Management strategies to harness cultural diversity in Australian construction sites - a social identity perspective

Martin Loosemore,Florence T T Phua,Melissa Teo,Kevin D Dunn

doi:10.5130/ajceb.v12i1.2433

Abstract

Construction sites around the world employ large numbers of people from diverse cultural backgrounds. The effective management of this cultural diversity has important implications for the productivity, safety, health and welfare of construction workers and for the performance and reputation of firms which employ them. The findings of a three year, multi-staged study of cultural diversity management practices on construction sites are critiqued using social identity theory. This reveals that so called “best-practice” diversity management strategies may have an opposite effect to that intended. It is concluded that the management of diversity on construction projects would benefit from being informed by social identity research.

Highlights

Major construction projects in most countries employ large numbers of ethnic minorities (Ofori 1994; Hay 1996, Loosemore and Lee 2003, Gale and Davidson 2006, Dainty et al 2007)
While the research reported here has been undertaken in Australian construction industry, the findings are of relevance to construction industries elsewhere given the workforce demographic and institutional similarities between them
Our findings indicate that construction workers take the cultural diversity of the industry for granted, are optimistic and positive about diversity and have cross-ethnic experiences which generally leave them happy for further contact

Summary

Introduction

Major construction projects in most countries employ large numbers of ethnic minorities (Ofori 1994; Hay 1996, Loosemore and Lee 2003, Gale and Davidson 2006, Dainty et al 2007). In Australia, Loosemore et al’s (2008) survey of 1150 site operatives found that 57% spoke a language other than English at home, 54% had been born in another country and 70% of parents had been born in another country. Certain groups are more likely to be seen as problematic by others and that intolerance towards them was more likely to be expressed by those who did not speak a language other than English. Cultural differences and stereotypes play a major role in shaping workers’ perceptions of other groups. Intolerance towards Asian-Australians mostly occurs on the grounds that Asian-Australians are perceived to dramatically reduce safety standards, wages and professional quality on site. Other research by Dunn et al (2009) indicate that these intergroup attitudes and perceptions might be associated with and influenced by tensions between the two groups within broader society, where similar attitudes are often expressed

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