Instruments de recerca

Annual HR turnover is equal to the count of employees leaving divided by the average gross head count of the employees and then multiplied by 100 (to receive a percentage value). Subsequently, the results are used to compare and assess the strengths and the weaknesses of the organisation and their reactions to the opportunities and the threats.

2.9.1.2 Poor quality of workmanship

Poor, low, bad or inappropriate quality is a generic term (estimated by eye) particularly relating to product finishes. There are some guidelines in this area provided by the British Standards Institution (BSI, 2016) as well. However, generally workmanship is considered as a qualitative explanation of the degree of skill imparted on an object in the process of making a product or getting a job done. From ancient times, workmanship would have been considered and valued as an important human characteristic. According to the viewpoint of economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen (1914), the sense of workmanship is considered as one of the most important characteristics of people when it comes to evaluating their wellbeing.

From the time assembly line manufacturing was introduced in 1913 by Henry Ford (Iacocca & Novak, 1984) workmanship, was considered as very much centered on the physical production industries. In the contemporary world, it is widely respected by communal people even though the majority of the factory based industrial products are now developed from robotic assembly lines.

2.9.1.3 Temporary or irregular attendance

Irregular attendance can be defined as the lack of consistency in reporting to a regular place where people are required to be present due to legal, social or ethical reasons. The Ministry of Education in New Zeeland considers irregular attendance by children at school as an early indicator of problems (MOENZ, 2011). The situation of irregular attendance can be generalised and applied to several social groups such as the operational workforce’s attendance in the construction industry, children’s attendance in a school, players’ attendance in practice sessions etc. The importance of regular attendance was highlighted in a recent legal case relating to the health industry in a federal court in Florida, USA. According to the court decision, a new case law was established stating that leave for the employees would not allow avoiding regular attendance from now onward or in the immediate future, in situations where regular attendance is an "essential function" of a position. Leave is not a "reasonable accommodation" according to the judgment made in the Daniel Mecca versus Florida Health Services Centre case (2014).

Major causes of this irregular attendance may include a lack of personal interest on the work being carried out, the impact of colleagues, pressure from immediate superiors, an inclination for change as part of human nature, with a view to change the practicing environment and seeking short term jobs with better returns.

2.9.1.4 Lack of trade knowledge and skill

Not having sufficient knowledge and understanding to carry out the works that are assigned to, and agreed by, the party to perform them can be considered as a “lack of trade knowledge and skills” or a lack of “manual dexterity” (Matsubayashi, et al., 1992) by an operational worker.

There are two basic categories of construction operatives, identified as skilled and unskilled. A skilled group of construction operatives are required to perform any of the trades described in Appendix A (Trades in construction) in this thesis. Unskilled groups are required to undertake general duties such as, but not limited to; cleaning and preparing sites, pit and trench excavations, fixing bracings for shoring the sides of excavations, erecting general scaffolding, removing hazardous waste materials (such as lead and asbestos), assisting with the unloading and loading of materials, mixing and pouring works, assisting to skilled artisans and the engineers, that are cooperating with other fellow construction workers, cleaning and tidying works and the maintenance the site and the like.

The expected responsibilities of any member of the operational workforce includes operating and tending small machines, hand and power tools, air hammers, earth tampers, cement mixers and small mechanical hoists, surveying and measuring equipment and dealing with a variety of equipment and instruments.

Lack of cost concerns can be explained as a shortage of interest on the price paid or payable for acquiring a place, product, service or for maintaining a relationship that is of the interest an individual or artificial person. Usually cost is weighted in relation to a currency or as a monetary value.

The negative behaviours of the operational workforce towards cost concerns may lead towards stakeholders’ dissatisfaction. A few examples from the Sri Lankan context are:

 Cutting new lengthy timber for survey pegs rather than using reusable offcuts.

 Cutting steel reinforcement without referring to the bar schedule to minimise wastages.

 Mixing cement mortar without considering the fact of the setting time of the cement and the volume required for hourly productivity.

 Cutting ceramic tiles without a design sketch due to a lack of technical knowhow.

These cost overruns have been identified as salvageable fund recovery areas for the development of the proposed framework. Such situations have also been

brought to light by John & Itodo (2013, p. 747). Therein it is stated “Improvement in building materials management on construction sites has the potential to enhance the construction industry’s performance with cost saving benefits” according to a study carried out by them in Nigeria.

2.9.1.5 Irresponsibility and lack of reliability

Irresponsibility can be defined as not providing the due discipline, attention, care and accountability as and when required by the work being carried out by an individual, group or artificial person. Inability in consistence relating to performance of a person, system or a product for its anticipated assignment or purpose on demand can be considered as a lack of reliability. Not providing reasonable and mandatory explanations as and when notified to do so, by the higher authorities also fall into this category.

Irresponsibility can be easily observed in situations such as late startup or early departure from a workstation, absconding during the lunch break, wasting mixed mortar or using it after the initial setting time, untidy works and cluttered work surroundings; all situations practiced by the current operational workforce in the Sri Lankan construction industry. Ndema (2013, p. 6) stated “dealing with irresponsibility requires tolerance, serenity and awareness of a person's general manners” based on a situation that he faced with his own university students during a road protest over death of a colleague.

