An initial investigation on the challenges of managing construction workforce in Saudi Arabia

Global Congress on Construction, Material and Structural Engineering 2017

材料科学;土木建筑工程

Al-Emad, N.^1 ; Rahman, I.A.^1

Jamilus Research Centre, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Parit Raja, Johor, Batu Pahat

86400, Malaysia^1

关键词: Communication barriers;    Communication skills;    Construction professionals;    Construction projects;    Construction stages;    Construction workers;    Construction workforces;    Problem solving skills;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/271/1/012033/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1757-899X/271/1/012033

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

Most of the construction workers in Saudi Arabia are foreigners from several countries having different knowledge, skills and cultures. These create challenges to administer the workers in ensuring project success. This paper presents an initial investigation to uncover the challenges faced by construction professionals in managing construction workforce in Saudi Arabia. It describes insight processes of handling the workforce during planning stage, recruitment procedures and construction stage based on interview with senior manager who are well experienced in handling mega construction projects in Saudi Arabia. The interview was carried out in semi structured mode where the interviewee was given ample time to express the experiences encountered in dealing the workforce issue. This preliminary work able to identify among important issues related to construction workers are restrictions to non-Muslim skilled workers, limited visa quota, being away from family, delay in salary payment, cheating of workers skill's status, safety issues, communication barriers and living conditions. Hence, these issues require quality leadership attributes such as continuous empathy with workers, respectful, trustful, sincere, reliable, good communication skills and problem solving skills. These findings are useful to construction practitioners and also research work related to construction leadership in handling worker's issues.