Changing patterns of human resource management in construction

Recent years have seen increased emphasis on the need for construction organisations to be more client and market oriented a tantalising vision of a new quality world driven by clients with an emphasis on best value. This is likely to have significant implications for the business model and management in the industry. However, while construction constitutes an important component of global economic activity, and the very nature of the work is labour intensive, there has been a lack of attention given to the study of human resource management issues. Yet it has long been recognised that the way employees are managed can have important implications for organisational performance, and can even be a differentiator between successful and unsuccessful organisations (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2012). Context-specific factors are believed to partly explain typical approaches to managing people in the sector. These include the nature of complex project-based environments, ingrained cultural norms, cyclical demand, and structural flexibility. Delivery of construction projects often requires the co-ordination of a multiplicity of actors, within a largely fragmented, transient and heterogeneous workforce. The construction industry therefore offers a rich and distinctive context for the study of employment issues, and an interesting counterpoint to the employment models traditionally associated with many manufacturing or service contexts.