David Oswald, Fred Sherratt and Simon Smith
It is well-known that significant production pressures exist on many construction projects and previous studies have suggested that this pressure is a contributory factor in…
Abstract
Purpose
It is well-known that significant production pressures exist on many construction projects and previous studies have suggested that this pressure is a contributory factor in safety incidents on sites. While research has established that production pressures exist, less is understood about the construction practices that occur when projects are under such pressures and their repercussion for safety. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
Through an ethnographic approach on a large construction project in the UK, these practices were explored and unpacked. The lead researcher was a member of the Health and Safety department, and undertook participant observation as a main research tool for three years.
Findings
It was found that informal, covert and dangerous “piecework” strategies were adopted at the site level in direct response to scheduling demands. Construction workers were incentivised through extra finance and rest periods to finish the work quickly, which, in turn, prioritised production over safety. Unreasonable production pressures remain an unresolved problem in the construction industry and are, perhaps consequentially, being informally managed on-site.
Originality/value
This study improves our understanding of the complexities involved in the unresolved demands between production and safety on construction sites, which marks a step towards addressing this substantial challenge that is deeply ingrained within the industry.
Details
Keywords
David Oswald, Rita Peihua Zhang, Helen Lingard, Payam Pirzadeh and Tiendung Le
The purpose of this paper is to present a critical review of the use of safety performance indicators in the construction industry. The authors consider the strengths, limitations…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a critical review of the use of safety performance indicators in the construction industry. The authors consider the strengths, limitations and managerial consequences associated with commonly used indicators.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors combine two separate data sets in this critical review. These include 32 semi-structured interviews with construction industry representatives involved in the collection and reporting of safety indicators, as well as a multi-level safety climate survey that was conducted at 12 construction sites across Australia.
Findings
The analysis provides new evidence that, in their current use, commonly used H&S indicators are subject to manipulation and misinterpretation. Their usefulness as tools to support safety management activities in construction projects and organisations needs to be understood in the context of their limitations. In particular, safety indicators do not reflect the full set of factors that affect workplace safety and there will always be disagreement about what should be counted and how.
Originality/value
As a result of the substantial shortcomings of safety indicators, great care needs to be taken when using them to determine or evaluate organisational safety policy and practices.
Details
Keywords
Helen Lingard, Rita Peihua Zhang and David Oswald
The leadership style and communication practices of supervisors in the Australian construction industry were measured. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of…
Abstract
Purpose
The leadership style and communication practices of supervisors in the Australian construction industry were measured. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of leadership style and communication practices of Australian construction supervisors on workgroup health and safety (H&S) climate and behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was administered to members of 20 workgroups engaged in rail construction work on the Level Crossing Removal Project and the Melbourne Metro Tunnel Project in Victoria, Australia. The survey measured components of supervisors’ transformational and transactional leadership, communication practices, the group H&S climate and workers’ self-reported H&S compliance and participation.
Findings
Supervisors’ transformational and transactional leadership, as well as communication practices, were all positively and significantly correlated with group H&S climate and workers’ self-reported H&S behaviours. The transformational leadership component of providing an appropriate model was the strongest predictor of H&S participation, while H&S compliance was predicted by the transactional leadership component of providing contingent reward, as well as supervisors’ communication practices. H&S climate fully mediated the relationship between supervisory leadership and workers’ self-reported H&S behaviour.
Originality/value
The research demonstrates that both transformational and transactional supervisory leadership are important in the construction context. Effective communication between supervisors and workers is also important for H&S. The findings suggest that supervisory leadership development programmes may be an effective way to improve H&S performance in predominantly subcontracted construction workgroups.
Details
Keywords
Kamel Krichen and Haithem Chaabouni
The purpose of this study was to investigate the consequences of the economic shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the entrepreneurial intentions of academic students. In…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate the consequences of the economic shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the entrepreneurial intentions of academic students. In addition, this research examined whether the pandemic reinforces the tendency to operate new businesses or represents a barrier to the pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted with a sample of university students. Risk perception and contextual variables were measured. Information was collected from 308 university students enrolled at the University of Sfax (Tunisia) who participated by responding to a structured questionnaire distributed in electronic form by email.
Findings
The results show that university students perceive higher levels of personal entrepreneurial risk than other types of entrepreneurial risks (financial risk and social risk). Perceived financial risk only has a significant effect on entrepreneurial intention for students who view the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity. Regarding perceived contextual support, only perceived educational support has a significant and positive effect on entrepreneurial intention.
Research limitations/implications
The results have important practical implications for identifying entrepreneurial intentions. They indicate that universities have an essential role in providing educational support for students by implementing awareness and training programs for entrepreneurship. Furthermore, they reveal the differentiated effect of the COVID-19 crisis on the risk perceptions of participants according to their views of the crisis as a threat or as an opportunity.
Originality/value
This is one of few studies that have examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (positive or negative) on the entrepreneurial intention of academic students.
Details
Keywords
Recent policies designed to promote profit sharingin Great Britain are surveyed. Evidence on theextent of profit sharing in Britain is presented,and the economic impact of such…
Abstract
Recent policies designed to promote profit sharing in Great Britain are surveyed. Evidence on the extent of profit sharing in Britain is presented, and the economic impact of such schemes is assessed. It is found that there is little strong evidence to support the notion that profit sharing significantly improves either employment, profitability, productivity, investment or remuneration.
Details
Keywords
Changes in British industrial relations over the lastdecade are surveyed and their impact on economicperformance is analysed. The evidence on theeconomic effects of unions – on…
Abstract
Changes in British industrial relations over the last decade are surveyed and their impact on economic performance is analysed. The evidence on the economic effects of unions – on wages, employment, working conditions, negotiations and profits – is reviewed. Finally, comments are offered on likely future trends.
Details
Keywords
FR. Oswald A. J. Mascarenhas, S.J.
The typical corporation is based on free capital markets, and in general, on the free market capital system for all its factors of production, distribution, and consumption…
Abstract
Executive Summary
The typical corporation is based on free capital markets, and in general, on the free market capital system for all its factors of production, distribution, and consumption. Hence, this chapter studies the economic, legal, ethical, and moral goodness and promise of the Free Enterprise Capitalist System (FECS) as it exists and thrives in the open and free economies of the world. We will review several versions of FECS starting from Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) views on private property, Thomas Hobbes’ (1588–1679), The Leviathan (1651), Adam Smith (Wealth of Nations, 1776), Max Weber (The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 1904/1958) to modern defenses of capitalism by David Bollier (Aiming Higher, 1997), Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales (Saving Capitalism from Capitalists, 1998, 2004), C. K. Prahalad (2005) on Inclusive Capitalism, Nitesh Gor (The Dharma of Capitalism, 2012), and John Mackey and Raj Sisodia (Conscious Capitalism, 2014), to name a few. Based on these seminal authors and subsequent theoretical developments, this chapter seeks to defend, save, and uphold the goodness of the FECS along multiple viewpoints such as economics, management, law, ethics, morals, and executive spirituality.