs: they can do nothing,
they can leave their organisation or industry, or they can complain and try to improve the
conditions around them.
 In work settings the voice of one employee is rarely effective in bringing about change. In
addition, many workers fear termination and victimisation for revealing their true feelings to
management.
 Union advocates maintain that the collective voice reduces staff turnover, thereby leading to
retention of experienced and loyal workers, lowering a firm's training costs and raising its
productivity.

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 Many managers argue that unions reduce their decision-making autonomy and slow down
decision-making at a time when speed of response is becoming more important in taking full
advantage of business opportunities.
e) Collective bargaining
 Collective bargaining occurs when workers group together to negotiate employees' wages and
benefits, to create or revise work rules, and to resolve disputes or violations of the labour
contract with management representatives.
 Despite the decline in union membership in post-industrial countries in recent years, it is
unlikely, and arguably undesirable, that the union role in collective bargaining will disappear.
 Collective bargaining should be viewed as a two-way process in order that the basic interests of
both parties are protected. It is important to appreciate that both sides (employee and
employer) have a responsibility to each other and are ultimately dependent on each other for
survival.
 The major issues covered by the contract and therefore by the process of collective bargaining
fall under the following four categories
• wage-related issues such as basic wage rates, cost-of-living adjustments, wage
differentials, overtime rates, wage adjustments and two-tier wage systems;
• supplementary economic benefits, which include pension plans, paid holidays, health
insurance plans, dismissal pay, reporting pay and supplementary unemployment benefits;
• institutional issues such as the rights and duties of employers, employees and unions,
including union security (i.e. union membership as a condition of employment), employee
stock ownership plans and quality of work-life programmes.
• administrative issues such as seniority, employee discipline and discharge procedures,
employee health and safety, technological changes, work rules, job security, worker
privacy issues and training.
f) Levels of bargaining
 Terms and conditions for the sale of labour can be negotiated at an individual or a collective
level. The main difference between industry-wide in individual workplace contracts which differ
from one employer to the next, whereas collective bargaining results in standardised national
agreements across an industry.
 Most industrial relations theorists argue that collective bargaining is the only means by which
the power imbalance between employers and workers can be overcome to prevent exploitation
of workers.
 However, supporters of individual contracts argue that workers' rights are protected because
AWAs must be lodged with the Office of the Employment Advocate, who determines whether
they satisfy the 'no-disadvantage test'. This ensures that agreements do not result in overall
terms and conditions inferior to those provided in the relevant award.
 Furthermore, very large construction contracts often require bespoke working agreements,
particularly those involving working in especially remote or hazardous locations, where staff
may prove hard to recruit or require particular training or skills.

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g) Negotiation tactics
 Negotiations involve a combination of coercive and persuasive strategies. The latter encompass
threats and arguments; the former, the application of direct sanctions intended to inflict harm
on the opposing side and prompt it to shift its negotiation position.
 Threats involve one party promising to impose sanctions on the other unless a more favourable
settlement is offered.
 Most industrial disputes that arise are accidental and are due to tactical miscalculations and
misunderstandings by one or both parties. It follows, therefore, that a crucial part of the process
is intelligence gathering about one's opponent.
 Furthermore, the nature of the employer's products, the position the workers occupy in the
work process, the immediacy and extent to which they can affect the supply of goods and
services, and the ability of the employer to find alternative means of meeting customer demand
(such as through the use of alternative labour or production from another site) are some of the
more important factors influencing the balance of power between employer and employee
groups.
 Disputes Procedures
i. Disagreements will inevitably occur which will prove difficult, if not impossible, to resolve in a
way that is reasonably acceptable to both managers and union officials.
ii. When negotiations become deadlocked the parties will usually register a 'failure to agree' and
refer the issue to the next stage of the disputes procedure.
iii. It is normally understood, if not explicitly stated, that both sides will refrain from taking any
industrial action until all stages of the procedure have been exhausted. Nevertheless,
unconstitutional action, which is action in breach of procedures, can occur.
iv. Disputes procedures are intended to aid the resolution of disputes by enabling them to proceed
through a number of hierarchical stages, each involving the introduction of more senior
personnel who are less directly involved with the issues under discussion.
v. To avoid dispute procedures becoming unduly cumbersome and time consuming, only those
levels of management able to play an effective role in resolving disputes need to be involved.
vi. Another important issue is whether individual grievances and collective disputes should be
covered by the same procedure. Whatever decision is made, procedures vary considerably both
in relation to the number of stages they contain and in the identity of those to be involved at
each stage.
vii. Where provision is made for issues to be referred outside the organisation, it may take the form
of reference to an industry-wide disputes procedure if the employer concerned is a party to the
relevant set of industry-level negotiations.
viii. Alternatively, the matter may be referred to an independent third party who may conduct
conciliation, mediation, adjudication or arbitration depending on the seriousness of the dispute.
ix. Of the various intervention strategies mentioned above, conciliation is the least formal. With
conciliation, the third party supports the negotiating process by assisting the parties to identify
themselves, the nature of their differences and possible ways of resolving them.

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 Changes In The Employment Relationship
 The evidence for a major change in the nature of the employment relationship was much less
convincing.’ But they did note the following characteristics of employment as revealed by the
survey.
 New forms of management, often based explicitly or implicitly on HRM principles and
emphasizing individual contracts rather than collective bargaining.
 There was some increase in task discretion but there was no evidence of a significant decline in
managerial control; indeed, in some important respects control was intensified.
 Supervisory activity was still important.
 Integrative forms of management policy were centred on non-manual employees.
 The great majority of employees continued to attach a high level of importance to the
intrinsically motivating aspects of work.
 The higher the level of skill, the more people were involved with their work.
 The raising of skill levels and the granting of increased discretion to employers are key factors in
improving the quality of work experience.
 High levels of commitment to the organization can reduce absenteeism and labour turnover but
there was no evidence that organizational commitment ‘added anything over and above other
organizational and task characteristics with regard to the quality of work performance’.

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UNIT- 4
CHALLENGES IN MANAGING PEOPLE IN
CONSTRUCTION, ORGANIZATION
 Employee empowerment- salient features
 Diversity and Worklife Balance
1. Employee Empowerment- Salient Features
 Introduction
Employee empowerment is one of the effective techniques for increasing productivity in
employee and optimal use of capacity their individual and group abilities in order to achieve
organizational objectives. Empowerment is a process in which through the development and
influence expand and the capabilities of individuals and teams will be help to improve and
performance continuous improvement. In other words, empowerment is a development strategy
and organizational prosperity. In this section, with a practical approach has been paid to concept
of employee empowerment, Explain of dimensions this concept, definitions, organizational
characteristics of formidable employee, factors affecting on empowerment, achievements and
obstacles in organizations.
 Concept Defining of Empowerment
Empowerment of human resources means create collection of required capacity in staff for
enable them to creating added value in organization and role playing and responsibilities are
responsible in the organization, with efficiency and effectiveness. (Doaei 1998)
 Empowerment Approaches
a) Mechanical Approach :
 According to this view, Empowerment is means delegating and the power from top to bottom
with clear boundaries and limits and also strict accountability which increases managerial
control (Boula 1994).
 In this approach, empowerment is a process during which senior management, has developed a
clear vision, and paint programs and specific tasks to achieve it in organization.
 Provided information and resources needed to perform duties for employee and allows as
needed to do practice change and processes improvement. In summary, this empowerment
approach, means decision in a particular range. (Abdollahi & Nave Ebrahim 2006)
b) Organic Approach :
 Organic approach is a view from bottom to up, and reduce control. Based on this approach,
empowerment is defined in terms of personal beliefs. According to this view, capable individuals
have common characteristics.

