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Creating social value within and between organisations
Published in Ani Raiden, Martin Loosemore, Andrew King, Chris Gorse, Social Value in Construction, 2018
Ani Raiden, Martin Loosemore, Andrew King, Chris Gorse
Equality of opportunity centres around the protection of groups of people on the basis of protected characteristics that have been identified in law. In the UK, age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation are the protected characteristics in law, as we identify in Chapter 2. Such protection by law is about a societal level case to treat everyone equally (Kraal, Roosblad and Wrench 2009); an external force driven by legislation. In the UK, the Equality Act also places duty on public sector employers to actively promote equality and foster good relations.
Groundwater governance for poverty eradication, social equity and health
Published in Karen G. Villholth, Elena López-Gunn, Kirstin I. Conti, Alberto Garrido, Jac van der Gun, Advances in Groundwater Governance, 2017
From the outset it is essential to differentiate between “equality” and “equity”. In everyday communication, they are often used synonymously, but for our purposes they are distinct. Equality is a legal term that is enshrined in the Universal Declaration Human Rights, article 1 of which states “All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. The first UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Water, Catarina de Albuquerque defined the two thus:
An investigation of work-related strain effects and coping mechanisms among South African construction professionals
Published in Construction Management and Economics, 2021
Paul Bowen, Rita Peihua Zhang, Peter Edwards
The research results indicate that physical fatigue, psychological frustration and sociological strain on personal and professional relationships were the most frequently experienced strain effects by construction professionals. As previously noted, fatigue has been a common complaint from construction professionals as a result of the demanding nature of the industry. Stress issues in relation to work pressure and work hours are underpinned by existing work culture and practices in the construction industry that foster “cut-throat” competition that increases in parallel with declining economic conditions. Construction organizations have to satisfy clients’ (sometimes unreasonable) demands in terms of deadlines and budgets in order to stay competitive and successfully bid for projects. These stress issues should be considered as systemic problems, which cannot be resolved by the efforts of a single player in the construction industry but require changes in work culture and practices through an industry-wide approach. Sunindijo and Kamardeen (2017) suggested that collaboration among influential industry stakeholders (e.g. regulators, major construction clients, large construction organizations, and industry associations) are needed to promote social responsibility and a duty of care, and to reform work cultures in the industry. At the individual organizational level, construction organizations and professional firms should consider providing their employees with more appropriate job resources such as job autonomy, schedule control and flexible work practices to help their employees better manage work-related stress (Bowen and Zhang 2020). In the construction project environment, professionals also frequently experience salient stressors of poor interpersonal relationships, high work dependencies, poor cooperation and ineffective communication and information sharing (Leung et al.2009, Cattell et al.2016, Ajayi et al.2019), adding to psychological frustration and sociological strains. Research evidence suggests that workplace social support is linked to the good mental health of construction professionals (Love et al.2010) and that a supportive work environment (e.g. emotionally and practically) prevents construction professionals from experiencing emotional exhaustion (Lingard and Francis 2006). Therefore, firms should regularly organize non-work-related gatherings and events to facilitate the development of positive interpersonal relationships and social support among employees (Leung et al.2011). In addition, organizations should investigate various strategies (e.g. regular project meetings, electronic communication platforms) that facilitate effective communication and cooperation among construction professionals to reduce stress. The research results also indicate that female professionals may experience gender-specific strain effects due to the male-dominant work environment. Organizations should implement strategies to develop a diverse and inclusive work environment that advocates gender equality in the industry. The introduction of sponsorship or mentoring programs can be useful for female professionals to seek guidance and support in the workplace (Naoum et al.2020).