Communication Skills for Construction Management Challenges

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by construction managers in Australia. The construction industry in Australia is one of the largest in the country, but faces significant hurdles that hinder extensive planning and multi-level company growth. The report identifies two major challenges: safety requirements and workforce issues. It highlights the importance of safety, citing worker deaths due to inadequate safety measures and financial losses from compensation claims. The report also addresses the shortage of skilled laborers, the need for innovative training methods, and the aging workforce. It emphasizes the need for companies to prioritize safety training, utilize technology, and improve workforce motivation to enhance efficiency and productivity. The report concludes that despite its leading position, the Australian construction industry must address these challenges to ensure future growth and success.

Communication skills
For construction management
Challenges faced by Construction managers in today’s Australia

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Australia holds up on one of the largest construction industries in the country. There are
different challenges faced by the firm operating in this industry. These challenges have not
allowed managers of the firms to plan extensively and ensure multi-level growth of the
company. These challenges are producing risk to the companies especially in the current
business environment that is highly volatile. Among the different challenges faced by the
industry, two of the major challenges that are confronting their growth are safety
requirements and problems related to workforce.
Safety needs to be priority of every industry and it is crucial that companies fill all the
requirements that ensure that proper safety is maintained at the workplace. Construction
industry faces this problem the most. According to (Gallagher 2017) There are many workers
that die at construction sites due to lack of proper safety measures. Sometimes it is the failure
of the company to provide all the requirements of safety and sometimes it is due to
negligence of the employees towards their safety. Due to high demand for the compensation
and insurance by the families and relatives of the people that die on site there is huge
unnecessary financial loss to the company which could have been easily
avoided.Construction industry has been poor in working towards the safety of an individual
and workers at the workplace. This is totallydue to the fact that safety is a costly affair. The
equipment that is required for the safety is of higher cost and since each company has large
numbers of employees attached with it hence the overall cost of operations goes to higher
levels.Infact the industry has enormous potential for wearable devices, like helmets and smart
glasses that can give visualization both in augmented and mixed reality (Gallagher 2017).
These visualization tools can provide improvements in accuracy, efficiency and safety. At the
same time it is also to be noted that most of the workers that is working in this industry works
on contract basis hence companies are not giving importance to their safety. They feel to be
the duty of contract companies to provide trainings regarding safety. In between companies
and contractors, it is the workers that are paying the price. The safety challenge has become
greater because in these days Australia has skyscrapers buildingswith innovative design. This
is making it further problematic for the company as they have to ensure that more appropriate
safety resources are being utilised in the construction industry.

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The major problem lies in the lack of safety training. Since construction demand is increasing
hence they require qualified construction experts and contractors. For maximising profits
companies are cutting corners on safety trainings. Many of the workers do not know how to
use the safety equipment appropriately and smartly in different situations. Companies are not
teaching what slightest of mistakes can cause them heavily.
For resolving this issue, companies need to use different types of technologies such as app
based safety training and other online mediums rather than just providing manual trainings
(Gallagher 2017). The use of VR technologies can be highly helpful in this regards. Company
needs to use innovative approach and advanced equipment to train all their employees. More
collaborative approach from both employees and firm will help them in achieving their
desired results (Francis and Lingard 2012).
Another challenge the Australian construction comanps are facing is the huge shortage of
skilled labourers. This nation is unable to produce enough professionals that are skilled and
has ability to handle their job roles. People who are skilled are demanding higher salaries
which companies are not willing to give hence they are forced to work with fewer skilled
workers. Companies require labourers that are capable of handling the advanced technologies
easily. Efficient use of technology will help the organisation to enhance the efficiency of the
work process which is crucial for improving the productivity of the organisation(Gallagher
2017). Since today, society is demanding for construction that is fast and has innovative
design hence companies will have to ensure that they have an adequate skilled workforce that
is capable of meeting these requirements. It is also seen that workers at the construction sites
are working for less hours especially in the time when they are actively engaged in their
work. There is a serious lack of motivation of the employees due to poor pay scale, reduced
compensation and benefits by companies. There is a lack of coordination between the
managers and the lower level employees which is bringing negativity at the workplace
(Townsend2011). This is also because of the fact that most of the companies have taken
contract labourers at the workplace.
Due to the lack of leaders, it is possible that firms may lose quality of their human resource.
Along with this there is a major problem in the workforce is that are around 14% of the

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employees are over the age of 55. The ageing society of Australia is a threat to the
construction industry as it requires young and energetic people in their workforce. It is
assumed that around one third to half of the people are going to get retired in the coming five
years and hence the industry will require additional 17,000 to 26,000 new apprentices that
will replace the people that are going to retire (Heaton, 2015).
Conclusion
From the above report it can be concluded that Australia holds one of the highest position in
constriction industries. Inspite of that, it faces numerous challenges that are very tough to
mitigate and they do not allow the managers to plan in an effective manner. This assignment
describes regarding the security issues faced by the workers. It describes the fact that
numerous workers die at their construction sites and this happens due to lack of sufficient
safety measures. The construction project faces a huge amount of loss due to these reasons
because the families of the victim demand a huge amount of compensation. Construction sites
have proves to be very week in planning proper and effective security plans for the workers
working in that particular site. The equipments that are necessary for the safety of the
workers, hence the construction sites do not take the risk of investing in it. For mitigating
these issues, the companies need to make use of numerous technologies such as application
based safety training as well as various online mediums. Proper planning and appropriate
usage of technology would mitigate most of the issues.

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REFERENCES
Ashworth, A. and Perera, S., 2018. Contractual procedures in the construction industry.
Routledge.
Francis, V. and Lingard, H., 2012. The case for family-friendly work practices in the
Australian construction industry. Construction Economics and Building, 2(1), pp.28-36.
Gallagher, B. 2017. How Technology is Changing the Construction Industry, CE TECH.
[Online] Available at: http://enewsletters.constructionexec.com/techtrends/2017/01/how-
technology-is-changing-the-construction-industry/. [Accessed on 26th April 2019].
Heaton, A 2015, ‘Is Australia Heading for a Construction Trade Shortage?’ Sourceable,.
[Online] Available at: https://sourceable.net/is-australia-heading-for-a-construction-trade-
shortage. [Accessed on 26th April 2019].
Townsend, K., Lingard, H., Bradley, L. and Brown, K., 2011. Working time alterations
within the Australian construction industry. Personnel Review, 40(1), pp.70-86.