Valuing People in Construction provides contemporary perspectives on the ‘glue’ that binds the construction process together; people. The book addresses people issues in the construction industry where behavioural outcomes impact upon business and project performance. The main proposition of the book is that as people continue to lead the completion of construction activities, their health, safety, and well-being should be seen as a priority, and valued by stakeholders. As employers and employees, the role of people in construction must be to strive for the improvement of individual lives and society. This edited collection, which is the first book to focus specifically on placing value on people in construction, focuses on people at work, gender at work, conditions at work, and respect at work. In addition to an editorial overview, the book presents tested and refined empirical work and case studies by leading construction researchers from Africa, Australia, and Europe. Essential reading for researchers, students and professionals interested in construction management, the sociology of construction, HRM in construction, gender, work and health studies.

Citizens do not feel empowered and do not feel they are adequately given the space to meaningfully participate in public governance. Clearly, citizens are not satisfied with the manner in which government is run. This is evident across the developed and developing world, as highlighted also by recent manifestation of discontent in Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. While past government reforms have tendentially focused on performance, efficiency, and productivity, recent developments in public governance have recognized the central role of individuals as 'citizens' rather than 'customers' in both the development and implementation of public policies. Although government remains indispensable to governance, citizen can and should play an active role towards solutions to recurring problems as well as emerging and future issues. A key way to ensure that governments truly reflect the will of the people, particularly the marginalized and the weaker groups of society, is by creating an environment where citizens are given democratic space to exercise 'voice', even in between elections. Citizen engagement in decision-making and public service delivery is key to development and to the improvement in the lives of people. The research explicitly selected cases from the largest populated continent in the world, a region where culturally, rights and duties of citizens as well as the power and authority of their political leaders have been significantly influenced by 'Asian values'. In particular, experiences in citizen engagement in India and Thailand have been respectively further influenced by social stratification (castes) and hierarchical proximity to the monarchy (sakdhina). Notwithstanding the extent of democratic values within which the two cases were implemented, both cases are indicative of the potential impact meaningful citizen engagement can have in the lives of ordinary people and carry with them potential for replication.

Valuing People and Technology in the Workplace: A Competitive Advantage Framework introduces a more proactive, strategic approach to bring employees into, and develop them within, an organization. Interpreting and accepting this concept requires managers to think of employees as they would think of technology. Technology, equipment, and systems are strategically aligned within organizations. Integrating the literature from strategic technology management, strategic human resource management, and human resource development and exploring how this integration can provide competitive advantage to organizations for better implementation of people and technology development initiatives is a potential solution. Valuing People and Technology in the Workplace: A Competitive Advantage Framework provides a comprehensive framework that can be used to develop and design case studies that could measure the identified values that people, technology, and strategy can provide to the organization. This book aims to serve as a guide for managers and leaders as they develop strategies to introduce new people and technology into the workplace.

Technology’s use has exploded, and many employees have been left behind during the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations are constantly trying to balance people and technology within the workplace. In today’s highly technological, globalized economy, it is essential that practitioners and researchers understand that people and technology do not exist in isolation from each other within the workplace. Valuing People and Technology in the Workplace: Ethical Implications and Imperatives for Success explains how philosophy, ethics, and systems theory influence the five values of people and technology development. The three main areas that are included to explain how philosophy, ethics, and systems theory relate to the five values are the three philosophical perspectives, diversity intelligence, and the workforce inter-personnel diversity talent management system. Covering topics such as ethics, organizational philosophical perspectives, and value creation model, this premier reference source is an essential resource for business leaders, human resource managers, entrepreneurs, technology professionals, students and educators of higher education, researchers, and academicians.

This Handbook seeks to examine and advance current understanding of the confluence of construction health, safety and well-being and the broad range of Industry 4.0 technologies in use in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. Globally, the construction sector accounts for more than 100,000 occupational fatalities annually. In many countries, reports of work-related accidents, injuries and illnesses are commonplace, and there is an urgent need to improve the occupational safety and health (OSH) outlook of the construction sector. The fourth industrial revolution presents opportunities to leverage modern technologies (e.g., big data, artificial intelligence, automation, sensors, AR, VR and robotics) to improve the poor OSH performance of the construction industry. However, embracing such technologies could also induce unintended adverse consequences for the safety, health and well-being of construction workers. Therefore, the realisation of the opportunities as well as the mitigation of potentially adverse consequences requires research-informed holistic insights around the union of Industry 4.0 and construction occupational safety and health management. This cutting-edge volume addresses a significant gap in literature by bringing together experienced academics and researchers to highlight the drivers, opportunities and drawbacks of the merging of Industry 4.0 with construction health, safety and well-being. After a detailed introductory section which highlights key issues and challenges, section one covers the application of a broad range of digital technologies; then section two discusses the application of industrial production and cyber physical systems in the context of construction safety and health management. Readers from a broad range of AEC backgrounds as well as safety professionals and technologists will come to understand how the technologies are applied and the resulting OSH benefits as well as potential drawbacks.

