HRM Strategies to Enhance Construction Company Performance in NSW

This project investigates the influence of human resource management (HRM) on the performance of construction companies, specifically within New South Wales. The study aims to identify effective HRM strategies, focusing on job security, job satisfaction, and training and development. The research employs a qualitative data collection method, analyzing secondary data from scholarly journals, government databases, and other relevant sources. The project includes research questions addressing the extent of HRM's impact, the role of HRM practices, and specific practices used to enhance performance. The paper also includes a preliminary literature review, methods of data collection, and a Gantt chart outlining the project timeline. The goal is to provide insights into how HRM can be optimized to improve construction company outcomes, considering factors like employee empowerment, training needs assessment, and alignment of HRM strategies with company goals. Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students.

Running head: PROFESSIONAL PROJECT 1
Professional Project: Human Resource Management to Improve Construction Company in New
South Wales
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Introduction
Human resource management is the process of developing, hiring, evaluating and
motivating the workforce with the objective to realize organization goals. Organizational
strategies and goals form the base for making human resource management decisions (Bromiley,
& Rau, 2016). Research has shown that in the contemporary world leading corporations
understand that human resource management play a significant part on the organization’s bottom
line. However, the looming challenge is the level to which the HR management is developed to
assume a greater role toward the company’s strategy and contribution to formidable decisions
regarding the business growth (Collins & Clark, 2013). According to Delery and Roumpi (2017)
the success of a business is always in hypercompetitive markets less relies on the economies of
scale, capital and technology advantages. Instead, successful organizations depend more on
adaptability, novelty and speed that such competitive advantages brings particularly from human
resources. Apparently, the success of a business should always look at it human resource as the
most essential resource and not a burden.
Therefore, HR practices as well as systems should consists of the company’s human
resource decision support systems, which is the intent to make the workforce as the cornerstone
components to gain competitive advantage. In this essence, this paper will discuss the
approaches through which human resource management helps the manager in improve an
organization’s performance.
Aims and Research Questions
The aims of this paper is to explore a number of strategies that organizational human
resource management use in influencing the performance of a construction organization. In order

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to determine the effectiveness of human resource management toward realizing improved
business performance the paper will be guided by the following research objectives.
Research Objectives
1. To determine the extent to which human resource management will play to improving
construction company performance in New South Wales.
2. To find the role of human resource management in the practices used by New South
Wales Construction Companies to enhance performance.
Research Questions
The following research questions are used to seek for responses to the study in an attempt
to answer the research topic.
i. What is the extent to which human resource management will play to improving
construction performance in New South Wales?
ii. What is the role of human resource management in construction company performance in
New South Wales?
iii. Which human resource management practices are used to enhance performance in
construction companies in New South Wales?
Preliminary Critical Literature Review
In attempt to answering the research topic the paper will explore different approaches of
human resources resource practices by investigating the influence they pose toward Construction
company performance. According to Donate and De Pablo, (2015) past literature as well as
modern studies in the construction sector have underwent transformation in defining human

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resource management in addition to its roles within dissimilar firms. The essence of the changes
is to develop and gain competitive advantage in the dynamically challenging construction
settings. Guest (2017) argue that construction firms across the globe are faced with similar
settings hence the need for best human resource practices to improve their performance. In this
sense, a number of best human resource management practices are discussed in depth.
Job security satisfaction of the workforce in Construction Company
By considering the nature of the employment correlation, the most consistently cited
aspects is the level to which the workforce perceive their company in readiness to offer long-
term job security. Job security is crucial for organizational employees (Haider et al., 2015). As a
result of the rapid technological and information advancements in the highly volatile as well as
competitive setting, outsourcing of knowledge related services especially information technology
has become a critical strategy for many companies (Afolabi et al., 2018). Therefore, being in
possession of the sense of job security plays a significant role in maintaining equilibrium in the
employment relation, which most workers tend to prefer. Furthermore, the perception that the
manager has offered prospects for higher job security gives a comprehensive horizon based for
building a history of inducements as well as contributions (Jaafar et al., 2018). Indeed, these
inducements act as prerequisites for a stable social exchange.
In addition to job security, job satisfaction is paramount for improving performance. The
contemporary work practices have been found to result in greater job intensification that are
likely to lower job satisfaction. In a research conducted by Mishra (2017) the scholar found that
the position of an employee in the place of work is related to a certain socioeconomic aspect. The
scholar investigated whether a positive impact of the modern job design on job satisfaction is
independent from observed employee characteristics. When another research examined job

