2013 arcom mccarthy thomson dainty.pdf (222.62 kB)
Mainstreaming equality in construction: the case for organisational justice
conference contribution
posted on 2013-10-16, 10:00 authored by Chrissi McCarthy, Derek ThomsonDerek Thomson, Andrew DaintyDespite over 20 years of initiatives, research, and agendas the UK construction sector
has failed to embed equality into business priorities and approaches; with both women
and minority groups remaining under represented and unfairly treated in construction
trades and the professions. Literature in this area shows low levels of retention
amongst minority groups, high levels of discrimination and key talent from across the
population finding the sector unappealing due to its macho image and the lack of
diversity. We posit that, before equality can be realised in organisations, the majority
of employees must perceive a base level of fairness. To understand how this can be
achieved, a review of Organisational Justice is presented; a theoretical perspective
which can explain how to encourage co-operation across the workforce. In exploring
this we consider how the perceived focus on equality with respect to pre-existing outgroups
works against group differential theory and, therefore, question whether the
co-operation from the in-group must be necessary for any initiative to be successful.
History
School
- Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Citation
MCCARTHY, C., THOMSON, D. and DAINTY, A., 2013. Mainstreaming equality in construction: the case for organisational justice. IN: Smith, S.D. and Ahiaga-Dagbui, D.D. (eds.) Proceedings of the 29th Annual ARCOM Conference, Reading, UK, 2-4 September, pp. 40 - 49.Publisher
Association of Researchers in Construction Management (ARCOM)Version
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publication date
2013Notes
This is a conference paper. The publisher's website is at: http://www.arcom.ac.uk/Publisher version
Language
- en