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 Reflects the experiences or beliefs of employees about their role in the organization, thus,
empowerment is not something which managers carry out to employees instead is mindset of
employees about their role in the organization.
 However, organization management can provide a required platform for empowerment of
employees. (Spritzer 1995)
c) Empowerment Process
 Staff empowerment is a process through which extends a culture of empowerment.
Empowerment process is consisting three phases.
d) Information sharing
 Allows to employees know their organization status and to analyze. Information sharing begins
with trust in the organization, and breaking traditional hierarchical thinking and increase
employees' sense of responsibility.
e) Autonomy working across organizational boundaries
 Boundaries organization is specified through
a) Destination (Why do you?)
b) Values (what is your action guide?)
c) Imagination (what your imagination of the future?)
d) Objectives (what, when, where, how and why do they?)
e) Roles (which are you?)
f) System and organizational structure (how your work will be supported?).
f) Replacement self-bring teams instead hierarchy
 Whenever a group of people with specific responsibilities for work and production processes
are selected, plan and implement, from start to finish, will manage everything, and divided
responsibilities into equal and fair.
 Self-bring teams advantage are summarized in provide job satisfaction, change of attitude,
commitment, better communication between employees and managers, more effective decision-
making processes, improvement of operations, reduce the cost and organization efficiency.
 Effective factors in the process of employees empowerment
1. Specify objectives, responsibilities and authority in organization.
Employees must be aware of their responsibilities and duties description, the purpose and
mission organization, and its stages and work processes.
2. Job enrichment and job promotion :
Organization must to act in order to be up to date technical and professional information of
staff, and increase their content of job.
3. Mentalities and organizational belong.
In order to satisfy this factor must respect for employees in organization and assistance to
resolve personal problems.

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4. Trust, sincerity and honesty
Organization must create positive environment and friendly working relationships between
employees and increase trust between managers and employees.
5. Diagnosis of and appreciation
Proportionality received salary and bonuses with the work they do, appropriate distribution
welfare facilities organization, Proportionality Job promotion employees with their suitability.
6. Participation and teamwork
Applying the opinions and ideas of employees in decision and their cooperation in improve and
promote of organization affairs, delegation of authority to staff at various levels, participation
of employees in offering suggestions for affairs better.
7. Communications
Including communication and easy access employees to managers and supervisors,
transparency and clarity work community of employees with managers and supervisors.
8. Work environment
The importance to employee health and safety in working environment, create appropriate
opportunities for employees job promotion, reduce stress and tension in working
environment.
9. Optimization of processes and working methods
Being clear and transparent of workflow and information in organizations, periodic review and
modification of work methods and affairs simplification.
10. Information, knowledge and job skills
Existence facilities to develop job skills in organization, existence fields of effective and
efficient training in organization.
 Practices Empowerment of Employees in Organizations
a) Empowerment and Training
Training programs would be useful if implemented and supported with the participation of
employees and relying on scientific methods. The real purpose of training programs is
relationship between employees and management and also participation in institutional
programs to enhance work motivation. (Ghasemi 2003).
b) Empowerment and Participation :
Overall, based on various theories employee participation is main core of democracy.
(Ghasemi 2003)
c) Empowerment and Unions
Throughout the history unions are only institutions that have been able to induce a sense of
empowerment to employees. (Fathi Vajargah 2004)

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d) Empowerment and Quality
moral commitment in total quality management is an inherent problem, because employees
will be authorized to participate in decisions. (Saki 1998) Empowerment Strategies
e) Strategies of increase collective awareness through storytelling
If employees have responsible to their solve problems, talented to efforts improve their
personal and organizational life. Approach storytelling as an essential factor of empowerment
lead to strengthen of efforts based on cooperation. When people discover or creating their
story cooperation or reflect, in fact, their life story express in organization to positive ways.
(Rappaport 1995)
f) Strategies of training problem solving skills
Employees must increase capacity of their problem solving skills. Problem solving skills can be
will lead to staff empowerment in level individual, interpersonal and group as an essential step
in creating change of location. In this strategy, must allowed to employees their problems
identifying and solving based on the content of the stories takes shape in a collaborative
environment. in this case, first team to summarize aims of problem solving. These aims
include: identifying the problem, choose one of the important problems, selecting of purpose
for solving or bigger problem, Creative thinking in order to problem solving and achieve to
aims and identify resources to help achieve this objective. (Honald 1997)
g) Strategies of skills training and support resource mobilization
Protections, including the protection individuals of their, protection managers of individuals,
protection law of individuals. Organization can to spread collective support in organizations
through writing, speaking and or lecture of legislator or political individuals. If employees
know that in organizations resources for their personal development is available and support
needed are in this way empowerment is accomplished with high speed and acceleration.
(Wilkinson 1998).
 Practical measures to empowering employees
1. Demonstrate leadership commitment through empowerment
2. To consider the interests of employees through empowerment
3. Staff training to increase their knowledge, skills and abilities through empowerment
4. Application of quality teams through empowerment
5. Employee participation in planning and performance information sharing through
empowerment
6. Delegation of authority through empowerment
 Existent obstacles in organizations to implement of empowerment
1. Governing formal structure and hierarchy
2. Low level of trust and confidence among organizational members
3. Inappropriate attitudes of managers and employees and also inappropriate leadership
and management styles
4. Lack the necessary skills in Staff

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5. Large differences between individuals and organization and also existence of
coordinated personnel systems
6. Tension and stress in the environment
 Techniques and tools creating Empowerment in organizations
a. The following are some examples of creating Empowerment technology in
organizations, include
b. Implementation of recommendation system in organization
c. Formation of quality circles 3. Establishment of working groups
d. Create and apply appropriate system performance evaluation and introduce sampled
staff in specific time period
e. Create of motivational facilities
f. Job enrichment
2. WORKFORCE DIVERSITY
 Introduction
• The process of globalisation, demographic change and workplace reform are making equal
opportunities and workforce diversity two of the most pressing issues in modern industrial
relations.
• Most people come into contact with the industry at some point in their lives, and to the average
person the industry is synonymous with stress, unreliability, high cost, low quality, chaotic
working practices, and a dirty and dangerous work environment.
• Therefore it should come as no surprise that in the 1999 edition of Jobs Rated Almanac civil
engineering plunged from 18th to 70th position in expressed job preference, and 14
construction trades were among the least preferred of any occupation.
• This is reflected in the state of university education in most countries, where construction-
related courses have among the lowest entrance requirements of any discipline.
• Faced with this problem, the industry in the UK has seen a recent push to improve its image
through recruitment
• campaigns targeted at schools, colleges and minority groups, and has benefited from the success
of the children's programme Bob the Builder.
• If the industry cannot portray itself as well paid, professional, safe, clean, caring, technologically
advanced and innovative, then the problems will continue.

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 Minority groups in construction
a) Women
 A particularly pressing problem in the construction industry in most countries is gender balance.
 For example, in Indian women now make up over 35 per cent of the total working population
 but under 20 per cent of the construction workforce. This makes it the most male-dominated of
all major Indian industrial sectors.
 This is known as horizontal labour-market segregation, meaning that women tend to work in
certain industries and are either denied access or choose not to enter traditionally male-
dominated sectors.
 Furthermore, in most developed countries vertical segregation is also apparent, where the
women that do work in male-dominated sectors such as construction tend to occupy relatively
junior positions or administrative and clerical support roles rather than being involved in
leading the production function.
 The poor image of construction, a lack of role models and knowledge, poor careers advice,
biased recruitment literature, peer pressure and poor educational experiences have all been
cited as problems which reduce women's entry into the industry.
 Other studies have shown that most women view the industry as a male-dominated, threatening
environment,
 with an ingrained masculine culture charanerised by conflict and crisis.
 The most recent census data indicated that women were concentrated in clerical and secretarial
positions, or other positions not directly involved with the construction process, with men
occupying craft, operative and professional positions.
b) The disabled
 Whilst this might at first indicate a significant level of under-representation, many construction
jobs are site based and present obvious problems for disabled people.
 One would therefore expect this employment group to be underrepresented in construction.
However, many disabled people can work effectively and safely on site with appropriate
support, and there is no reason why disabled people could not work in office-based design and
management roles.
 The low participation rate of disabled people in general also highlights the potential importance
of people with a disability in meeting future labour requirements.
 The construction industry should examine ways in which jobs can be structured and workplaces
designed to enable people with a disability who want to work to do so.
c) The aged
 Most developed countries have an ageing workforce, and employers will increasingly have to
consider recruiting and training more employees from the over-45 age group.