This book is the first to bring together academic and practitioner views of Value for Money (VFM). VFM has been used to assess whether or not an organisation has obtained the maximum benefit within the resources available to it. A concept used by the public sector to assess the benefits of major built environment projects, it has become a major tenet of public private partnerships, capital project infrastructure and civil engineering megaprojects. This book presents and discusses the various debates surrounding the concept of Value for Money. It provides an international perspective on VFM by drawing upon the existing and fast developing body of principles and practices for Capital Build Projects. Readers will gain a level of understanding of the issues involved, the challenges, opportunities and the support mechanisms and protocols required for implementation of VFM in capital building development. Ultimately, the book presents a protocol that has been developed to track and monitor the VFM of a capital project from day 1, an Equilibrium Testing Mechanism (ETM) developed by the authors. This testing mechanism allows each of the parties to a project to monitor their VFM position at any given stage of a project from the beginning to the end of the build stage and beyond as necessary. This book is both a useful reference for researchers and a practical guide for the construction and engineering industry.

The purpose of this book is to demonstrate how a Training-Within-Industry (TWI) Job-Program could reduce human factor-related harm in construction. The construction industry has a significant impact on issues relating to the health, safety, and well-being (HSW) of people in the workforce. It is important to acknowledge that workers' behaviour influences the safety management system (SMS) of construction projects either negatively or positively and that it is important for a management team to identify relevant behaviours and take appropriate action to solve problems. In most cases, accidents happen because of the results of human failure in the form of errors, violations and system failures. Human failure causes accidents and site management needs to reduce hazards that might cause such errors, violations and system failures on worksites. The chapters in the book address factors causing human failure on construction sites, how to mitigate errors and violations through SMS and ‘learning by doing’ and improving practice of using safety instructors on sites. The book closes with insights from a TWI-informed human failure reduction framework. This book provides valuable insights into safety management in a construction site context that can be applied to other areas. It is essential reading for safety managers, construction managers, researchers, and advanced students.

This book presents a state-of-the-art account of the recent developments and needs for project management in developing countries. It adds to the current state of knowledge on project management in general by capturing current trends, how they widen the content and scope of the field, and why there is a need for a specialist body of knowledge for developing countries. Eminent experts in this domain address the specific nature and demands of project management in developing countries, in the context of its scope and priorities, and discuss the relationships between this emerging field and established bodies of knowledge. The book also addresses the future of project management in developing countries and how this might influence mainstream project management. This important book will be an essential reference for practitioners, students, researchers and policymakers engaged in how to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of project management in developing countries.

Through research and proven practice, the aim of the International Conference of Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society (SEEDS) is to foster ideas on how to reduce negative impacts on the environment while providing for the health and well-being of society. The professions and fields of research required to ensure buildings meet user demands and provide healthy enclosures are many and diverse. The SEEDS conference addresses the interdependence of people, the built and natural environments, and recognizes the interdisciplinary and international themes necessary to assemble the knowledge required for positive change.

This edited book presents a significant and timely contribution to our understanding of a broad range of issues pertaining to COVID-19 and its relationship to occupational safety, health and well-being (OSHW) in the global construction industry. The editors first introduce the industry and its poor OSHW history before highlighting some of the broader impacts of the pandemic on the sector. The book is then divided into two sections. Section One focuses on the management of COVID-19 transmission risk. It captures insights, practices, technologies and lessons learned in relation to what has and is being done to prevent or mitigate the risk of COVID-19 transmission among the construction workforce. Construction Safety, Health and Well-being in the COVID-19 Era also details case studies, lessons and best practices for managing sites and workforces when infections inevitably do occur. Section Two brings together international chapters discussing the impacts of COVID-19 on the OSHW of the construction workforce both on and off-site, as well as the management of those impacts. Furthermore, this presents implications of the pandemic (at the short-, medium-, and long-term) for other performance measures of construction projects such as cost, schedule, quality and, most importantly, how the pursuit/non-pursuit of such performance measures have impacted/will impact the OSHW of construction workers and professionals in the industry. This book addresses the gap in literature by offering global perspectives on the OSHW impacts and implications of COVID-19 in the construction industry and will help its wide readership (including construction industry organisations, professionals, researchers, government bodies/policy makers and students) to understand a broad suite of issues pertaining to COVID-19 and its relationship to OSHW in construction.