Multicultural Construction Research Articles

Effective Management of Multi-Cultural Construction Project Teams Issues and Strategies for Improving Team Performance

Effective Management of Multi-Cultural Construction Project Teams Issues and Strategies for Improving Team Performance

Portrayals of Indigenous peoples and the development of multiculturalism in Taiwanese citizenship education

ABSTRACT This article investigates how Indigenous peoples have been portrayed in citizenship education in Taiwan since the downfall of the authoritarian regime in 1987. The trajectory of citizenship curriculum development elucidates how attitudes towards cultural citizenship and multiculturalism came into play to form the narratives we find in schools. Four versions of the official curriculum from 1983, 1999, 2010 and 2019 and the textbooks authorised for use with each are examined. Interviews with curriculum developers are also conducted to provide explanations behind the curriculum design. Through content and discourse analysis, it is discovered that Taiwanese citizenship education has evolved along conservative, liberal, pluralistic and critical multicultural constructs, and that portrayals of the Indigenous population have swung from depicting invisible, archaic and mythical figures to showing visible contemporary faces. The latest curriculum has adopted ‘question-based’ and ‘inter-curricular communication’ strategies to go beyond simplistic carnival-like multicultural celebrations. These thought-provoking and counter-narrative features aim to bring out critical perspectives in class though the latest curriculum still has room for improvement in terms of its subtlety of intersectionality and its action-oriented design. This Taiwanese case can be an example to young democracies in how a critical framework can be incorporated into the curriculum-making process.

Coping strategies for work and cultural stressors in multicultural construction workplaces: a study in Australia

Existing coping theories typically position coping as a reactive approach to managing mental health. Intercultural coping was proposed to positively deal with stressors and alleviate the negative impacts of stressors on mental health outcomes in multicultural workplaces. This study aims to investigate the role of intercultural coping strategies in influencing the relationships between stressors and mental health outcomes in multicultural construction workplaces. Data were collected from 252 construction workers in Australia using online questionnaire survey. Data were analysed using the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique. The results revealed the moderating effect of positive coping strategies on the stressor-psychological outcome relationship. A worker who is open to cultural dissimilarity tends to suffer less the adverse effect of cultural stressors on mental health. A worker with cognitive complexity is less susceptible to the adverse impact of work stressors on mental health. Whereas, a worker who is performance-oriented is more vulnerable to the impact of work stressors on mental health. This study may contribute to the existing body of work by uncovering the moderating role of positive coping strategies and providing targeted and effective coping strategies in multicultural construction workplaces.

Stressors in the multicultural construction working environment

Due to the dynamic and complex nature of the construction industry, construction workers are often exposed to a range of stressors which are causative factors for mental health problems. Simultaneously, intercultural contact between workers in a multicultural working environment may aggravate mental health issues. A better understanding of stressors can contribute to the development of targeted measures for mental health prevention and promotion. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the correlation between stressors and mental health for construction workers in a culturally diverse working environment. Data were collected using questionnaires from 252 construction workers in Australia. The Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyse the collected data. The results revealed the significant correlations between stressors and mental health outcomes and indicated the most significant stressors from work, personal and cultural domains. The findings provide valuable insights for practitioners and policymakers on the development of mental health interventions for construction workforce in a multicultural context. Researchers could also benefit from an in-depth comprehension on the causative factors of psychological issues in the construction industry.

Influence of personal characteristics and environmental stressors on mental health for multicultural construction workplaces in Australia

Exposure to various stressors has resulted in a significant problem of mental health among the construction workforce. A culturally intolerant environment may aggravate mental ill health in a multicultural workplace. However, an underlying structural issue that has not been sufficiently addressed to date is the influence the crucial personal characteristics and environmental stressors have on mental health in the multicultural construction environment. This study aims to examine the role of personal characteristics and environmental stressors in construction workers’ mental health in the multicultural environment. Data were collected using an online questionnaire survey from 252 construction workers in Australia. The structural equation modelling (SEM) technique with partial least-squares estimation (PLS) was adopted to analyze the data. Results showed that workers’ mental health is not only influenced by stressors related to the work environment, but also by individual traits. Increased levels of cultural stressors tend to aggravate the adverse effect of work stressors on mental health. Work stressors are more likely to cause mental ill health for the individuals characterized by a higher level of aggressive, competitive, ambiguous, and impulsive personalities; whilst cultural stressors are less likely to cause mental ill health for those individuals. This research offers an innovative perspective on the relationships between crucial person-environment factors and mental health, and informs the practice of work health and safety in the multicultural construction workplace.