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 In an ageing population it is important to recognise the value of older people and encourage
their retention and participation within the industry.
 Advances in healthcare now mean that older people, who would have previously retired due to
ill health, are more willing and able to lead a productive working life.
 These workers bring with them a wealth of experience and expertise that is extremely valuable
in industries such as construction, where the 'shelf life' of knowledge is greater than in high-tech
industries such as electronics and IT.
 A second issue stemming from the ageing population is the increasing need for employees to
care for elderly dependants. This is exacerbated by a shift from institutional to home-based aged
care in many countries.
 Given this situation, companies should be cognisant of their employees' responsibilities in caring
for aged dependants and assist them to fulfil these responsibilities wherever possible.
 The influence of diverse workgroups on team performance
 Many proponents of diversity argue that balancing work teams can have tangible benefits for
team performance. One area in which increasing diversity might influence workgroup values is
that of ethical decisionmaking, some research indicating that women adopt a stricter stance than
men on ethical issues at work.
 It could also be argued that teams which reflect the enduser group or local community in which
a project is being constructed are more likely to be responsive to their needs.
 For example,
• Architects designing a facility for the disabled are more likely to meet their needs if
they have a first-hand understanding of disabled access and building use themselves.
Employing disabled people as part of the design team is an obvious way to achieve this.
• In terms of cultural diversity, it has been known for some time that different
nationalities perform differently in different contexts. For example, the pioneering
work of Hofstede (1980) found that people from different cultures vary along four main
dimensions:
a) masculinity/femininity (attitudes towards women, assertiveness, aggression)
b) individualism/collectivism (the value of group membership and personal
relationships)
c) power distance (acceptance of power inequalities and authority)
d) Uncertainty avoidance (the degree to which people are threatened by ambiguity and
uncertainty).
 People from high uncertainty-avoidance cultures may feel more uncomfortable working under
extreme time pressures in high-risk situations than people from low uncertainty-avoidance
cultures.
 Diversity increases the number of different perspectives, styles, knowledge and insights that the
team can bring to complex problems, and the world's most innovative organisations, such as
Microsoft, take advantage of this by deliberately creating multicultural teams.

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 Unfortunately, in contrast to sectors like IT, the construction industry has not harnessed the
cultural perspectives and influences of different groups. All the evidence points to an
assimilationist attitude which largely ignores the needs of different groups, expecting them to
adapt to the dominant industry, organisational or national culture.
 Harassment
a) Harassment refers to repeated and irrelevant references or innuendo to a person's gender,
sexuality, race, disability, etc. in the form of jokes, verbal abuse or written abuse which creates a
hostile or humiliating work environment for the recipient.
b) Other commonly used words for harassment are bullying, victimisation and intimidation.
Harassment is more difficult to prove than discrimination because of its intangible nature, which
means that the treatment has not necessarily resulted in some loss such as lower pay, poorer
working conditions, disciplinary action, dismissal, transfer or failure to promote or train.
c) According to Ansari and Jackson, there are several common causes of harassment in the
workplace which an effective equal opportunities policy must take account of:
• Race, ethnic origin, nationality or skin colour;
• Sex or sexual orientation;
• Religious or political beliefs;
• Willingness of the individual to challenge harassment leading to victimisation;
• Membership or non-membership of a trade union;
• Physical, mental or learning disabilities;
• Ex-offender status;
• Age;
• Actual or suspected infection with HIV.
3. WORK-LIFE BALANCE
 Introduction
 The interface between the work and non-work experiences of people in paid employment has
become an area of increasing concern in recent years as a result of increasing work pressures
and dramatic changes to traditional family roles and structures in most industrialised countries.
 In the nomadic and increasingly 'lean' construction industry this conflict is becoming
particularly acute because of the growing need to work longer, non-standard work schedules
accompanied by lower security of employment from increased outsourcing, cyclical workloads
and greater competition.
 There is compelling evidence that all of these characteristics are not conducive to a well-
balanced life. For example
a) Research suggests that long work hours are negatively related to family participation and
positively related to divorce rates.
b) Furthermore, people engaged in 'commuter marriages' have reported significantly less
satisfaction with partner and family life than people in single-residence families or
relationships.

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c) Irregularity of work hours has also been identified as an important variable affecting low
marital
d) quality among shift workers (White and Keith 1990), and non-standard work schedules
have been found to affect separation or divorce rates among married people with children.
 Finally, research has found job insecurity to be negatively related to marital and family
functioning and to be associated with burnout, for which there is a direct crossover effect from
husbands to their wives.
 Also, the greater the number of hours the engineers worked each week, the more conflict they
reported in their relationship with their spouse or partner. This conflict was also related to
lower levels of satisfaction with the engineers' pay.
 Managing work-life balance in the construction
 Construction-industry employers place great importance on the flexibility of their employees,
who are expected to balance their work and family commitments, often without
organisational assistance.
 For example, very few construction companies provide childcare facilities, flexible working
hours or career-break programmes, and part-time work is almost non-existent.
 This means that many employees, particularly women, experience difficulties in balancing
work and family life. Accordingly, women often find that they have to choose whether to have
a career or a family (Toohey and Whittaker 1993), and women who do take time out of the
industry to have children may be severely disadvantaged in terms of career progression.
 There are many ways for companies to assist employees with family responsibilities. Some of
the options are presented below, although the needs of individual employees will differ and
change over time. It is therefore important that companies examine the needs of their
employees and ensure that policies address them through regular consultation.
a) Childcare
 While it may be difficult to provide on-site childcare centres due to the limited space and the
temporary nature of construction work, there are other options for childcare provision which
construction companies may be able to provide. These include:
a. Off-site single-employer childcare centres for company employees;
b. Joint-venture childcare Centers:
c. The purchase or lease of places in existing Centres;
d. The provision of land for a childcare centre;
e. The addition of places in a government-funded family day-care scheme;
f. The provision of out-of hours childcare;
g. A childcare information and referral service;
h. Employer contributions towards employees' childcare fees.
 Where there is insufficient demand within a company to warrant a dedicated single-employer
childcare centre, companies may join together to use community resources, collaborate to
support existing services or form partnerships to provide day-care facilities.

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b) Eldercare
 Flexible work arrangements are one of the most frequently used ways to assist employees with
family responsibilities. Evidence suggests that increased flexibility lowers absenteeism and
tardiness and can yield
 tangible productivity gains (Napoli 1994).
 Flexible work arrangements cover a range of practices, including the following:
• flexible work hours
• job sharing
• working from home or telecommuting
 However, the main problem is one of information supply, because on many projects information
management is poor and numerous unexpected problems result in frequent requests for
decisions and further information.
 In this environment flexible working on the part of consultants could play havoc with site
progress and create further uncertainty and delays. The key to flexible working in the
construction industry is improved planning.
c) Permanent part-time work
 Part-time work can assist employees to maintain a balance between work and family. From a
company's point of view, part-time work can improve the retention of employees, reduce
absenteeism, increase productivity, reduce overtime, provide flexibility to cater for peak periods
and make recruitment easier.
 Permanent part-time work differs from casual work in that employees have a 'permanent'
contract of employment
 with the company and retain benefits such as annual leave, sick leave, maternity and long-
service leave.
 In introducing permanent part-time work for employees with family responsibilities, it is
important that eligibility
 criteria are clearly established, that part-time workers are not marginalized and that they enjoy
access to identified career paths.
d) Parental leave
 Parental leave allows employees with a new child, either natural or adopted, to care for their
child at home on a full-time basis in the child's first year and still retain employment and accrue
entitlements.
 Parental leave arrangements should form an integral part of a company's work and family
programme, and employees should be clearly informed about their parental-leave entitlements.
e) Other initiatives
 Companies that actively seek to be at the forefront of best practice in supporting staff with
family responsibilities do not have to limit themselves to the above provisions. Other initiatives
intended to elicit commitment and loyalty from employees include the following:

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• Salary packaging of childcare costs, school fees or eldercare costs to provide a tax
benefit to employees;
• Providing work experience for employees' children or job-seeking skills courses for
children in the later years of secondary education;
• Health and dental insurance;
• Family-related phone calls to enable employees to check on children or elderly
relatives;
• Employee assistance programmes offering counselling for employees with personal or
family difficulties;
• Family-oriented Christmas parties.

