Research Proposal Assignment Sample

Research Proposal: Effective Strategies To Reduce The Impacts Of Skilled Worker Shortages In The Construction Industry Assignment

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1.0 Introduction Of Research Proposal Assignment Sample

In this modern era, the construction industry has huge demand but It faces challenges in terms of shortage of skilled workers. The construction industry is a complex organization that requires various skills units and is distributed widely. The major challenge that the industry faces in recent times is passing and recruiting critical knowledge and information to the next generations because most of the workers in the industry don’t have proper skills and knowledge. This problem in the construction industry has been researched and examined by various researchers and it is found to be one of the most important and increasing problems in recent times because of the growing population the demand for advanced construction is high. There have been different reasons for the labor shortage in the industry such as shifting of the workers to other industries and retirements. The research has been oriented towards the proposed strategies during the initial phase of the construction to decrease the impact and the aim of this research work is to find effective strategies taken by the contractor or designer at the initial phase to decrease the impact.

1.1 Background

There are numerous reasons which contributed to the growing skill gap in the construction industry in the UK. This has been a recurring problem in the UK for decades. One of the prominent reasons is the aging population in the industry, where major portions of the worker are retired due to the age-related issue. The construction industry is falling behind to get young people to work in this sector (Silva, et al. 2018). The construction sector in the UK is the less digitized sector and it required much physical strength of the worker. Due to all these factors, young people are not interested in this sector to grow their careers. The construction company is not investing much in the skill training of the worker; this is also the reason behind the skill gap. After Brexit, the situation became worse because of the laws related to immigration. The skilled workers have to leave the country post-Brexit.

1.2 Justification for the research

There are various initiatives taken and suggested by many researchers and scholars to decrease the impact of the storage of labor in the industry, but most of it focused on enhancing the level of skills of the worker through proper training (Rahim, et al. 2018). This issue in the construction business has been explored and examined by numerous researchers, and it has been identified as one of the most important and developing difficulties in recent times, owing to the high demand for sophisticated buildings due to the growing population. The shortage of skilled workers is not the major concern only in the construction industry; almost every industry faces the same problem in terms of skilled labor issues. In the increasing modernization and urbanization construction industry has numerous growths and this problem has to be mitigated with the proper strategic plan. The research paper is expected to provide a proper mitigation plan to the construction industry.

1.3 Research Rationale

What is the issue?

The current shortage in the skilled workforce in the construction industry creates a lot of concerning issues in the modern era. The research is going to be done on this topic to find the proper strategies to decrease the impact.

Why it is an issue?

Due to the shortfall in the skilled workforce in the construction industry, many companies, and the contractor are not able to complete a project within the time and budget, delay in a project is common. These setbacks in the company and budget are blowouts. All of these sufferings are because of the storage of the skilled workforce.

Why it is an issue now?

The above figure 1 shows that there is a huge gap between the forecasted workforce and the required workforce in the UK over the years this labor gap will increase.

The research work will be shed light on

The research work will be shed light on the strategies to mitigate the effect of the shortfall of the skilled workforce in the house building industry.

1.4 Importance of study

The topic of the research is very important, as due to the shortfall of the skilled workforce in the house building industry faces huge losses and cannot deliver a project within the time limit and budget. Proper mitigation strategies to decrease the shortage of skilled workers in the industry are very important to deal with the issue because the construction industry has huge demand in this modern era and growing populations (Nazir, et al. 2020). The shortage of skilled labor is not the major concern only in the construction industry; almost every industry faces the same problem in terms of skilled labor issues. By attaining all the objectives of the study, the research could help the industry (pdfs.semanticscholar.org, 2021).

1.5 Research aim and objectives

Aim

The main aim of this study is to find the effective strategies taken by the contractor or designer at the initial phase to decrease the impact of the shortfall of skilled workers in the construction industry 

Objectives

The Objectives of this research are as follows:

• To exercise the current scenario of the shortfall of the skilled workforce in the house building industry in the United Kingdom (UK).
• To identify the reasons for the shortfall of the skilled workforce in the house building industry.
• To find the impact of the shortage in the industry as well as in the country due to the shortage of skilled labor.
• To suggest suitable mitigation methods to overcome this issue.

1.6 Research questions

1. What are the causes behind the shortfall of skilled workers in the house building industry?
2. What are the effective strategies taken by the contractor or designer at the initial phase to decrease the impact of the shortfall of skilled workers in the housebuilding industry?
3. What are the most effective strategies to deal with this issue?

The research has to be done in such a way that it gives the authentic answer to the research questions easily. The method of the research has to be considered to match the research questions and the objectives.

1.7 Research hypothesis

H1: It is possible to study the current scenario of the shortage of skilled workforce in the house building industry in the United Kingdom (UK).

H0: It is not possible to study the current scenario of the shortage of skilled workforce in the house building industry in the United Kingdom (UK).

H2: It is possible to identify reasons for the shortfall of the skilled workforce in the house building industry.

H0: It is not possible to identify reasons for the shortfall of the skilled workforce in the house building industry.

H3: It is possible to find the impact of the shortage in the industry as well as in the country due to the shortage of skilled labor.

H0: It is not possible to find the impact of the shortage in the industry as well as in the country due to the shortage of skilled labor.

H4: It is possible to suggest suitable mitigation methods to overcome this issue.

H0: It is not possible to suggest suitable mitigation methods to overcome this issue. 

2.0 Literature Review

Different researchers surveyed and identified various factors to decrease the impact of the storage of labor in the industry. In this section different literary prices where the research work was already done on the related topic are reviewed to find the answers to the research questions.