2.9.1.6 Unfair demand for wages or rates

Unfair means not in line with acceptable standards, trustworthiness or social ethics. An unfair demand for wages or rates commonly happens just prior to festival seasons such as New Year and Christmas. Sometimes workforces move away from the projects without even closing the open up work activities such as drainage trenches etc. during this period.

Contractors face constraints in retaining their labour especially when they require casual labour in the house renovation market. Stakeholders commonly expect to receive their completed projects prior to festival seasons. However, labour can commence leaving projects since wages and output based rates are fixed in such

a project environment (since there are no binding mechanisms available for the casual workforce). To overcome the situation many contractors offer nonstandard incentives to retain the workforce and this leads to cost overruns for the contractors. For this reason, contractors generally add higher markup percentages for the calculated basic rates in order to safeguard themselves.

2.9.1.7 Adamant behaviour and lack of loyalty

Adamant behaviour can be explained as exhibiting a rigid and rude attitude when dealing with colleagues, teammates, team leaders or immediate superiors. In many situations, adamant behaviour comes together with a lack of loyalty (which can be explained as a combination of faithfulness, trustworthiness, dependability and fearlessness in bearing responsibilities). The ‘heat’ and effect of people with adamant behaviour and a lack of loyalty is similar to the mechanism of pressure onion explanations given in soil mechanics: ‘the further away you are from the object, the less heat you feel’.

As explained by Napoleon Hill (1928, pp. Lesson 2, 65) “You cannot succeed when surrounded by disloyal and unfriendly associates, no matter what may be the object of your definite chief aim. Success is built upon loyalty, faith, sincerity, cooperation and the other positive forces with which one must surcharge his environment”. A lack of loyalty is considered as one of the foremost causes for disappointment during the journey of life. When working with people who have adamant behaviours or a lack of loyalty it will always be difficult to agree on deciding a working technique that should be followed by all. For example concerning the workability level of water content in concrete or in mortar for brick laying or for rendering walls, many may want to add more water to ready mixed concrete or mortar on site in order to increase the workability and thus simply neglect the importance of the water cement ratio and its repercussions on strength. If supervision teams begin applying, strict supervision quite often the Sri Lankan hired working gangs will start immediately serving notice of withdrawal.

2.9.1.8 Reluctance to learn and train

It is common for the operational workforce in the Sri Lanka construction industry to be reluctant and to refuse to undergo training even if a course is offered free to the

worker with a fully paid day off. One reason could be that such a worker can lose a few hours of overtime. Over sophisticated venues and unusually smart dress codes could also be reasons for this unpopularity. When trainers have been brought on site to conduct training sessions, three other reasons could be observed:

1. Job performers blocked unskilled helpers attending such courses in order to maintain their prevailing output based rates, their mini monopoly and their pride as a skilled worker (i.e., professional jealousy).

2. Skilled workers (mainly job Performers or JPs) believe themselves to be veterans and undergoing additional training is considered by them as an insult in front of their subordinate unskilled workers.

3. While skilled workers or job performers are on training programmes, unskilled workers automatically switch to ‘idling positions’ on site which affects output based income.

From the observations, it was spotted that reluctance and refusing to undergo training is an endemic problem. A lack of desire to undergo training can be considered as a social myth and a nationwide approach and solution is required to counteract professional jealousy or the complexness of inferiority.

2.9.1.9 Carelessness and safety concerns

Carelessness within the work performed by the operational workforce and concerns regarding the requirements of occupational health and safety can be considered as a part of people’s own attitudes on wellbeing and discipline. This kind of behaviour can generally be grouped under two categories:

1. Impacts on product

The impact of health and safety on products can further be separated into unexposed, exposed and mixed impacts. In a building foundations and superstructure are unexposed. Joinery and finishers can be grouped within the exposed section whereas roof and wall cladding would come under mixed nature impacts.

To present an example: when hanging decorated door leaves, it is common to shave the top or the bottom edges to adjust it correctly. However, operatives are reluctant to apply a few protective coats of paint to the nonvisible edges and this decreases the life of the door. Output based joiners argue that painting and decorating is not in their scope of work whereas painters say ‘if the door leaf can be removed by others, then it can be painted’. Such arguments provide only disappointments where the stakeholders are concerned.

2. Impacts on people

Health and safety impacts on people generally end up as accidents or health related complexities. When considering accidents, the erection and a lack of monitoring of temporary structures and a lack of team working attitudes are the common defaults by operational workforce. A reluctance to provide due attention to the proper closure and sealing of the exposed edges of rock wool used as roof insulation or to the fire rating of doors can cause long term and unrecoverable health complications to the occupants at large.

Although it is said that carelessness and safety concerns are attitudinal problems, in some situations it can be seen as a contractual mismatch of responsibilities’ integration. Since output based subcontract works do not have a well documented contractual framework in a practical scenario, it is often the case that the parties involved are seeking reasons to escape from their negligence and responsibilities.