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UNIT- 5
EMPLOYEE WELFARE
 Employee welfare
 strategic Human resource development
 employment legislation
 legal aspects
1. EMPLOYEE WELFARE
 As described in this chapter, managing health and safety at work is a matter of:
a) Developing health and safety policies
b) Conducting risk assessments which identify hazards and assess the risks attached to
them
c) Carrying out health and safety audits and inspections
d) Implementing occupational health programmes
e) Managing stress
f) Preventing accidents
g) Measuring health and safety performance
h) Communicating the need for good health and safety practices
i) Training in good health and safety practices
j) Organizing health and safety
 Looking for hazards
 The following, as suggested by the HSE and others, are typical activities where accidents happen
or there are high risks:
 Receipt of raw materials, e.g. lifting, carrying;
 Stacking and storage, e.g. falling materials;
 Movement of people and materials, e.g. falls, collisions;
 Processing of raw materials, e.g. exposure to toxic substances;
 Maintenance of buildings, e.g. roof work, gutter cleaning;
 Maintenance of plant and machinery, e.g. lifting tackle, installation of equipment;
 Using electricity, e.g. using hand tools, extension leads;
 Operating machines, e.g. operating without sufficient clearance, or at an unsafe speed;
not using safety devices
 Failure to wear protective equipment, e.g. hats, boots, clothing; distribution of finished
jobs, e.g. movement of vehicles
 Dealing with emergencies, eg spillages, fires, explosions;
 Health hazards arising from the use of equipment or methods of working, eg VDUs,
repetitive strain injuries from badly designed work stations or working practices

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 Taking action
 Risk assessment should lead to action. The type of action can be ranked in order of potential
effectiveness in the form of a ‘safety precedence sequence’ as proposed by Holt and Andrews:
• Hazard elimination – use of alternatives, design improvements, change of process.
• Substitution – for example, replacement of a chemical with one which is less risky.
• Use of barriers – removing the hazard from the worker or removing the worker from the
hazard.
• Use of procedures – limitation of exposure, dilution of exposure, safe systems of work (these
depend on human response).
• Use of warning systems – signs, instructions, labels (these also depend on human response).
• Use of personal protective clothing – this depends on human response and is used as a side
measure only when all other options have been exhausted.
 What is covered by a health and safety audit?
A health and safety audit should cover:
A) Policies
a) Do health and safety policies meet legal requirements?
b) Are senior managers committed to health and safety?
c) How committed are other managers, team leaders and supervisors to health and safety?
d) Is there a health and safety committee? If not, why not?
e) How effective is the committee in getting things done?
B) Procedures
How effectively do the procedures:
a) Support the implementation of health and safety policies?
b) Communicate the need for good health and safety practices?
c) Provide for systematic risk assessments?
d) Ensure that accidents are investigated thoroughly?
e) Record data on health and safety which are used to evaluate performance and initiate
action?
f) Ensure that health and safety considerations are given proper weight when designing
systems of work or manufacturing and operational processes (including the design of
equipment and work stations, the specification for the product or service, and the use of
materials)?
g) Provide safety training, especially induction training and training when jobs or working
methods are changed?

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C) Safety practices
a) To what extent do health and safety practices in all areas of the organization conform to
the general requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act and the specific
requirements of the various regulations and codes of practice?
b) What risk assessments have been carried out? What were the findings? What actions were
taken?
c) What is the health and safety performance of the organization as shown by the
performance indicators? Is the trend positive or negative? If the latter, what is being done
about it?
d) How thoroughly are accidents investigated? What steps have been taken to prevent their
recurrence?
e) What is the evidence that managers and supervisors are really concerned about health
and safety?
 Occupational Health Programmes
Almost 20 million working days a year are lost because of work-related illness. Two million
people say they suffer from an illness they believe was caused by their work. Muscular
disorders, including repetitive strain injury and back pain, are by far the most commonly
reported illnesses with 1.2 million affected, and the numbers are rising. The next biggest
problem is stress, which 500,000 people say is so bad that it is making them ill. These are large
and disturbing figures and they show that high priority must be given to creating and
maintaining programmes for the improvement of occupational health.
 The control of occupational health and hygiene problems can be achieved
by:
a) Eliminating the hazard at source through design and process engineering;.
b) Isolating hazardous processes and substances so that workers do not come into contact
with them.
c) Changing the processes or substances used, to promote better protection or eliminate the
risk.
d) Providing protective equipment, but only if changes to the design, process or specification
cannot completely remove the hazard.
e) Training workers to avoid risk.
f) Maintaining plant and equipment to eliminate the possibility of harmful emissions,
controlling the use of toxic substances and eliminating radiation hazards.
g) Good housekeeping to keep premises and machinery clean and free from toxic substances.
h) Regular inspections to ensure that potential health risks are identified in good time.
i) Pre-employment medical examinations and regular checks on those exposed to risk.
j) Ensuring that ergonomic considerations (i.e., those concerning the design and use of
equipment, machines, processes and workstations) are taken into account in design
specifications, establishing work routines and training – this is particularly important as a
means of minimizing the incidence of repetitive strain injury (RSI);

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k) Maintaining preventive medicine programmes which develop health standards for each job
and involve regular audits of potential health hazards and regular examinations for anyone
at risk.
 Managing Stress
There are four main reasons why organizations should take account of stress and do something
about it:
1. They have the social responsibility to provide a good quality of working life.
2. Excessive stress causes illness.
3. Stress can result in inability to cope with the demands of the job, which, of course, creates
more tress.
4. Excessive stress can reduce employee effectiveness and therefore organizational
Performance
The ways in which stress can be managed by an organization include:
a) Job design
Clarifying roles, reducing the danger of role ambiguity and conflict and giving people
more autonomy within a defined structure to manage their responsibilities.
b) Targets and performance standards
Setting reasonable and achievable targets which may stretch people but do not place
impossible burdens on them;
c) Placement
Taking care to place people in jobs that are within their capabilities;
d) Career development
Planning careers and promoting staff in accordance with their capabilities, taking care not to
over- or under-promote;
e) Performance management processes
Which allow a dialogue to take place between managers and individuals about the
latter’s work, problems and ambitions;
f) Counseling
Giving individuals the opportunity to talk about their problems with a member of the
personnel department or the company medical officer, or through an employee assistance
programme.
g) Management training
In performance review and counselling techniques and in what managers can do to
alleviate their own stress and reduce it in others;
h) Work–life balance
Policies which take account of the pressures on employees who have responsibilities as
parents, partners or cariers, and which can include such provisions as special leave and
flexible working hours.

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i) Senior management commitment
Stress interventions are unlikely to be implemented successfully without the long-term
commitment of management.
j) Participative approach
Involving employees from all levels of the organization at every stage in a stress
management programme increases the likelihood of a successful outcome.
k) Stress prevention strategy
This should cover the aims of interventions, tasks, responsibilities and resources
available.
l) Risk assessment and task analysis –
An appraisal of work activities should enable an employer to recognize stress hazards
before interventions are designed.
m) Work-related and worker-related prevention and management –
Interventions should be designed to tackle the causes of stress emanating from the
work environment and support individuals who are not protected by the first set of
interventions, or who are subject to special stressors.
 Influences On Workplace Health And Safety
 An important principle in OHS management is that of multi-causality. In most cases OHS
incidents do not have a single cause but occur as a result of a complex interaction of many causes
arising from individual, job and organisational characteristics.
 One of the reasons why construction organisations have failed to develop the intellectual
capability to analyse their risks thoroughly may he related to the complexity of potential causes
of OHS incidents, ranging from inappropriate work practices and site planning to the careless
behaviour of individual employees.
 Howevel & broadly speaking, most problems arise from the following
principal factors, which means that a successful OHS strategy should also be
built around them:
A. Working conditions
B. The tasks being carried out
C. Employees' attitudes and human error
D. Economic conditions
E. Management goals
F. Government and institutional policy
G. Industry structure.