Theorizing to Improve Mental Health in Multicultural Construction Industries: An Intercultural Coping Model

Construction workers are exposed to a range of stressors that lead to mental ill-health. In a multicultural construction workplace, the interactions between workers with different cultural backgrounds may aggravate mental health issues. Existing studies on coping typically focus on a reactive approach to managing stressors in the absence of cultural-related factors. This approach is inadequate in addressing mental health issues in a culturally diverse construction workplace. This paper presents a critical review that synthesizes and analyses theories and models of stress and coping, proactive coping, occupational stress, acculturative stress, and intercultural competence to develop a conceptual model for managing mental health in a multicultural construction workforce. The proposed model relies upon a positive coping mechanism, i.e., intercultural coping, to manage stressful events during the entire coping process in a multicultural workplace, towards achieving sustained good mental health. The proposed conceptual model contributes to the development of coping theories and positive psychology approaches and provides effective coping strategies to enhance psychological well-being in a multicultural context.

Articulating ‘otherness’ within multiethnic rural neighbourhoods: encounters between Roma and non-Roma in an East-Central European borderland

ABSTRACT The issue of otherness in the social construction of ethnicities and rural multiculturalism has long attracted the attention of scholars. By following a postcolonial background, this paper investigates the social construction of Roma as ‘other’ in a multicultural landscape (the Romania-Serbia border) using interviews with participants of different ethnic groups. This paper addresses the following questions: (i) Is the Roma population in this area completely spatially segregated? (ii) How do different kinds of prejudice against Roma operate within this multicultural context? (iii) How does discrimination against the Roma interface with power relations, in particular political power in the area? The findings indicate that, alongside ethno-nationalist racism, Roma face prejudice from apparently more ‘progressive’ groups, who accept multiculturalism, yet blame the Roma for their own disadvantaged social and economic position on the grounds of a failure to integrate that is pictured as ‘backward’.

Cultural tourism of the industrial age: global and local perspectives

The purpose of the article consists of the study of trends in the development of cultural tourism of the industrial era. The methodology is the application of historical, bibliographic, and analytical methods. The scientific novelty of the work is to justify the appropriateness and application of the new concept of cultural tourism, with the creation of even more specialized forms of tourism, one of which, namely creative or creative tourism. Conclusions. The study of problems within the framework of cultural tourism requires the use of an interdisciplinary approach, which acquires its clear features when choosing a subject of study. The problems of the interaction of culture and tourism, the cultural trajectories of modern tourism serve as a structure for analyzing the construction of identity and multiculturalism. The socio-cultural practices of modern tourism, developed in the context of global glocal processes, allowed us to systematically analyze and outline the paths for the positive practical implementation of its explicit and hidden capabilities.

Kejawen, Multiculturalism, and Principles of the Qur’an: Transformation and Resupposition of QS. al-Kafirun (109): 6 in Urip Sejati Community of Yogyakarta

This article focuses on the idea of multiculturalism in Javanese mythical believing (Kejawen) communities within the paradigm of Qur'anic studies. The discussion of the research emphasizes the axiological shift of QS. Al-Kafirun (109) in the milieu of Urip Sejati community of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. “Urip Sejati” is a Javanese religious society that has developed as a minority group because it is domiciled near to various centers of Islamic civilization as pesantren, historic mosques, and colleges in Krapyak. This research has been held since 2018 by doing literary studies, observations, and interviews through the leaders of Urip Sejati community.The structure of this article features a complex process of analysis on transmission and transformation of Qur'anic interpretations in the paradigm of sociology. It also analyzes the patterns of the phenomenon in a synchronic and diachronic paradigm to get through a worldview reading. On its formal form, the reception of Q.109: 6 in the membership of Urip Sejati contains informative and performative suppositions. This verse became a major foundation for the construction of multiculturalism because it contains the doctrine acknowledged as a verse that supports pluralities.

