Unintended consequences of management strategies for improving labor productivity in construction industry.

INTRODUCTION Labor productivity and safety are important topics in the construction industry. Even so, the literature provides little information for project managers trying to determine how management strategies designed to improve labor productivity impact safety. METHOD This research addresses the gap by measuring the impact of two groups of management strategies that involve human resource related management strategies and construction related management strategies related to safety performance in construction projects. Data were collected from 111 general construction projects through the survey. RESULTS The results show that the relationship between the implemented management strategies and safety performance is nuanced with 'Communication' harming safety performance while implementation of 'Labor Management,' 'Supervision and Leadership,' 'Planning' and 'Management of Construction' strategies improve the level of safety performance. This study took a further step by measuring the impact of the interactions between the two groups of management strategies on safety performance. The results show that the interactions of construction and human related management strategies are not always in the favor of safety. Practical Applications: This paper adds to the literature on the relationship between productivity and safety in the construction industry. The research findings can assist project managers to improve labor productivity without harming the safety of laborers unintentionally.

[1]  Jeffrey B. Arthur,et al.  Effects of human resource systems on manufacturing performance and turnover , 1994 .

[2]  K. Weick,et al.  Organizing for high reliability: Processes of collective mindfulness. , 1999 .

[3]  Sai On Cheung,et al.  Behavioral Transition: A Framework for the Construction Conflict--Tension Relationship , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[4]  Matthew R. Hallowell,et al.  Construction-Safety Best Practices and Relationships to Safety Performance , 2013 .

[5]  M. Elisabeth Paté-Cornell,et al.  Human and management factors in probabilistic risk analysis: the SAM approach and observations from recent applications , 1996 .

[6]  Tracy Cooke,et al.  Safety climate in conditions of construction subcontracting: a multi‐level analysis , 2010 .

[7]  J. Dul,et al.  Human factors: spanning the gap between OM and HRM , 2010 .

[8]  Jacob Cohen,et al.  Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences , 1979 .

[9]  M Kaminski,et al.  Unintended consequences: organizational practices and their impact on workplace safety and productivity. , 2001, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[10]  Marion Gillen,et al.  Perceived safety climate, job demands, and coworker support among union and nonunion injured construction workers. , 2002, Journal of safety research.

[11]  Kathryn Mearns,et al.  Safety climate, safety management practice and safety performance in offshore environments , 2003 .

[12]  Tahira M Probst,et al.  Does safety climate predict safety performance in Italy and the USA? Cross-cultural validation of a theoretical model of safety climate. , 2015, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[13]  Sherif Ali Mohtady Mohamed,et al.  SAFETY CLIMATE IN CONSTRUCTION SITE ENVIRONMENTS , 2002 .

[14]  J. Reason.  Human error: models and management , 2000, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[15]  Alison G Vredenburgh,et al.  Organizational safety: which management practices are most effective in reducing employee injury rates? , 2002, Journal of safety research.

[16]  Gregory A. Howell,et al.  Systems Model of Construction Accident Causation , 2005 .

[17]  Serdar Ulubeyli,et al.  Drivers of productivity among construction workers: A study in a developing country , 2007 .

[18]  Rafiq M. Choudhry.  Achieving safety and productivity in construction projects , 2015 .

[19]  Mark Pagell,et al.  Toward a theory of the linkages between safety and quality , 2008 .

[20]  Mark Pagell,et al.  Is an Efficacious Operation a Safe Operation: The Role of Operational Practices in Worker Safety Outcomes , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

[21]  Babak Memarian,et al.  Accidents in masonry construction: The contribution of production activities to accidents, and the effect on different worker groups , 2013 .

[22]  B. Thornton,et al.  21st Century Challenges in Higher Education: Strategic Changes and Unintended Consequences. , 2013 .

[23]  D. L. Simms,et al.  Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies , 1986 .

[24]  David P. Lepak,et al.  How Does Human Resource Management Influence Organizational Outcomes? A Meta-analytic Investigation of Mediating Mechanisms , 2012 .

[25]  E. Tenner.  Why things bite back : technology and the revenge of unintended consequences , 1996 .

[26]  T. Yiu,et al.  Role of Management Strategies in Improving Labor Productivity in General Construction Projects in New Zealand: Managerial Perspective , 2018, Journal of Management in Engineering.