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A. Working conditions
 Working conditions include
• A congested, cluttered worksite, poorly designed, inappropriately used or inadequately
maintained machinery and plant,
• a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE),
• The presence of dangerous chemicals or gase
• Inadequate welfare facilities.
 These can be exacerbated by aspects of the typical working conditions prevalent in the
construction industry, including long work hours (leading to fatigue) noise; lack of proper
lighting; exposure to inclement weather and exposure.
B. The tasks being caried out
 Another crucial factor affecting the success of the health and safety objectives is the nature of the
task, although nowadays the association of health and safety problems with manual tasks is not
as clear cut as it used to be.
 For instance, while safety problems may be more likely for construction operatives who are
required to work at height or handle hazardous equipment or materials, there is a growing
recognition of the health hazards in an office environment, such as stress, sick-building
syndrome, repetitive strain injuries, etc.
C. Employees' attitudes and human error
 Despite advances in technology, in most instances if hazardous events are to be reduced, then
the construction workers themselves must first identify them as a risk.
 Employees' attitudes toward health and safety can vary from enthusiasm for safety programmes
to apathy. If employees are apathetic the most thoroughly designed and implemented safety
programme will not improve conditions.
 Apathy is a major concern in the construction industry at all levels, from managers to operatives,
largely because of its 'macho culture', poor training in OHS issues, and priorities which primarily
revolve around issues of cost, time and quality.
 Whilst in recent years we have seen an increase in the management of safety risk, human error
remains an increasingly frequent factor in many accidents.
D. Economic conditions
 A fourth factor affecting health and safety programmes is economic conditions, because, as with
any management decision, trade-offs have to be made between the costs and the benefits of
safety programmes.
 The dilemma for safety decisions is that ethically it is extremely difficult to justify placing a value
on someone's health, but this is what managers must do. Indeed, the legislation recognises that a
costtbenefit trade-off exists.

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 Clearly, few employers would intentionally provide dangerous working conditions or refuse to
provide reasonable safeguards for employees.
 However, economic conditions can legitimately prevent employers from doing all they might
wish, the ultimate responsibility on a project lying with the client who funds it.
E. Management goals
 Another important causal factor is management goals, which vary from organisation to
organisation depending upon its culture and priorities.
 For example, some socially responsible organisations had active safety programmes long before
the law required them to do so and invest well beyond what is economically rational.
 They have made safety and health an important strategic goal, and implemented it with safety
programmes which include rewards for good safety performance backed up by rigorous
training.
 On the other hand, other organisations have not been so safety conscious and have done little
more than fulfil minimum legal requirements. In these organisations safety is seen as a barrier to
the attainment of corporate objectives and a necessary cost burden which provides little return.
F. Government and institutional policy
 A sixth factor affecting an organisation's health and safety environment is governmental and
institutional policy.
 It was during the 1970s and 1980s that most countries saw the development of the extensive
legislation which sought to hold an organisation responsible for the prevention of accidents,
disabilities, occupational illnesses and deaths relating to hazards in the workplace.
 All of this legislation has impacted on the way in which organisations have approached and
managed health and safety risks, although the impact on effectiveness has been questionable.
 In addition, other industry institutions, especially the unions, have pressured employers in
collective bargaining for better OHS programmes. Unions have also used their political power to
get legislation passed to improve the safety and health of workers.
G. The structure of the construction industry
 The structure of the construction industry has an impact on OHS performance. For example, the
traditional separation of the design and build functions has prevented the consideration of OHS
in design decision making, where many safety risks are created.
 The adoption of non-traditional contracting strategies and management approaches, such as
design and build, private finance initiatives and partnering, might overcome some of these
difficulties, though their impact on OHS has yet to be evaluated.
 American research suggests that, while public-sector clients pay attention to contractors' safety
performance, private-sector clients still focus primarily on the lowest bid.
 This leaves the provision of such equipment to trades who are only on site for a short period of
time, for whom the investment of appropriate resources is not economically practicable.

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 Occupational health and safety
 Baulderstone Hornibrook is committed to ensuring a safe and healthy working environment for
all people at its project sites and offices. The Group believes that all work-related injuries,
diseases and property losses are preventable and that safety is good business.
 We will:
• Be an industry leader in occupational health and safety;
• Comply with all legislative and contract requirements related to occupational health
and safety;
• Establish challenging yet achievable occupational health and safety performance
targets at all levels of our business; we will analyse and respond to our performance
against these targets to ensure we continually improve our practices and our
performance;
• Ensure that occupational health and safety is an essential and integral part of
management accountability; occupational health and safety considerations have equal
status with other primary husiness objectives;
• Ensure that systems are in place for the effective management of safety, including the
development and implementation of safe work practices; if safety is compromised,
operations are suspended;
• Ensure that all work activities are carried out by competent, suitably trained people;
• Ensure that all employees, subcontractors and third parties understand that they have
an individual responsibility to conduct their work in a safe manner, adhere to
Baulderstone Hornibrook's policy and procedures, and identify, eliminate and report
any workplace hazards;
• Systematically audit our occupational health and safety processes;
• We will analyse and respond to the results of these audits to seek continual
improvements to our safety processes and the effectiveness of their implementation.
 Welfare facilities
 Work in the construction industry is arduous; it involves much manual or physical activity. It is
also hazardous and dirty. Good welfare facilities not only improve workers’ welfare but also
enhance efficiency.
 Welfare facilities such as the provision of drinking-water, washing, sanitary and changing
accommodation, rest-rooms and shelter, facilities for preparing and eating meals, temporary
housing, assistance in transport from place of residence to the work. site and back, all help to
reduce fatigue and improve workers’ health.
 The facilities may be provided and maintained by one contractor for all workers or by individual
contractors.
A. Sanitary facilities
National laws usually prescribe the type, number and standard of sanitary facilities which
should be provided, but as a general guide the following should be regarded as a practical
minimum:

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i. A sufficient number of water flush-type lavatories for men when this is practicable,
including sufficient urinal accommodation; chemical lavatories may be used otherwise.
ii. A sufficient number of separate water flush-type lavatories for women when this is
practicable; again, chemical lavatories may be an alternative;
iii. The accommodation should be designed and constructed so as to screen the occupants
from view and afford protection against the weather;
iv. The accommodation should be separate from any messroom or rest-room;
v. A smooth and impermeable floor;
vi. Effective natural and/or artificial lighting and ventilation;
vii. At least 30 m from any well;
viii. Constructed for easy maintenance and cleaned out at least daily.
B. Washing facilities
Work in the construction industry is often dusty and dirty; it may also involve handling
chemicals and other dangerous substances, so that you need to wash your hands and bodies
regularly:
i. To prevent chemicals contaminating food and so being eaten during snacks or meals,
being absorbed through the skin or being carried home
i. To remove dirt and grime, which can also be ingested and cause sickness and disease;
ii. As a basic hygiene measure. When construction work involves the maintenance of or
alterations to existing buildings, it is often possible to use the facilities which form part
of the building. Otherwise, washing facilities should be provided to the following
standards:
iii. One wash-basin for every 15 workers with a sufficient supply of water and an adequate
means of removing waste water;
iv. Soap, in the form of cake soap, or liquid or powder soap in a special dispenser, to
facilitate quick and proper washing, nail-brushes are needed where poisonous
substances are used;
v. Suitable drying facilities such as paper towels, roller towels (or individual towels for
each worker) or electric hand-dryers;
vi. For facilities likely to be of longer duration, mirrors and shelves at each washing point
which will help to keep the place tidy and clean;
vii. Where workers are exposed to skin contamination by chemical substances or by oil or
grease, a sufficient number of showers, which should be disinfected daily;
viii. Facilities should be covered to provide weather protection, and effectively ventilated
and lit.
C. Facilities for supplying food and drink, and eating meals
Facilities for supplying food at construction work sites can be particularly important when sites
are located in remote areas. Remoteness, together with inadequate temporary housing which
lacks cooking facilities, may give rise to considerable problems for workers in the availability
and regularity of hygienically prepared and nutritious meals. The problems of shiftworkers may
be even greater.
To meet the need for proper meals, a choice of facilities should be made available:
i. Facilities to boil water and heat food;