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satisfaction and job design it was found that there is a greater extent of job satisfaction amongst
employees of socioeconomic features as compared to employee who were suited for the job
design (Inkinen, Kianto, & Vanhala, 2015). Consequently, these studies (Mishra, 2017; and
Inkinen, Kianto, & Vanhala, 2015) reveals that describing features for enriched job design
influences job satisfaction independently from the real-time job design.
Job Training and development in Construction Industry
Zhong, Wayne, and Liden (2016) define training and development as a learning course
that entails acquisition of knowledge, and skills improvement through planning, and evaluating
of behaviors and attitudes to improve the performance of employees. Accordingly, job training
and development is a continuous worthwhile aspect in the modern organizational human
resource management (Mutandwa, Sigauke, & Muganiwa, 2008). Certainly, training normally
provide general information like organizational procedures and policies or employed as a
remedial practice with the target to correcting skills deficiencies and not as an approach to drive
exemplary performance. For successful corporations they undertake the competency of their
workers through human resource evaluation as a strategy to determine the weaknesses and
strengths of their workforce. Once the evaluation is performed the company then create a formal
training program plan to bring up knowledge levels across the organization. Indeed, through
training, employees are equipped with the necessary skills to perform better in their present
occupations (Suttapong, Srimai, & Pitchayadol, 2014).
Job training is key to achieving excellent performance in a number of ways such as
employee empowerment, training future leaders and increasing workplace engagement.
Managers that feel empowered in the place of work are more willing to effectively influence
employees and gaining their trust. Subsequently, those workers will develop greater feeling of

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sense of value, autonomy as well as confidence in their work. On the same note boredom in the
workplace develops harmful working habits and dissatisfaction feelings. Nonetheless,
development initiatives help to avert idleness in the place of work. Therefore, when construction
companies undertake regular training programs for its workforce it helps to develop continued
re-evaluation of their skills, and knowledge expansion.
Training needs assessment in construction training
Prior to establishing training systems project managers should be in a position to
understand the worker’s needs in regards to training. The training needs are first identified
through reviewing regulatory requirements as well as the training programs in existence by
undertaking a needs analysis (Paloniemi, & Piispanen, 2015). Salignac, Galea, and Powell
(2018) describes training need assessment as a procedure used to confirm the necessary
technology and knowledge to realizing organizational objectives. It is therefore significant to
assess the need of the company before providing the training to its workforce. The needs
assessment process should be an ongoing effort to identify existing organization needs in regards
to training to realize organizational growth goals. In the case of construction companies the
training system should focus on knowing their aims concerning its workforces and the period
they can take to understand analyzing the training needs (Nolan & Garavan, 2016). Indeed, this
allow the company to know its successive training system level after understanding its mission.
Aligning human resource strategy with company goals
As a result of the intense worldwide nature of competition in the construction industry,
companies are using all their existent resources to thrive in the industry. Consequently, due to the
competitive business setting, it has led to more emphasis on the alignment of all functional

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construction practices toward the attainment of strategic goals. The modern human resource
strategic roles has been advocating for two key features: making sure that human resource has
the ability to implement organizational strategy and ensuring programs like development and
training plans are in existence and are implemented effectively (Tabassi et al., 2016). For
instance, in the case of the construction company it should have an effective human resource
management department that will recruit, and hire employees with outstanding construction
qualities that align with the organization’s strategy.
Methods of Data Collection and Data Analysis
At the time of data collection the researcher will employ a quantitative data collection
method. Qualitative research method is a logical empirical investigative approach that uses
secondary data collected previously by other researchers on the research topic. The reason as to
why the research embraced a qualitative research is because it offers a rich as well as in-depth
picture that is to be captured about how human resource management influences construction
companies performance. In addition to that qualitative research has the ability to create openness
about the research topic hence it will inspire the researcher to expand their understanding about
the topic.
The researcher will analyze data by examining the qualitative data to derive an
exploration in regard to how human resource management in construction companies enhances
their performance of its workforce particularly female employees. The research will use
qualitative data analysis because it provide one with a clear understanding of the research
objective by revealing the themes as well as patterns in the data. Moreover, the researcher will
use a deductive approach to qualitative data analysis. This type of data analysis is based on a
structure predetermined by previous researchers. On top of that, deductive approach allows the

