Ethics, Liability and Litigation

in Construction

Rajendra Niraula, PhD.

 Human Behavior
Biographical

Characteristics

Theory of Human Motivation

Theory

X, Theory Y and Theory Z

Hierarchy of needs

Biographical Characteristics
Finding and Analyzing the variables that
have impact on employee
Productivity
Absence
Turnover
Satisfaction

Biographical Characteristics
Many of the concepts such as
motivation, power, organization, politics,
culture are difficult to assess, but some
other factors are more easily definable
and readily available

Age
Gender
Marital status
Length of service, etc.
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Age
The older you get, the less likely you are to quit your
job.
In general, older employees have lower rates of
avoidable absence.
A belief exist that productivity declines with age.
However reviews of the research find that age and job
performance are unrelated.
A positive association between age and satisfaction
When the two types, professional and nonprofessional
employees, are separated, satisfaction tends to
continually increase among professionals as they age,
whereas it falls among nonprofessionals during middle
age and then rises again in the later years.
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Gender
There are few, if any, important differences between
men and women that will affect their job performance.
There are no consistent male-female differences in
problem-solving ability, analytical skills, competitive
drive, motivation, sociability, or learning ability.
Women are found more willing to conform to authority
and the men are more aggressive and more likely than
woman to have expectations of success
There is a difference in terms of preference for work
schedules. Some studies have found that women have
higher turnover rates; others have found no difference.
Women have higher rates of absenteeism than men do.
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Marital Status
No evidence to draw any conclusions
about the effect of marital status on
productivity.
Married employees have fewer absences,
undergo less turnover, and are more
satisfied with their jobs than are their
unmarried coworkers.

Tenure
Studies demonstrate that seniority to be
negatively related to absenteeism.
Tenure has consistently been found to be
negatively related to turnover.
Tenure and satisfaction are positively
related ???

Human Side
Mc Gregor
Theory

X and Theory Y

William Ouchi
Theory

Theory X
Assumptions:
Humans

inherently dislike working and try to

avoid it if they can
Because people dislike work they have to be
coerced or controlled by management and
threatened so they work hard
People dont like responsibility
Average humans are unambiguous and
need security at work
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Theory X
Application:
Shop

floor, mass manufacturing-production

workers

Management Style:
Authoritarian,

Hard management

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Theory Y
Assumption

People view work as being as natural as play and rest.

Humans expend the same amount of physical and mental
effort in their work as in private lives
Provided people are motivated, they will be self-directing to the
aims of the organization. Control and punishment are not the
only mechanism to make people work.
Job satisfaction is key to engaging employees and ensuring
their commitment
People learn to accept and seek responsibility, Average
humans, under the proper conditions, will not only accept but
even naturally seek responsibility.
People are imaginative and creative. Their ingenuity should be
used to solve problems at work
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Theory Y
Application:
Professional

services, Knowledge workersManagers and Professionals

Management Style:
Participative,

Soft management

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Theory Z
It is a Combined American and Japanese
management
Long

term employment
Collective decision making
Individual responsibility
Slow evaluation and promotion
Informal control
Moderately specialized career paths
Holistic concern for the employee including
family
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Theory of Motivation: Hierarchy of

Needs
Human motivated by unsatisfied needs
Self-Actualization
Esteem Needs
Social Needs
Safety Needs
Physiological Needs

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Self Actualization
mission of reaching one's full potential as
a person
Self-actualized people tend to
have motivators such as:
Truth
Justice
Wisdom
Meaning

only a small percentage of the population

reaches the level of self-actualization.

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Esteem Needs

Recognition
Attention (external motivator)
Social Status (external motivator)
Accomplishment (internal motivator)
Self-respect (internal motivator)

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Social Needs
Friendship
Belonging to a group
Giving and receiving love

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Safety Needs

Living in a safe area

Medical insurance
Job security
Financial reserves

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Physiological Needs
required to sustain life, such as:
Air
Water
Food
Sleep

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Discussion Questions

 A sales representative offers you a coffee

mug with his companys name and logo
on it. The value of the mug is NRs100.
Can you accept?
Does the answer to this question change
if this item is a Nrs. 1000 crystal bowl with
the name of the company engraved on it?
How about if there is no engraving on it?
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Lunch with sales representative

At fast food and pay for your lunch
Is this practice acceptable?
Does the answer to this question change
if you go to an expensive restaurants in a
5-star hotel? If the sales representative
pays for you?
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