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ii. Facilities (including provision of space, shelter, water, heating and rubbish bins) for
vendors to sell hot and cold food and drink;
iii. A Canteen supplying cooked meals or serving packed meals, snacks and beverages;
iv. Arrangements with a restaurant or canteen near the work site to supply packaged
meals.
D. Drinking-water
Drinking-water is essential for workers in the construction industry, irrespective of the type of
work they do. You lose several litres of water a day while at work and without replacement you
gradually dehydrate, the loss is greater in a hot environment.
Arrangements for the supply of safe drinking-water may be:
i. Individual closed water bottles or containers when no other facilities are available,
hung close to the workplace in a shaded place, free from dust and with plenty of air
in circulation, cool water helps avoid heat exhaustion. Containers should be cleaned
and disinfected at suitable intervals;
ii. Drinking-water containers made of impermeable materials with suitable covers,
kept in a cool, protected place. Unglazed pottery containers keep water cool, and
they should be kept in dust-free places. The containers should be cleaned regularly
by a designated person;
iii. Drinking-water fountains from a public supply with the water outlet shielded in a
manner that prevents the lips of the drinker from being placed against it. Drinking-
water fountains are more hygienic than taps and drinking vessels;
iv. Water taps from a public supply clearly labelled to distinguish between drinkable
and non-drinkable water. It is preferable to use disposable cups or to provide a
separate cup for each worker.
Drinking-water should not be placed in sanitary facilities, or in places where it can be
contaminated by dust, chemicals or other substances. Whatever the source of water supply for
drinking, whether at the mess accommodation or elsewhere on the site, it should be clearly
marked as drinking-water in words or with a suitable sign.
E. Facilities for changing, storing and drying clothes
 Secure facilities at the work site for changing from street clothes into work clothes, and for
airing and drying the latter, greatly assist workers with their personal hygiene and tidiness and
relieve them of anxiety over the security of their possessions.
 Changing-rooms are particularly important when workers change from street clothes into
protective clothing and when working clothes become wet or dirty. The facilities should include
provision for drying wet clothes, whether it be street or working clothing. Separate changing
facilities for men and women workers should be provided, at least by adequate screening.
 The provision of adequate seats, mirrors and rubbish bins in the changing rooms or close to the
lockers will assist workers in paying attention to personal appearance and cleanliness.
F. Child-care facilities
Working mothers employed at construction sites often need help with the special
problems of caring for their children while they are at work.

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 A clean and well-ventilated room, preferably with access to an enclosed space, is the main
facility needed. A few items of simple furniture are necessary for the children to sit or lie down,
and some toys help. There should be provision for feeding the children with nutritious meals at
regular times and, for this, there should also be access to cooking facilities or a canteen.
 It is essential for someone to care for the children while their mothers are at work, prepare their
meals and feed them regularly. It may be possible for mothers themselves to take turns to look
after the children. Mothers, especially nursing mothers, should be able to visit their children
during recognized breaks from work.
 Each year there are many tragic deaths of children on construction sites. Children should never
be allowed to wander into or play on sites. There are excavations to fall into, scaffolding to fall
from, hazardous equipment, loose and dangerous building materials, and chemicals lying about.
G. First aid
When there is an accident on site and someone is hurt, you can help by:
i. Calling for help from someone on site trained in first aid, or in cases of severe injury by
calling an ambulance;
ii. Preventing others (including yourself) from being injured from the same cause;
iii. Providing life-saving first aid, even if you are not a trained first-aider;
iv. Reporting the accident at once to your supervisor.
H. Emergency action
There are some situations where you cannot wait for a trained first-aider. Doing something at
once might save an injured person’s life. Here are some things you can do:
i. Check breathing: turn an unconscious person from his or her back to the side to
prevent Choking on the tongue; be cautious, keeping in mind the possibility of a neck
injury;
ii. Provide artificial respiration if breathing has stopped, using the mouth-to-mouth
method;
iii. Stop heavy bleeding by direct pressure on the wound and by raising the injured limb
(do not try to use a tourniquet);
iv. Cool a burn with water for some ten minutes, never with anything else – extinguish
burning clothing by rolling the person on the ground or wrapping them in a blanket;
v. Flush a burn from corrosives, or contamination of the eyes from any chemical, with
water for at least ten minutes;
vi. Treat shock by lying the injured person on his or her side; loosen any tight clothing and
cover the person with a blanket to keep him or her warm;
vii. Immobilize a broken limb by bandaging it to two sticks if no splint is available; even
tightly rolled newspaper will do.

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2. STRATEGIC HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
 Introduction
 Strategic human resource development (SHRD) ensures that people continue to add value to an
organisation in a changing business environment, maintain their motivation and enthusiasm
towards their work, and work in a way that supports the strategic objectives of the organisation.
 However, construction companies often treat HRD activities as someone else's responsibility or
as an expensive activity which risks making employees more attractive to competitors.
 In this chapter we explore the role of SHRD within construction organisations and how it can be
managed in line with the objectives of SHRM.
 The developmental side of the SHRM function that is used to improve the performance of the
individual in line with a business's planned strategic direction.
 NEED OF SHRD
1. New employees are like 'raw materials' that need to be 'processed' in order to perform their
tasks and fit into their workgroups and organisation. However, this must be managed in a
way that respects their human qualities.
2. Jobs change over time and so employees' knowledge, skills and abilities need to be updated
so that they maintain their performance in the face of changing demands and requirements.
3. New jobs will be created which will need to be filled by existing employees, who will need
support and redirection.
4. People need to be trained in order to perform more effectively in their existing jobs.
5. People change their own interests, skills, confidence and aspirations with time, and the
organisation must take account of this.
6. Employees may move jobs either to be promoted or to broaden their experience and so will
require further training in order to perform in their new roles.
7. The organisation itself may change over time, and so employees' knowledge, skills and
abilities must be updated regarding new ways of working together more effectively.
8. The organisation may wish to ready itself for predicted future change by equipping
employees with transferable skills.
9. The organisation may wish to respond flexibly to its environment and therefore may require
some employees to develop flexible, transferable skills.
10. Managers require further training and development to allow for performance improvement
and management succession via the development of new and potential managers.

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 SHRD In Construction
 Training and development are the two basic components of SHRD. In this section we shall look at
training.
 The object of training is to alter the behaviour of employees in a way that will create
improvements in the achievement of organisational goals.
 It should provide opportunities for an employee to learn job-related skills (such as thinking),
change attitudes
 and help people to acquire knowledge
 The benefits of training and some obstacles to its provision in a construction context are
discussed below.
 The importance of training
 Whereas in the past training may have been regarded by some organisations as a luxury, there is
now widespread acknowledgement by both academics and commercial organisations of its
importance to the success of the modern business.
 It has not gone unnoticed that those countries whose economies have performed well in recent
years, such as Germany and Japan, have been those that emphasise the importance of training.
 This subsequently influences the quality of new recruits to an industry, which in turn
perpetuates the problem, leading to skills shortages and deficient performance in terms of
product quality and delivery efficiency.
 In essence, training represents the mechanism by which organisations invest in the intellectual
capital of their workforce, and it lies at the very heart of achieving a vibrant, healthy, motivated,
happy and efficient organisational culture.
 A reason for the acceptance of training as a core component of SHRM relates to the
incontrovertible link between key SHRM-related concepts and the need to impart the requisite
skills, knowledge, attitudes and abilities to employees.
 For example, encouraging employees to work in a way which leads to better-quality products
and therefore a more positive organisational image demands that they are trained and
developed in a way which strives to achieve quality improvements.
 Also, ensuring loyalty, motivation and commitment requires that people receive support and
encouragement through training and development mechanisms.
 A reason for the acceptance of training as a core component of SHRM relates to the
incontrovertible link between key SHRM-related concepts and the need to impart the requisite
skills, knowledge, attitudes and abilities to employees.
 The most important driver for greater training provision relates to the growing need for
companies to develop adaptive capabilities which enable them to change in accordance with the
increasingly dynamic environment in which they operate.
 For example, in construction the past two decades have seen countless changes and
advancements in procurement practices, IT, construction technology, legislative demands and,
perhaps most importantly, client demands in the industry.