[27]  J. Hair.  Multivariate data analysis , 1972 .

[28]  J. Jaccard,et al.  Interaction effects in multiple regression , 1992 .

[29]  Tahira M Probst,et al.  Pressure to produce=pressure to reduce accident reporting? , 2013, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[30]  D. Fang,et al.  Why operatives engage in unsafe work behavior: Investigating factors on construction sites , 2008 .

[31]  Paul M. Goodrum,et al.  Latent Structures of the Factors Affecting Construction Labor Productivity , 2009 .

[32]  Gholamreza Heravi,et al.  Applying Artificial Neural Networks for Measuring and Predicting Construction-Labor Productivity , 2015 .

[33]  Jonathan A. Morell,et al.  Why Are There Unintended Consequences of Program Action, and What Are the Implications for Doing Evaluation? , 2005 .

[34]  Paul M. Goodrum,et al.  An Integrated Productivity-Practices Implementation Index for Planning the Execution of Infrastructure Projects , 2016 .

[35]  David L. McLain,et al.  The perceived compatibility of safety and production expectations in hazardous occupations. , 2007, Journal of safety research.

[36]  Mark Pagell,et al.  Managing Safety and Operations: The Effect of Joint Management System Practices on Safety and Operational Outcomes , 2016, Journal of occupational and environmental medicine.

[37]  Lois E. Tetrick,et al.  Safety motivation and human resource management in North America , 2008 .

[38]  D. Zohar.  Safety climate in industrial organizations: theoretical and applied implications. , 1980, The Journal of applied psychology.

[39]  Gerardo Cupido,et al.  The role of production and teamwork practices in construction safety: a cognitive model and an empirical case study. , 2009, Journal of safety research.

[40]  Bartosz Misiurek,et al.  Methodology of improving occupational safety in the construction industry on the basis of the TWI program , 2017 .

[41]  DaiJiukun,et al.  Generational differences on craft workers’ perceptions of the factors affecting labour productivity11This paper is one of a selection of papers in this Special Issue on Construction Engineering and Management. , 2012 .

[42]  F MolenvanderH.,et al.  Ergonomics in building and construction: Time for implementation [editorial] , 2005 .

[43]  Nicholas Chileshe,et al.  Labour productivity in Iranian construction projects: Perceptions of chief executive officers , 2015 .

[44]  J. Winkel,et al.  Occupational musculoskeletal and mental health: Significance of rationalization and opportunities to create sustainable production systems - A systematic review. , 2011, Applied ergonomics.

[45]  Dov Zohar,et al.  Thirty years of safety climate research: reflections and future directions. , 2010, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[46]  Simon Washington,et al.  Framework for measuring corporate safety culture and its impact on construction safety performance , 2009 .

[47]  B. Tabachnick,et al.  Using Multivariate Statistics , 1983 .

[48]  Jane Mullen,et al.  Investigating factors that influence individual safety behavior at work. , 2004, Journal of safety research.

[49]  J. Dawson.  Moderation in Management Research: What, Why, When, and How , 2014 .

[50]  Saixing Zeng,et al.  Identifying elements of poor construction safety management in China , 2004 .

[51]  Emma Irvin,et al.  A Systematic Review of Occupational Health and Safety Interventions With Economic Analyses , 2009, Journal of occupational and environmental medicine.

[52]  Mark Pagell,et al.  Understanding safety in the context of business operations: An exploratory study using case studies , 2013 .

[53]  Unintended Consequences from Planned Change: A Challenge for Beginning Principals (Sumario en espanol)* , 2018 .

[54]  Gerardo Cupido,et al.  Cognitive Approach to Construction Safety: Task Demand-Capability Model , 2009 .

[55]  Mark Pagell,et al.  OHSAS 18001 certification and operating performance: The role of complexity and coupling , 2014 .

[56]  Daniel Fong,et al.  Factors affecting safety performance on construction sites , 1999 .

[57]  R. Brickman,et al.  The evaluation enterprise, by William R. Meyers. San Francisco: CA: Jossey-Bass, 1981, 266 pp. Price: $15.95 cloth , 1983 .

[58]  Henry P. Cole,et al.  Toward a Typology of Dynamic and Hazardous Work Environments , 2001 .

