Human Resource Management in the Nigerian Construction Firms: Practices and Challenges

Abstract

Improvement of human resource management is critical to overall productivity and cost effectiveness in the construction industry. This study assesses the current human resource management practices in the Nigeria construction organisation and the challenges confronting it. Questionnaire survey was adopted using purposive sampling technique. Ninety eight human resource managers and construction professionals in two categories of construction organisations (client organisations involved in real estate development and contractor organisations) were sampled. The results reveal that prevailing recruitment practices are placement of the right staff in the right department for the achievement of company general goals, and screening of candidates for vacant positions. Most common training and development practices involve inducting, orienting and training newly recruited employee on software and use of tools, and assigning staff based on their skill and expertise.Provision of appropriate/modern working tools and equipment and provision of incentives and benefits to staff are prevailing motivation and labour union practices. The study further identified:competition for global mobile talents, labour turnover, recruiting the right person for a specific position, wages and compensation as some of the challenges facing HRM practice in Nigeria.The study concludes that recruitment and selection practices in the construction organisation are distinctly different from those of the manufacturing and banking industry and it centres on selection of skilled and technically competent personnel for organisation’s general goal. The study recommends that future study should assess the impact of the identified human resource practices on productivity and project performance.

A confirmatory factor analysis of the challenges of effective management of construction workforce in South Africa

“…For example, in Malaysia, Othman et al (2012) noted that amongst other issues, insufficient training of employees tends to hamper the effectiveness of HRM practices. A similar observation has been made in India (Samuel and Timmaraju, 2015), Iran (Tabassi and Abu Bakar, 2009) and Nigeria (Ameh and Daniel, 2017). To improve the training of the workforce, both short-term and long-term training of construction workers and government support through the provision of incentives or policies that will encourage self-learning through certification of fitness for occupation in the project has been suggested (Tabassi and Abu Bakar, 2009).…”

“…Furthermore, Hanif and Imran (2017) mentioned that issues surrounding training and retaining skilled workers are a critical challenge in India's construction industry. Ameh and Daniel (2017) have noted that HRM is challenged by the high employee turnover that has characterised most developing countries' construction industries. In South Africa, Nkomo and Thwala (2009) concluded that there is a high rate of labour turnover.…”

Assessment for acceptance of accounting, marketing and office technology management software applications for instructional delivery among business education lecturers in North-east Nigerian Universities

“…The author further reiterated that the development of quality, functional and adequate skills and competencies is one of the features of business education programme. In the same vein, Ameh and Barinem (2016) argued that business education is in dire need of effective and efficient evaluation that can assist in bridging the discrepancies between the theory and practice. Similarly, Ajunwo (2017) posits that there is need for taking practical steps in teaching business education students with the view to acquire the necessary competencies of operating relevant software applications in the business world.…”

The Impact of the Technicians’ Skills Gap on the Nigerian Construction Industry: An Investigative Study

“…In addition, the construction industry originally contributed between 5.8% of the Nigeria GDP in the 1980s, before it declined to 1.4 in 2010 and 4% in its current state in (Oluwakiyesi, 2011;Ihua-Maduenyi, 2018). The decrease in the contribution to the nation's GDP is due to several factors, which includes inadequate training and skills development, motivation and labour relation practices, poor planning, problems of finance, corruption, recruitment, and selection practices (Oseghale, et al, 2015;Tunji-Olayeni, et al, 2017;Ameh & Daniel, 2017). More so, the rate at which buildings collapse in Nigeria today is increasing daily and sadly to say that this failure in some of the buildings occur during construction work and use, which needs immediate attention (Egunjobi & Adebayo, 2016).…”

“…This has affected the performances of the industry which led to low and consistently poor productivity over the years. In addition, the quality of workers' skills is another pressing issue in the Nigerian construction industry and is already having serious implications for both the industry and the Nation's economy (Oseghale, et al, 2015;Ameh & Daniel, 2017). There are several studies addressed the impact of training and skills development on the output of the construction industry in Nigeria.…”