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 Barriers to training provision in construction
Despite the undoubted importance of training, as discussed above, most construction companies
do not engage in effective corporate learning. Indeed, in an industry such as construction there
exist many barriers, both real and perceived, to even the most basic training and development
activities.
 These include:
a) The cost of training delivery: training activities are assumed to be expensive in terms of
both the cost and time. Therefore training programmes are often amongst the first
expenditure items to be dropped in times of recession.
b) Clashes with production objectives: there is a widely held view that the majority of formal
training activities require key project-based staff to be removed temporarily from their
operational responsibilities.
c) In an increasingly lean construction industry this can cause additional pressure for already
overstretched teams.
d) Existing legislative training requirements: minimum training standards already exist that
are protected by statute in most counties. This means that companies must provide
minimum standards of training
e) on issues such as health and safety. Additional training can be seen as an unnecessary add-
on or a luxury within many construction organisations.
f) Staff turnover concerns: providing employees with training and development support
makes them more attractive to other companies. Construction is a highly predatory and
transitory industry with a strong culture of nomadism. It is highly likely, in the common
absence of retention strategies, that trained employees will take their skills elsewhere.
g) Conversely, it is possible to attract trained employees from other companies through the
use of remunerative incentives, negating the need for one's own training strategy. The
overall effect is a training stalemate.
h) A macho environment: the construction industry has a highly masculine culture, with a
tradition of physical activities and an emphasis on production that cannot be learnt
effectively in a classroom environment.
i) Many employees have been failed by the traditional classroom-based educational system
and perceive learning as a nonproductive, feminine activity and associate it with failure.
This is a major cultural barrier to training, and also permeates management positions in
the construction industry.
j) A 'learn on the job' culture: the historical attitude towards developing a career in the
industry has been to value experience as the primary learning mechanism rather than
formal training or education. The relative strengths and weaknesses of on-the-job and off-
the-job learning are considered below.

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 Planning and implementing effective SHRD activities
 Define a training policy, which involves defining clear links between organisational objectives
and training provision.
 Identify staff training needs, expressed in terms of both organisational and individual needs.
 Prepare a training programme which is a carefully planned sequence of training activities.
 Decide on methods for delivery, which could include formal or Informal approaches to
training, including courses, training videos, Job rotation or special assignments.
 Evaluate to review whether the training provision had the desired Impact on the performance
of the organisation.
3. Employee Legislation and Legal Aspects
 Introduction
 Since the industrial revolution, most developed countries have introduced a multitude of Acts
and regulations to protect the health, safety and welfare of workers across all industries.
 Typically this early legislation was very detailed and prescriptive, and was introduced in
response to new
 Hazards as they became apparent. The ad-hoc way in which this was enacted led to a complex
situation which, despite the existence of hundreds of regulations, did not account for many
hazards.
 The legislation was rigid and unable to adapt to technological change and did not encourage
employers to be innovative in improving their working methods.
 The OHS regulatory system should encourage workplaces proactively and voluntarily to manage
health and safety for themselves.
 The precise nature of health and safety legislation varies around the world, countries such as
Australia, the US and much of Asia have mirrored this trend, with prescriptive requirements
being replaced by a 'performance-based'
 Approach in which managers can exercise more discretion as to how they meet required
standards.
 Another common feature of modern legislation is the requirement for employee participation in
OHS management, which clearly establishes the need for a more inclusive management style.
 Key components of Employee Legislation
a) Labour legislation consists, on one hand, of the norms that regulate the legal relationship, in
other words the employment relationship, between the employer and the employee (individual
labour legislation) and, on the other hand, the collective labour legislation.

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b) The starting point for labour legislation is the principle of employee protection. Because of this,
labour legislation includes mandatory provisions, which cannot be deviated from by agreement
to the disadvantage of the employee
c) These include provisions created for the employee´ protection of against unlawfull dismissals,
the preconditions of concluding a fixed-term contract, and the duty to apply the provisions of a
generally applicable collective agreement.
d) Labour legislation also includes provisions that can be altered by collective agreement, such as
the provision on sick leave compensation, and certain provisions concerning working hours. In
addition, these laws contain provisions that become applicable only when no other
arrangements have been agreed upon.
e) The Collective Agreements Act governs the rights of employers and their employer organisations
on one side and employee organisations on the other to agree on the terms applied to
employment relationships in a way that binds employers and employees
f) The terms of an employment relationship may in practice be determined by several different
norms, such as the provisions of a law, the collective agreement, the employment contract or
some another agreement concluded at the workplace
 Employee Right and Legal aspects of Employee legislation
A. Prohibition of discrimination and obligation of equal treatment
 During the employment relationship or the recruitment process, the employer may not place
employees in a discriminatory position, unless there is a justified reason for doing so.
 The employer shall also otherwise treat employees equally, unless making an exception is
justified on the basis of the tasks and position of the employees
B. Minimum terms of employment
 The minimum terms of employment to be applied in employment relationships are determined
by the mandatory provisions of law and the generally applicable collective agreement. The
employer has to at least adhere to the stipulations of the national collective agreement
considered representative in the sector in question.
 An employer, who, under the Collective Agreements Act, is bound by such a collective agreement
where the concluding party is a national employee federation, is not obliged to observe the
generally applicable collective agreement of the field, but the collective agreement of the sector
in question.
C. Family leaves
 The purpose of family leave is to help employees reconcile their family commitments and the
obligations of their employment. They enable parents with small children to take leave from
work for a fixed period to take care of their children.
 Family leaves include the following:
a) Maternity, special maternity and paternity leave, as well as full-time and partial
parental leave.

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b) Full-time, part-time and temporary childcare leave.
c) An employee’s right to be absent from work for a compelling family reason
d) Absence from work to take care of a family member or other person close to the
employee.
D. Termination of an employment relationship and lay-off
 The prerequisite for terminating an employment relationship by giving notice is the existence of
a proper and weighty reason. This condition applies to giving notice due to reasons relating to
the employee’s person or arising from changes in the employer’s operating conditions
 Apart from reasons due to the employee, the employer may terminate the employee’s contract
on the basis of financial or production-related grounds to do with their operations
E. Compensation for termination
 The compensatory system for groundless terminations of employment is uniform. The minimum
amount of compensation is equivalent to three months' pay and the maximum to 24 months’
pay.
 The maximum compensation in case of termination of the employment contract of a shop
steward, an occupational industrial safety and health representative or an elected representative
without grounds can be the amount equal to 30 months’ pay.
F. Re-employement of employee
 the re-employment of employees dismissed for financial or productionrelated reasons is
supported by means of the policy of change security.
 Under certain conditions, it also concerns fixed-term employees that have worked for the same
employer. During the period of notice, employees are entitled to free time on full salary to look
for a job or to participate in other measures that promote re-employment.
G. Pay Security
 Pay security is based on the Pay Security Act, in accordance with which the state will ensure
payment of employees' claims arising from an employment relationship in the event of the
employer's bankruptcy or other insolvency.
 The pay security authority will investigate the employer’s insolvency and the conditions for
paying pay security on the basis of an employee’s application. Any claims the employer would be
obliged to pay to his or her employee can be paid as pay security
 he Unemployment Insurance Fund compensates the state annually for the difference between
capital paid as pay security and capital collected from employers. The funds needed for the
purpose are collected from employers in the form of unemployment insurance contributions.
H. Posted workers
 The purpose of the Act is to ensure the posted worker certain minimum working conditions,
such as a salary in accordance with the working conditions of the country in which the work is
performed.

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I. Non –Discrimination on Equality between Women and Men
 The purpose of the Non-Discrimination Act and the prohibitions of discrimination contained in
labour legislation is to ensure equal treatment of all jobseekers and employees and to protect
them from discrimination in working life.
 The Non-Discrimination Act applies to the basis of recruitment, working conditions, terms of
employment, career advancement, education and the prerequisites of enterprising and support
for industrial activities.
 The Non-Discrimination Act prohibits both direct and indirect discrimination on the basis of
a) Age b) Ethnic or national origin
c) Nationality d) Language
e) Religion or belief f) Opinion;
g) State of health or disability h) Sexual orientation;
i) Other personal characteristics.
J. Young workers
 This Act applies to work carried out by a young person under 18 years of age (a young worker)
in an employment or civil service relationship
 The occupational safety and health provisions of the Act also apply to students aged under 18 in
an apprenticeship or training exercises carried out at school
 The Act includes provisions concerning
a) The conditions of admitting young people to work;
b) The regular working hours of young workers;
c) The maximum working hours;
d) The Distribution of working hours;
e) The periods of rest given to young workers and occupational safety and health;
f) The employers’ responsibilities to provide training and guidance;
g) Special responsibilities concerning specific safety measures;
h) Arranging medical examinations.
K. Protection of privacy in working life
 The aim of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Working Life is to implement the protection of
privacy in working life. This Act lays down provisions on what kind of personal data the
employer is allowed to process about employees.
 The employer may only process personal data that is directly necessary for the employee’s
employment relationship and concerns the rights and duties of the parties in the employment
relationship or the benefits offered by the employer for the employee or arises from the special
nature of the job’s duties
L. Working hours and annual holiday
 Regular working hours may be based either on the general provision of an eight-hour working
day or 40-hour working week, the provisions of a collective agreement, or agreements based on
them relating to a particular workplace.

