A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF WORKPLACE DIVERSITY ON THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Singapore’s construction industry has been shown through economy sector reports to be a low productivity sector in comparison to other local industries. The Singapore government has several initiatives and masterplans to improve construction productivity in the works. However, the plans mainly focus on the use of technology and the introduction of automisation. The workforce in the construction sector is an important driving and contributing force behind any growth and improvement in any company. This dissertation aims to examine the diversity aspect of labour in the workplace and construction productivity improvement through the development of a structural equation model. A total of 22 diversity factors were identified from the literature reviews. Survey questionnaires were distributed to the targeted respondents and the responses were analysed to investigate the diversity factors and their perceived project performance of the impact of the factors amongst projects of different characteristics such as project type, nature and cost. The top five diversity factors in terms of their significance were: (1) Lack of training, (2) Effective project planning and execution, (3) Qualified supervisors, (4) Efficient decision making and (5) positioning of experienced consultants. Using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) method, the hypothesized model indicated that two diversity categories namely skill and education and age and experience have a significant and strong correlation with construction productivity. The top 3 strongest correlation in the two categories respectively are the (1) Efficient decision making (2) Qualified supervisors, (3) Lack of training for skill and education and (1) Shortage of experienced labour, (2) More dependence on equipment and technology and the (3) High rate of labour turnover for age and experience. A discussion of each diversity factor was presented and recommendations were provided accordingly. The findings gave good grounds for making headway on the types of diversity factors that the government as well as local construction companies should take into consideration when making industrial and organisational reforms to improve their workplace cohesion and blend which can potentially improve construction productivity.