Employee engagement to improve productivity in the management of construction projects.
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Date
2019
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Abstract
Construction contractors want to improve productivity, employee turnover and stakeholder management on construction projects to remain competitive. Employee engagement is a tool that can drive the achievement of these goals. Disengaged employees have been linked to higher absenteeism and turnover, lower attention to detail and lack of team integration, aspects that all impact negatively on project performance/productivity. At the heart of every project is a main contracting firm and leading their team is a construction manager. The construction manager is responsible for ensuring projects are well delivered and all stakeholders’ needs are met.
Construction managers play a key role in project delivery and therefore their engagement in their work and their focus on the right type of work has a significant impact on the outcomes of construction projects. Disengaged construction managers risk poor project execution and unnecessary losses for a main contractor. Literature has shown that employee engagement when used correctly can significantly improve employee turnover and create higher job satisfaction. This study assessed the existing
levels of employee engagement and perception of job design of construction managers within an existing major construction contractor. Through a review of literature, the study moreover identified critical work activities of construction managers for successful project delivery. The study used a quantitative approach and made use of an electronic email survey for primary data collection. A census survey was conducted, and data was collected from the full population of 11 construction managers. Data was analysed using SPSS. The data was presented in a combination of frequency and descriptive statistics. Overall employee engagement levels were found to be high amongst respondents. The lowest composite measure was for employee loyalty and the highest was for employee commitment. Perceptions of job design attributes were also high indicating that the work of construction managers is well designed. Information and processing achieved the highest rating while task significance scored the lowest. Recommendations to assist in increasing existing levels of employee engagement and job design included, greater commitment from organisational leadership to drive the agenda, training and career development and planning.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.