РОЗВИТОК КУЛЬТУРНОГО ТУРИЗМУ В ЕПОХУ ПОСТІНДУСТРІАЛЬНОГО СУСПІЛЬСТВА

The aim of this paper consists in the study of trends in the development of cultural tourism of the post-industrial era. Research methodology. The author applies historical, bibliographic and analytical methods. Results. Art is an extremely important component of the tourism product, and cultural tourism is based on experience, according to which tourists become involved in the creative process, stimulating the activities presented to them. Tourism can qualitatively improve the processes of organizing and conducting games, festivals, competitions, exhibitions, giving those aesthetics and making them in the historic chronicle of the city. Festivals and holiday events play an important role in the development of cultural tourism. They are more accessible to the mass spectator because they are held in open venues, offer choices and are perceived as a lively and genuine holiday, inspiring their own self-improvement. Novelty. The author gives a rationale for the appropriateness and application of the new concept of cultural tourism, with the creation of even more specialized forms of tourism, one of which, namely, creative tourism. The practical significance. The study of issues within the framework of cultural tourism requires the use of an interdisciplinary approach, which acquires its clear features when choosing a subject of study. The interaction of culture and tourism, the cultural trajectories of modern tourism serve as a structure for analyzing the construction of identity and multiculturalism. Socio-cultural practices of modern tourism, developing in the context of global processes, have provided opportunities to systematically analyze and identify ways of positive practical implementation of its explicit and implicit opportunities. The material culture of the industrial age in the conditions of rapid development of the information society is considered as a historical resource that needed to be preserved and reused, and as a new direction of development of the tourism industry. Cultural tourism has become the main segment in most tourist destinations, but recently the focus has shifted from a purely quantitative increase in demand for the consumption of cultural and attractions to qualitative changes in the nature of this demand, which is based on the inherent desire to see and know parts of the world. In the modern literature on culture emphasizes its material component (buildings, structures, artifacts, works of art, etc.) and its elusive part (traditions, norms of behavior, beliefs, ideas, symbols, language, etc.). In this regard, for anyone, cultural tourism is not just an opportunity to get acquainted with some object of culture, but also to understand its interpretation, to learn new meanings through the environment, to assess the context (feel the atmosphere of the place), in other words, learn about the culture of the place and its inhabitants.

Development and initial validation of the Therapist Cultural Comfort Scale.

The development and initial validation of a client-rated measure of therapist cultural comfort (the Therapist Cultural Comfort Scale [TCCS]) is reported. The first phase of the study involved content validation of the initial pool of items via consultation with (a) focus groups of doctoral student therapists and (b) experts in the field of multicultural counseling and psychotherapy. A 56-item pool generated during this phase, together with instruments used to gauge convergent and incremental validity, were administered to a community adult sample of current psychotherapy clients (N = 889). Exploratory factor analysis suggested 2 subscales representing negative and positive indicators of therapist cultural comfort. Item response theory principles guided final selection of subscale items. Analyses suggested good factor stability and reliability of the 13-item TCCS as well as strong measurement invariance across racial/ethnic minority status and gender. Total and subscale scores related as expected with other measures of multicultural constructs (cultural humility, missed cultural opportunities, and multicultural competencies). Generally, TCCS total and subscale scores also predicted working alliance and treatment progress above and beyond the effects of therapist general comfort. There were few differences in clients' perceptions of therapist cultural comfort based on client demographic characteristics. Implications for research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Contemporary Israeli Theory and Philosophy of Education: Major Trends and Practical Implications in the Multicultural Construction of Israeli Education

Contemporary Israeli Theory and Philosophy of Education: Major Trends and Practical Implications in the Multicultural Construction of Israeli Education

Improving performance of construction projects: multi-cultural perspective

This paper reveals the national culture of the migrant construction employees in the UAE. The study is based on the national culture dimensions proposed by Hofstede. These include the power distance index (PDI), individualism (IND), masculinity (MAS), the uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) and long term orientation (LTO). The data was collected through observations, narratives and semi-structured interviews. The research covers multi-cultural construction team members from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. The results show Indian construction employees were having high UAI, Pakistani employees showed high MAS, Bangladeshi employees revealed low LTO and IND and Chinese construction employees showed high IND and LTO. The study suggests that the management of cultural differences may help the successful completion of projects, which could be beneficial for both the migrant sending country and the host country and also for the individual migrant and his family.

Multiculturalism and Javanese Ways of Behaving as Reflected in Umar Kayam’s Works of Fiction

This study aimed to describe the construction of multiculturalism in Umar Kayam's works of fiction in terms of the forms of multiculturalism, the factors causing multiculturalism and the effects of multiculturalism. This study used sociology of literature approach that sees literature as a reflection of society. There were three short stories and two novels that became the subjects of this study. They were Seribu Kunang-kunang di Manhattan (1988), Sri Sumarah, Bawuk (1988), Para Priyayi (1991), and Jalan Menikung (1993). The results showed that (1) the forms of multiculturalism found in Umar Kayam’s works are recognition of difference, democracy, justice and equality before the law, cultural values and ethos, unity in diversity, respect for other’s ethnicity and nationality as well as religious belief, implementation of cultural philosophy, appreciation of the private and public domain, respect for human rights and freedom to choose culture in a community; (2) the causes of multiculturalism are migration, intra-ethnic and inter-ethnic marriage, occupation, and devotion to somebody/"ngenger", (3) the effects of multiculturalism are reflected in the tolerant nature, respect for individual or group of people, surrendered life, willingness to help others, humility, and respect for religious beliefs.