[59]  Syed M. Ahmed,et al.  Safety Management in Construction: Best Practices in Hong Kong , 2008 .

[60]  Sumera Jabeen.  Do we really care about unintended outcomes? An analysis of evaluation theory and practice. , 2016, Evaluation and program planning.

[61]  Kathryn Mearns,et al.  Measuring safety climate: identifying the common features☆ , 2000 .

[62]  John A. Gambatese,et al.  Factors That Influence Safety Performance of Specialty Contractors , 2003 .

[63]  A. Roy Duff,et al.  Exploring the integration of health and safety with pre-construction planning , 2006 .

[64]  Raymond E. Levitt,et al.  Safety Issues on Global Projects , 2007 .

[65]  Azad M. Madni,et al.  Towards a Conceptual Framework for Resilience Engineering , 2009, IEEE Systems Journal.

[66]  Mark Pagell,et al.  Is Safe Production an Oxymoron? , 2014 .

[67]  J. Hinze.  Safety Incentives: Do They Reduce Injuries? , 2002 .

[68]  Jens Rasmussen,et al.  Cognitive Systems Engineering , 2022 .

[69]  Mark Pagell,et al.  When does lean hurt? – an exploration of lean practices and worker health and safety outcomes , 2013 .

[70]  Mei-yung Leung,et al.  Preventing construction worker injury incidents through the management of personal stress and organizational stressors. , 2012, Accident; analysis and prevention.

[71]  Julie Rennecker,et al.  Theorizing the Unintended Consequences of Instant Messaging for Worker Productivity , 2008 .

[72]  Rebecca Jackson,et al.  Trends of fall injuries and prevention in the construction industry , 2019 .

[73]  Florence Yean Yng Ling,et al.  Framework for project managers to manage construction safety , 2005 .

[74]  William D. Berry,et al.  Multiple regression in practice , 1985 .

[75]  T. Probst,et al.  The relationship between safety–production conflict and employee safety outcomes: Testing the impact of multiple organizational climates , 2015 .

[76]  Gregory E. Prussia,et al.  Predicting safe employee behavior in the steel industry: Development and test of a sociotechnical model , 2000 .

[77]  David L. McLain,et al.  Responses to health and safety risk in the work environment. , 1995, Academy of Management journal. Academy of Management.

[78]  Dongping Fang,et al.  Safety Climate in Construction Industry: A Case Study in Hong Kong , 2006 .

[79]  Mark Pagell,et al.  Are safety and operational effectiveness contradictory requirements: : The roles of routines and relational coordination , 2015 .

[80]  Enno Koehn,et al.  Quality, Environmental, and Health and Safety Management Systems for Construction Engineering , 2003 .

[81]  Dong Zhai,et al.  The impact of management practices on mechanical construction productivity , 2011 .

[82]  Seokho Chi,et al.  Trends of Fall Accidents in the U.S. Construction Industry , 2017 .

[83]  Paul M. Goodrum,et al.  Method to Assess the Level of Implementation of Productivity Practices on Industrial Projects , 2015 .

[84]  Dong Zhai,et al.  Statistical Analysis of the Effectiveness of Management Programs in Improving Construction Labor Productivity on Large Industrial Projects , 2016 .

[85]  Craig Standing,et al.  Construction industry productivity and the potential for collaborative practice , 2014 .

[86]  D. Zohar.  Modifying supervisory practices to improve subunit safety: a leadership-based intervention model. , 2002, The Journal of applied psychology.

[87]  Jonathon R B Halbesleben,et al.  The role of exhaustion and workarounds in predicting occupational injuries: a cross-lagged panel study of health care professionals. , 2010, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[88]  Moshe Farjoun.  Beyond Dualism: Stability and Change As a Duality , 2010 .

[89]  Geoffrey Qiping Shen,et al.  Exploring critical success factors for stakeholder management in construction projects , 2009 .

[90]  David Fairris,et al.  'Flexible' Work Practices and Occupational Safety and Health: Exploring the Relationship between Cumulative Trauma Disorders and Workplace Transformation , 2001 .

[91]  Peter W. Glynn,et al.  Dynamic modeling of the tradeoff between productivity and safety in critical engineering systems , 2004, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..