2.9.1.10 Unethical sudden demands

Unethical sudden demands can be illustrated as seeking (and sometimes undertaking blackmailing for) a lump sum of money to complete an activity that is at a critical point often, in such situations, seeking amount of lump sum money is three or four times higher than the prevailing rates. Such situations are not common within established contracting companies but can be found among the small scale residential construction work directly handled by an owner.

Sometimes in a situation where critical concreting work is being carried out as a night work activity (by the manual moving of mixed concrete through the ‘pan passing’ technique), half way through the activity, labour gangs commence bargaining for a rate revision or for a ‘must have bonus’ to complete the assignment, thus cornering the employer into a difficult and helpless situation.

2.9.2 Employee perspective

Timescales for many construction projects are less than two years. The temporary nature of the employment and a high labour turnover has become common to the industry. Due to a lack of continuity with a single employer for a long period (compared to other physical production industries), many operatives within the construction industry become ineligible for the prevailing social security systems of the country.

The questionnaire survey carried out during the study by Wijewickreme (2010) amongst the operational workforce to identify their viewpoints and the difficulties they experienced showed that ‘Poor retirement benefits’ was top ranked in the identified reasons for selecting the future sector for their careers. The identified constraints of the operational workforce of the construction industry (on the negative impacts of working within the sector) are listed below.

1. Poor retirement benefits 2. Dissimilarities in salary scales 3. Gray areas in career development 4. The temporary nature of the occupation 5. Lack of social recognition

6. Non availability of recreation facilities 7. Being away from families and relatives 8. Political and social influences

9. Safety and sanitary facilities 10. Interpersonal relationships

11. A lack of trouble free communication 12. Influence from dependents

13. Improper gender balance

A comprehensive discussion of the constraints identified during the study are provided in the following subsections.

2.9.2.1 Poor retirement benefits

Retirement (United Nations, 1948) can be defined as the stopping point of someone’s career. Retirement benefits can be explained as an assistance that is received by people who have stopped their career. Null or insufficient assistance received by people who have retired can be expressed as people with poor retirement benefits in general.

2.9.2.2 Dissimilarities in salary scales

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (2010) established “equal pay for equal work” as a concept that indicates that individuals who perform similar work should receive similar remuneration. In Sri Lanka, there are three classes of workers as established by the Wages Board for the Engineering Trade (2012), namely unskilled, semi skilled and skilled. In a practical scenario, it can be noticed that operational workers belonging to semi skilled and skilled categories in the wet trades (such as masons, tillers, renderers, bricklayers) receive greater gross returns than carpenters, blacksmiths and painters. Some office based employees belonging to the clerical or accounts’ grades receive lesser gross remuneration than the wet trade operational workforce does.

2.9.2.3 Gray areas in career development

When comparing the opportunities available for career development between the wet tradesmen and joiners within the construction industry and the tradesmen within the electromechanical or mechatronics industries, wet tradesmen and joiners have fewer opportunities. One reason for this is that wet tradesmen need more practical skills than theoretical knowhow. Secondly, wet tradesmen are regularly guided and monitored by a separate technical team on site who have entered the construction industry via a different path. It appears that this said intermediate path functions as a blockage for the career development of wet tradesmen in the construction industry, because Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs (Maslow, 1943) is being restricted at this point.

2.9.2.4 Temporary nature of occupation

Work within the construction industry is, because of the nature of the industry, frequently of a temporary type. Due to its inherent nature of utilising a projectised environment (PMBOK, 2008), most of the recognised disadvantages (Usmani, 2013) of such a projectised environment are common within the construction industry at large. Such disadvantages can include:

• Authority and power can make a project manager egotistical

• The work environment can be stressful because a deadline is always present.

• Organisational resources may be duplicated due to the selfishness of project managers.

• Team members have a sense of insecurity because, once the project finishes, they may lose their jobs.

- Individuals commence to leave a project in its later stages if they can obtain a new project elsewhere.

- Replacement recruiting for vacant positions is difficult in the later stages of a project.

- A longer learning curve is required for the transfer of responsibility and in bridging the knowledge gap.

• If the project becomes prolonged, the costs of employees and equipment can increase.

• If an organisation has multiple projects, there will be poor communication and cooperation among the different project teams

2.9.2.5 Lack of social recognition

It is common to judge a person’s social status by his appearance in public. Despite their occupational skills and income, the dusty and undignified clothing worn by construction operatives commonly causes them to keep themselves away from the public. One example showing the social discrimination placed on construction operatives is that some restaurants close to ongoing construction sites sell “bigger, better, parceled food” at a discounted rate through a separate window in order to avoid construction operatives from entering their restaurants.

2.9.2.6 Non availability of recreation facilities

Although it is stated in the ICTAD Conditions of Contract (www.ictad.lk, 2015) that recreation facilities are a mandatory requirement, frequently proper recreation facilities are not provided on construction sites due to space constraints. The current situation does not appear to have reached an alarming and demanding level since many operational workforces find their own space that is suitable for group accommodation within suburban towns suitable for daily traveling. Companies sometimes offer reasonable sleeping spaces and supportive transportation mechanisms that are attractive to the work force because it increases their