Documentary incursions into New Zealand’s multiculturalism: The case of Here to Stay

Abstract This article examines the New Zealand television documentary series Here to Stay (2007–2008) and its construction of Pacific, Chinese and Indian identities in the context of New Zealand’s multiculturalism. It argues that the series introduces new ways of looking at the country’s multicultural make-up, which appear to suggest a shift from previous documentary productions, but eventually makes a number of slippages in its presentation of such communities that continue to reinforce similar notions of national identity. I consider three aspects in particular: the contradictions between the celebratory and the critical contents of the narrative; the simultaneous construction of Chinese, Pacific or Indian identities as both diverse and homogeneous; and the tensions between the series’ superficial construction of multiculturalism and the narrative’s explicit or implicit critique of such constructions. Whereas these ambivalences seem to reflect official approaches to the management of multiculturalism, revealing the unresolved tensions between the requirements of commercial television and the role of documentary in the formation of national identity, I argue that they can nevertheless serve to engage viewers in a critical revision of superficial constructions of the multicultural.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Mallinckrodt et al. developed the measure Everyday Multicultural Competencies and combined its items with those in the Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy to form a new scale to assess college multicultural programming. Mallinckrodt, Miles, and Recabarren used this scale as an example to provide recommendations for using focus groups and item response theory (IRT) in instrument development. In this commentary, we focus on two areas of major concerns: (a) paradigmatic and methodological issues pertaining to the use of mixed methods research design, focus groups, and IRT in developing psychological instruments aiming to assess multicultural constructs and (b) the importance of attending to the multidimensionality and context of these constructs. We believe it is important for future researchers to provide a thorough accounting of these paradigmatic and methodological issues in their studies and a clear explication of the target construct in scale development research.

A Review on the Effectiveness of Safety Training Methods for Malaysia Construction Industry

Safety issues have become a vital issue in the management of facilities in the construction industry, as the labour-intensive construction industry is particularly regarded as one of the most unsafe industrial sectors worldwide. To increase workplace safety, Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) training has been introduced and pursued. Based on previous research, training methods range from less to more engaging. This paper has reviewed the research from 2006 to present done on effectiveness of different training methods as the first investigation research was carried out in 2006. The literatures were searched through multiple electronic databases for published peer-reviewed articles. Findings have suggested that both training methods were able to impart safety knowledge and safety awareness to the workers; however, more engaging training methods would be more effective on training outcomes. Nevertheless, it was noted that those research projects did not take into consideration on the multiculturalism issue where language communication problem exist. Hence, this research proposes a mix mode of less and more engaging training methods to be applied in a multi-cultural workplace to enhance the effectiveness of training outcomes. This review may provide information on effective safety training methods to be applied in the multi-cultural construction industry.

Implementing Multicultural Ethics

This article addresses the need for family counselors to examine the application of new constructs to counseling ethics training. The authors believe that current ethics training is deficient in integrating high-level cognitive decision models and multicultural constructs. The authors challenge family counselors to expand their cultural perspectives in ethical decision making and cease ethics training that is inadequate to meet the needs of a diverse society.

Multicultural large construction projects: the key role of trust

This paper aims to explain why trust is regarded as the cornerstone for successfully leading a large multicultural construction project, and to understand the interdependency of developing trust on different levels, interpersonal, intergroup and inter-organisational level. Issues like increasing employees self esteem, publicly acknowledge partners’ contribution, professional skills, caring attitudes and emotional intelligence helps in developing interpersonal and institutional trust during the construction project execution. The methodology applies a qualitative research. It is based on an Austrian case study which objective was to build an electricity storage power plant over five years. The research technique uses in-depth interviews with engineers who have been working in different fields of the project and participant observation. The research provides recommendations that can be taken by companies to prepare their employees in advance before the actual work begins helping them to save project costs, time, facilitate knowledge transfer and the overall project quality.

The Effect of Cross-Cultural Uncertainty and Complexity within Multicultural Construction Teams

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine challenges faced by senior construction managers in managing cross-cultural complexity and uncertainty. The rationale was to identify the key strategies that are considered essential for managing cross-cultural complexity and uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach – Interviews with 20 senior construction managers, ten in Kenya and ten in the UK, were recorded, transcribed and entered into the qualitative research software NVivo. Validity and reliability were achieved by first assessing the plausibility in terms of already existing knowledge on some of the cultural issues raised by participants. The findings were presented to the participants through workshops and group discussions. Findings – The emerging key issues suggested that project leaders need to learn how to control their own characteristics and to use them selectively. An effective multicultural construction project team should focus on team output and attributes that characterise a multicultural team as a social entity. Practical implications – Findings indicate that the role of construction project managers has significantly changed over the past two decades. In order to deal with cross-cultural uncertainty, project leaders must have superior multicultural and interpersonal skills when managing global multicultural heavy engineering projects. Originality/value – The research shows that leaders of global construction project teams need a good understanding of their culture, environment and the value of their individual contributions.