Date of Award
8-2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Legacy Department
Construction Science and Management
Committee Member
Joseph Michael Burgett, Committee Chair
Committee Member
Roger Liska
Committee Member
Shima N. Clarke
Abstract
The Construction Industry in the last decade is riddled with issues relating to employment, workers shortage and human capital management. Although strategic Human resource management (HRM) has been suggested by researchers, its practicality and its suit towards different organization has been one of the reasons for organizations to shy away from these strategic approaches in HRM. Adding to this condition is that Companies need to now manage a work force that is different from previous generations and has different expectations in their career. The motive of this research is to identify the expectations and perceptions of those professionals that are entering the construction industry. The sample selected is students from Clemson University that are enrolled in the Construction Science and Management program. Through this study, the work values of construction management students are identified and trend wise inference based on construction experience and year of study in college is attempted. The Following are ranked as top 5 work values by the students: Provide Job security Provide a feeling of accomplishment Provides an opportunity to earn a high income Encourage continued development of knowledge and skills Permit advancement to high administrative responsibilities The perception of the students with the help of the 21 job characteristics is observed. Trend wise inference based on construction experience and year of study in college is observed. The following are the top 5 job characteristics of the Construction Industry as perceived by the students: Require meeting and speaking with many other people Provide a feeling of accomplishment Encourage continued development of knowledge and skills Require me to supervise others Provide me the opportunity to earn a high income A comparison was drawn between work values and perception of the students to check if they differ significantly, the study found that there was a statistically significant difference between work values and perceptions for 14 of the job characteristics. The study also found that there was a statistically significant difference between Dr. Moore’s sample and this study’s sample. In this comparison job characteristics relative to status and independence were more favorable to differ compared to comfort and security, and competence and growth. Through this study few general trends about the population were witnessed and there were differences between the values the students hold and how they perceive the industry. This study also found differences in work values between the samples representing two different timeframe. HR leaders should know more about the demographics of the current workforce and understand the gap between what the current students expect and what they perceive about the industry.
Recommended Citation
Venugopal, Avinash Prabhu, "Work Values and Perceptions of Entering Construction Professionals" (2016). All Theses. 2432.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/2432