Exploring Knowledge Workers in the Turkish Construction Sector

Atacan Akgün,Hakan Yaman

doi:10.3311/ppar.16015

Abstract

This research focuses on evaluating the potential of architects/engineers as Knowledge Workers (KW) operating in the Turkish construction sector. A survey to identify the presence of KWs was prepared and applied to 113 of 324 employees, including architects and engineers from 138 different large-scale Turkish contractor companies (head offices, design offices, technical offices and construction sites). The survey consists of two main sections that (1) recognise the profile of the participants and companies and (2) six sub-sections as communication, motivation, autonomy, possessing theoretical and practical knowledge, ability to access and use information, and intellectual ability. The results of the survey indicate that architects have a higher potential to be identified as KWs than engineers in the Turkish construction sector. Furthermore, the number of KWs among the design and head office workers is higher, because there are a higher number of architects working in these departments.The potential of being a KW increases in parallel to the level of education of the employees, which is determined from a Bachelor's degree and PhD degree. When examining gender statistics in the survey, women employees have higher scores than men. The findings of this study should guide the construction sector professionals in Turkey as well as those from other countries who seek to identify the KWs in the contractor companies. This research, with the approach and methodology, may provide better management of human resources by identifying and placing these valuable employees correctly.

Highlights

Significant and radical changes have taken place in building production organisations, especially in the last century
This study aims to determine the Knowledge Workers (KW) in large-scale contractors in the Turkish construction sector through a survey based on the specified characteristics of KWs
Construction companies should be especially aware of the value that they have developed to provide an advantage over their competitors, as the construction sector is a competitive environment in both labour and knowledge

Summary

Introduction

Significant and radical changes have taken place in building production organisations, especially in the last century. The understanding of construction management has had to change due to changing economic, technological and social conditions in the world. The sector has had to deal with issues such as the decomposition of design and construction, fragmented production methods, hostile relations and the reluctance to develop and use information technologies. The construction sector is in a difficult situation due to poor and unstructured training processes, management and implementation systems that require intensive procedures and in-house communication problems. The problems in the generation, control and sharing of knowledge, which has become the crucial component of the different phases of projects together with the increasing momentum of development, prevent the ideal conditions for obtaining high-quality products to a targeted budget and on time

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Conclusion