By M. Loosemore, A. Dainty, H. Lingard

The nature of the industry's products and services Construction activity is extremely diverse, ranging from simple housing developments to highly complex infrastructure projects. However, all types of construction project, regardless of size, have some common characteristics, which include the following: their unique, one-off nature: unlike other sectors, where prototypes can be tested before real production gets underway, construction projects tend to be one-off, unique organizations that are designed and constructed to meet a particular client's product and service needs.

This can lead to significant risks for people working on a project, which largely arise from learning-curve problems associated with new work activities and ever-changing workplace relationships. Their tendency to be awarded at short notice: many construction projects are awarded following a period of competitive tendering, where possibilities for thorough planning are often limited.

Having been awarded a contract, a design consultancy or contractor has to mobilize a project team comprising an appropriate blend of skills and abilities to meet the project demands quickly. The resourcing function may need to respond to sudden changes in workload, as there can be no guarantee of how much work will be being undertaken at any particular time. Their reliance on a transient workforce: construction projects are, for the most part, constructed in situ.

Even with the increased use of offsite fabrication and the wider use of prefabricated components, the final product is normally assembled and completed in the required site location. This necessitates the employment of a transient workforce which can move from one project location to the next. This transience poses many problems for workers, such as longer working days, more expense in travelling to work and managing work-life balance issues, since their families may not be as mobile. Transience also arises within projects, since the composition of teams normally changes during different project stages, involving people from many organizations, backgrounds and locations.

Increasingly demanding clients: in recent years there has been a steady increase in the quality of service and product expected by clients procuring construction work. For example, in Australia it has been estimated that construction projects are being delivered in about half the time they were ten years ago.

Inevitably, this requires a considerable commitment from those working in the industry, which tends to manifest itself in unsafe working practices, long working hours and increased levels of stress. A male-dominated culture: construction is one of the most male dominated industries in virtually every developed society. Men dominate both craft trades and professional and managerial positions within the sector.

This reliance on male employment leads to many challenges, such as skills shortages caused by recruiting from only a portion of the population, difficulties in the management of equal opportunities and workforce diversity, and considerable challenges in terms of creating an accommodating atmosphere in which individuals' diverse skills and competencies are fully utilized.

These challenges require construction companies to balance project requirements with competing organizational and individual employee expectations, priorities and needs. It is the industry's inability to manage these competing demands effectively which has caused many of the enduring problems which plague the industry today. Focusing on project and organizational requirements at the expense of human needs will result in employee dissatisfaction, reduced commitment, industrial conflict, increased turnover, more accidents, deprofessionalisation, recruiting problems and a continued poor public image.

from "Human Resource Management in Construction

Projects Strategic and operational approaches"