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 The employer and an individual employee may also agree on regular working hours within
certain limits.
 Regular working arrangements can be based on the average use of working hours, which means
that the daily and weekly hours may vary as long as the working hours average 40 hours a week
over a predetermined period.
 The accrual of annual leave is calculated according to the holiday credit months and it is
dependent on the length of the employment relationship
 In employment relationships that have lasted for less than a year, two working days of leave and
in employment relationships having lasted at least a year, two and a half working days are
earned for each full holiday credit month before the end of the holiday credit year
 Employee Regulation Acts in India
1. Notification procedures in the case of individual dismissal of a worker with a
regular contract
 Firms are required to give workers written notice of dismissal. For retrenchments, the relevant
government authority must also be notified (art. 25F, Industrial disputes act, 1947).
 For establishments with 100 or more workmen, the employer must also obtain permission from
the relevant government authority before retrenchment can take place.
 Retrenchment is defined as termination for whatsoever reason, except in the case of
disciplinary action (see e.g. State Bank of India v. N Sundara Money [1976] 3 SCR 160).
 Calculation (for EPL indicators): based on retrenchment; average of large and small
establishments ((2+3)/2 = 2.5)
2. Delay involved before notice can start
 Written notice of dismissal can be handed to the employee.
 Courts may require that an employee be given warning prior to dismissal and a fair hearing.
Where an employee is dismissed for disciplinary reasons, courts usually examine whether
appropriate warning was given prior to dismissal.
 For large establishments, permission for retrenchment must be received from the relevant
government authority. The government authority must decide within 60 days from the date of
application by the employer.
 In case there is no decision in 60 days, it is deemed that permission is granted.
establishments (1 day for written notice + 6 days for warning and hearing+ 60/2 days for
permission) = 37 days
3. Length of notice period at different tenure durations
 In case of retrenchment: workers with no less than one year’s tenure are entitled to one
month’s notice or payment in lieu of notice. Establishments with 100 or more workmen are

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required to give workers three months’ notice or payment in lieu to workers with more than one
year’s tenure.
establishments
 Notes-
i. Three tenure durations (9 months, 4 years, 20 years). Case of a regular employee with
tenure beyond any trial period, dismissed on personal grounds or economic
redundancy, but without fault (where relevant, calculations of scores to compute
OECD EPL indicators assume that the worker was 35 years old at the start of
employment).
ii. Averages are taken where different situations apply – e.g. blue collar and white collar;
dismissals for personal reasons and for redundancy.
4. Severance pay at different tenure durations
 Workers with no less than one year’s tenure who are dismissed for retrenchment are entitled to
15 days pay for each completed year of continuous service or any part thereof exceeding six
months.
 Calculation (for EPL indicators): based on retrenchment
5. Definition of unfair dismissal
 Fair: An employee can be dismissed on the charge of theft, habitual negligence of duty,
disorderly behavior, bribery, lack of capability, financial irregularities or subordination.
However, in most cases the employee is entitled to warning prior to dismissal and a fair hearing.
However, company standing orders regulating dismissal must be approved by government
authorities and typically severely restrict dismissal as result of disciplinary action.
Retrenchment, defined in a very wide way, is also generally fair provided that
procedures has been followed correctly (e.g. State Bank of India v. N Sundara Money [1976] 3
SCR 160; State of Bombay and others v. Hospital Mazdoor Sabha & others [1960] 2 SCR 866).
 Unfair: Dismissal is unfair if provisions for retrenchment or dismissal have not been properly
followed, where the employee has not had an adequate opportunity to defend him/herself,
during sickness, maternity leave, in retribution for filing a complaint, for taking part in peaceful
trade union activities or as a result of discrimination.
 For economic redundancies, in the absence of any agreement between the employer and
dismissed worker, the employer should dismiss the worker who was the last person to be
employed in the category.
 Notes- Based also on case law, if court practice tends to be more (or less) restrictive than what
specified in legislation.

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6. Length of trial period
 Employees appointed for a permanent post are usually kept on probation for a period of six
months to a year, during which the employee’s suitability for the job can be assessed. The law
does not stipulate any maximum probation period.
 Calculation (for EPL indicators): average of typical minimum and maximum length
 Notes- Initial period within which regular contracts are not fully covered by employment
protection provisions and unfair dismissal claims cannot usually be made.
7. Compensation following unfair dismissal
 In the event that a dismissal is found to be unfair, the court may reinstate the worker with back
pay. In extreme cases where the employer argues strongly against reinstatement, the court may
award compensation instead of reinstatement.
 Labour courts typically take 3-4 years to settle disputes and make an award. The law stipulates
that in case of illegal dismissal the workman dismissed is entitled to all the benefits under any
law as if he/she had not been laid-off.
8. Reinstatement option for the employee following unfair dismissal
 In most cases of unfair dismissal, the court orders reinstatement.
9. Maximum time period after dismissal up to which an unfair dismissal claim can be
made
 The application to the Labour court or Tribunal shall be made before the expiry of 3 years from
the date of discharge, dismissal, retrenchment or otherwise termination of service, according to
amended Industrial Dispute Act of 2010.
 Notes- Maximum time period after dismissal up to which an unfair dismissal claim can be made
10. Valid cases for use of standard fixed term contracts
 Temporary workers may be engaged for work which is essentially of a temporary nature likely
to be finished within a limited time. Exemptions exist for some industries (information
technology and business processing outsourcing) and export processing and special economic
zones in some states.
11. Types of work for which temporary work agency (TWA) employment is legal
 According to central labour contract laws and rules, contract labour is generally allowed for non-
core activities (although with some industries or firms prohibited from using contract labour).
 However, there is no consensus about what is the effective regulatory environment applying to
the staffing industry and whether contract labour laws and rules apply to that industry. This
creates a lot of regulatory uncertainty.

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12. Are there restrictions on the number of renewals and/or prolongations of TWA
assignments? (f)
 No for both assignments and contracts between the worker and the agency.
 Notes- Description based on both regulations on number and duration of the contract(s)
between the temporary work agency and the employee and regulations on the number and
duration of the assignment(s) with the same user firm.
13. Maximum cumulated duration of TWA assignments (f)
 No limits for both assignments and contracts.
 Notes- Description based on both regulations on number and duration of the contract(s)
between the temporary work agency and the employee and regulations on the number and
duration of the assignment(s) with the same user firm.
14. Does the set-up of a TWA require authorisation or reporting obligations?
 Contractors and user firms with more than 20 employees are required to obtain a license (and
pay a fee and security deposit) before engaging contract workers. The license is valid for 12
months, after which it can be renewed by following the same procedure.
 The contractor is required to report any changes in the number of workers employed or their
conditions of work to the licensing authority.
15. Do regulations ensure equal treatment of regular workers and agency workers at
the user firm?
 The wage rates and working conditions of the contracted worker must be the same as those of a
worker employed directly by the user firm to do the same type of work.
16. Definition of collective dismissal
 There are no additional regulations for collective dismissals but there are special regulations in
the case of closure of an establishment with 50 or more workmen (art. 25FF, Industrial disputes
act, 1947).
17. Additional notification requirements in cases of collective dismissal (g)
 No additional requirements.
 Notes- Notification requirements to works councils (or employee representatives), and to
government authorities such as public employment offices. Only requirements on top of those
requirements applying to individual redundancy dismissal count for the OECD EPL indicators.
18. Additional delays involved in cases of collective dismissal (h)

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 In the case of closure of an establishment with at least 50 workmen, workers are entitled of two
months advance notice. Calculation (for EPL indicators): average of large establishments (0
additional days) and small establishments (30/2 additional days).
 Notes- Additional delays and notice periods in the case of collective dismissal (only delays on
top of those required for individual dismissals – as reported in Items 2 and 3 – count for the
OECD EPL indicators)
19. Other special costs to employers in case of collective dismissals.
 No additional requirements.
 Notes- This refers to whether there are additional severance pay requirements and whether
social compensation plans (detailing measures of reemployment, retraining, outplacement, etc.)
are obligatory or common practice.

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