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researcher to use their research questions as a guide for classifying and analyzing the data. The
secondary sources of data that will be analyzed include scholarly journals on human resource
management performance in the construction industry, government construction databases such
as the Australia Bureau of Statistics and Labor Force Australia (Australia Bureau of statistics
2010).
Gantt chart
The timeframe for the project will begin from 1st August 2019 and run until 15th October
2019 as illustrated in the Gantt chart below.

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References
Afolabi, A., Ojelabi, R., Tunji-Olayeni, P., Fagbenle, O., & Mosaku, T. (2018). Survey datasets
on women participation in green jobs in the construction industry. Data in Brief, 17, 856-
862.
Australia Bureau of statistics (2010). 1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2009–10. [online]
Abs.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/39433889d406eeb9ca2570610019e9a5/8
026A14CB2C37260CA25773700169C51?opendocument [Accessed 30 Aug. 2019].
Bromiley, P., & Rau, D. (2016). Operations management and the resource based view: Another
view. Journal of Operations Management, 41, 95-106.
Collins, C. J., & Clark, K. D. (2013). Strategic human resource practices, top management team
social networks, and firm performance: The role of human resource practices in creating
organizational competitive advantage. Academy of management Journal, 46(6), 740-751.
Delery, J. E., & Roumpi, D. (2017). Strategic human resource management, human capital and
competitive advantage: is the field going in circles?. Human Resource Management
Journal, 27(1), 1-21.
Donate, M. J., & de Pablo, J. D. S. (2015). The role of knowledge-oriented leadership in
knowledge management practices and innovation. Journal of Business Research, 68(2),
360-370.
Guest, D. E. (2017). Human resource management and performance: a review and research
agenda. International journal of human resource management, 8(3), 263-276.

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Haider, M., Rasli, A., Akhtar, C. S., Yusoff, R. B. M., Malik, O. M., Aamir, A., ... & Tariq, F.
(2015). The impact of human resource practices on employee retention in the telecom
sector. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 5(1S), 63-69.
Inkinen, H. T., Kianto, A., & Vanhala, M. (2015). Knowledge management practices and
innovation performance in Finland. Baltic Journal of Management, 10(4), 432-455.
Jaafar, M., Arifin, K., Aiyub, K., Razman, M., Ishak, M., & Samsurijan, M. (2018).
Occupational safety and health management in the construction industry: A
review. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics,24(4), 493-506.
Mutandwa, E., Sigauke, N., & Muganiwa, C. (2008). Urban Women's Participation in the
Construction Industry: An Analysis of Experiences from Zimbabwe. Journal of
International Women's Studies, 9(3), 256-268
Nolan, C. T., & Garavan, T. N. (2016). Human resource development in SMEs: a systematic
review of the literature. International Journal of Management Reviews, 18(1), 85-107.
Paloniemi, K., & Piispanen, V. V. (2015). An alternative construction of opportunity-seeking
action for strategic entrepreneurship. International Journal of Human Resources
Development and Management, 15(2-4), 221-232.
Salignac, F., Galea, N., & Powell, A. (2018). Institutional entrepreneurs driving change: The
case of gender equality in the Australian construction industry. Australian Journal of
Management, 43(1), 152-169
Suttapong, K., Srimai, S., & Pitchayadol, P. (2014). Best practices for building high performance
in human resource management. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 33(2),
39-50.

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Tabassi, A. A., Roufechaei, K. M., Ramli, M., Bakar, A. H. A., Ismail, R., & Pakir, A. H. K.
(2016). Leadership competences of sustainable construction project managers. Journal of
Cleaner Production, 124, 339-349.
Zhong, L., Wayne, S. J., & Liden, R. C. (2016). Job engagement, perceived organizational
support, high‐performance human resource practices, and cultural value orientations: A
cross‐level investigation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(6), 823-844.