Martin Loosemore - Human Resource Management in Construction Projects: Strategic and Operational Approaches

The construction industry is one of the largest global employment sectors, providing work for a significant proportion of the labour market and accounting for a significant share of the world gross domestic product (GDP). The industry also represents one of the most risky, complex and dynamic industrial environments. A construction project relies on skilled manual labour supported by a management framework, which has to coordinate many professional, construction and supplier organisations whose sporadic involvement will change through the course of the project. The fragmentation and dynamism of this process and the need to integrate a wide range of occupational cultures renders construction one of the most complex project-based industries in which to apply good human resource management (HRM) practices.

Organisational behaviour and management texts abound which explain the central importance of the HRM function to organisational performance. However, few have considered the specific context and challenges that project-based industries present. Moreover, very few texts have sought to capture effective approaches to the HRM function within the construction sector, or to examine how these activities could be adapted and implemented in a way which improves the performance and job satisfaction of the industrys workforce. In this book we aim to address this shortfall by providing an informative exploration into how modern construction organisations manage the various aspects of HRM. As well as holding up a mirror to current practice, we also cast a critical eye over current approaches to managing people in the industry. We have attempted to identify new and alternative strategies for managing people that enable managers and organisations to survive the increasingly competitive and volatile construction industry labour market.

We would like to think that this book is different to existing texts on HRM in the construction industry. First, this book focuses on the project level and is designed to assist construction project managers to manage the HRM function effectively. In construction companies responsibility for HRM is almost entirely devolved to project managers, few of whom have any formal training in this area. Consequently most see it as a nuisance and as a secondary maintenance function which does not contribute directly to the attainment of project objectives. It is not surprising, therefore, that the construction industry has a poor and sometimes appalling record and public image in many areas of HRM. This leads us to the second unique feature of this book, which is the link it draws between HRM and organisational performance. We see this as the key to positioning HRM at the centre of the construction debate and thereby to releasing the significant untapped productive potential of the industrys workforce. If we can persuade project managers of the strong link that exists between HRM performance and project performance we will have succeeded in our aim. We believe that HRM is the forgotten reform in the construction industry and that recognition of its importance is long overdue. Another feature of this book is the array of subjects tackled. Many HRM books predictably follow the standard HRM cycle of recruitment, selection, development, orientation, induction, training, appraisal, compensation, promotion, demotion and termination. While we do not neglect these important issues, we restrict them to one chapter and thereby release the remaining eleven chapters to consider, in detail, issues of contemporary interest such as equality and diversity, empowerment and employee participation, occupational health and safety, worklife balance and industrial relations, etc. These topics are enlivened by numerous case studies which provide practical examples of best practice around the world particularly in Asia, Australia and the UK. As the construction industry becomes truly global, the need to understand and contrast practices, performance and standards in different countries will become increasingly important to managers.