According to Mason, et al. 2018, the shortfall of skilled labor in the house building industry has been a recurring problem in the UK for decades. There are numerous reasons which contributed to the growing skill gap in the construction industry in the UK. One of the prominent reasons is the aging population in the industry, where major portions of the worker are retired due to the age-related issue. The construction industry is falling behind to get young people to work in this sector. The construction sector in the UK is the less digitized sector and it required much physical strength of the worker. It is not very appealing to the young generation as a career option. Due to all these factors, young people are not interested in this sector to grow their careers (Loganathan, et al. 2017). The construction company is not investing much in the skill training of the worker; this is also the reason behind the skill gap. After Brexit, the situation became worse because of the laws related to immigration. The skilled workers have to leave the country post-Brexit. Still, the construction is perceived as a male-dominated workplace, this concept has abstained almost half of the workforce that is the women out of the industry.

According to Almamlook, et al. 2020, this issue has affected the construction industry the most. As this increases the price and cost of the projects and this is also delaying any projects, various strategies have been suggested to overcome this issue. The most important strategy that can mitigate the issues is the integration of advanced technology in the industry (Johnson, et al. 2020). Advanced technology can attract the young population in the industry. Young populations have the ability to adapt to anything new more effectively than older populations. This will help to mitigate the skill gap in the industry. With the help of proper training and the inclusion of technology like material handling and prefabrication, workers will be able to increase the productivity of their work. The contractor or the company has to train the worker prior to the project’s start. This will increase the skill of the worker in the particular work. The incorporation of advanced technology in the construction industry will attract the young population and they will choose it as their career option (Ismail, et al. 2018). The skill storage impacts the overall approach of a project. It reduces the productivity of the workers. It also delivers a poor quality of tasks. There are various factors that affect the quality of the work of an unskilled worker such as the communication between workers and the supervisors, reductions in wages, level of training, motivations and scheduling of work.

3.0 Methodology

The research methodology is very important to conduct effective research on the topic of effective strategies for the reduction of worker storage in the construction sector. Researchers have to outline all the research approaches to collect all the data related to the topic of research. The deductive research approach, a descriptive design of the research is adopted for the research topic. Systematic and explicit processes are taken by the researchers to conduct the research. The research design is based on the topic and nature of the research topic (Durdyev, et al. 2019). The descriptive research approach helps the researchers to do collaborative research on the topic. The research philosophy that is taken in the research is positivism which helps to achieve the major aim and objectives of the research topic. With the help of particular research philosophy, the strategies for the impact of the skill gap in the construction industry can be found. All the data in this research is collected through secondary data collection methods. All the journals, online articles, magazines, books, and papers related to the topic have been thoroughly reviewed. These would help the researchers to find the directions of the research works, as other researchers previously researched on the related topic, it is very easy to find prominent strategies for the research (Dixit, et al. 2017). All the quantitative data available in the stated platforms would be analyzed properly to gain the outcomes of the research. 

4.0 Dissertation Structure

If the research would be done on the mitigation strategies of the shortage of skilled workforce as per the stated approach mentioned in this research proposal then it is quite obvious to attain all the research objectives of the topic. The results of the research help company to overcome the issue related to the shortage of skilled workforce, it also enables them to increase productivity, quality, and speed of construction. Overall improvements of the industry will be possible with the learning outcomes of the research topic.

References

Journals

Abukhashabah, E., Summan, A. and Balkhyour, M., 2019. Causes of Occupational Accidents and Injuries in Construction Industry in Jeddah City. JKAU: Met., Env. & Arid Land Agric. Sci, 28(1), pp.105-116.

Almamlook, R., Bzizi, M., Al-Kbisbeh, M., Ali, T. and Almajiri, E., 2020. Factors Affecting Labor Productivity in the Construction Industry. American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, 4(2), pp.24-30.

Dixit, S., Mandal, S.N., Sawhney, A. and Singh, S., 2017. Relationship between skill development and productivity in construction sector: A literature review. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 8(8), pp.649-665.

Durdyev, S. and Ismail, S., 2019. Offsite manufacturing in the construction industry for productivity improvement. Engineering Management Journal, 31(1), pp.35-46.

Ismail, R., Palliyaguru, R., Karunasena, G., Udawatta, N. and Othman, N.A., 2018, January. Deficiencies in health and safety (H&S) training and education courses provided for foreign workers in the Malaysian construction industry: a desk study. In The 3 rd Research Symposium 2018 (p. 35).

Johnson, R.M. and Babu, R.I.I., 2020. Time and cost overruns in the UAE construction industry: a critical analysis. International Journal of Construction Management, 20(5), pp.402-411.

Loganathan, S., Srinath, P., Kumaraswamy, M., Kalidindi, S. and Varghese, K., 2017. Identifying and addressing critical issues in the Indian construction industry: Perspectives of large building construction clients. Journal of Construction in Developing Countries, 22, pp.121-144.

Mason, G., O'Mahony, M. and Riley, R., 2018. What is holding back UK productivity? Lessons from decades of measurement. National Institute Economic Review, 246, pp.R24-R35.

Nazir, F.A., Edwards, D.J., Shelbourn, M., Martek, I., Thwala, W.D.D. and El-Gohary, H., 2020. Comparison of modular and traditional UK housing construction: a bibliometric analysis. Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology.

Rahim, A.A. and Qureshi, S.L., 2018. A review of IBS implementation in Malaysia and Singapore. Planning Malaysia, 16(6).

Silva, G.A.S.K., Warnakulasuriya, B.N.F. and Arachchige, B.J.H., 2018. A review of the skill shortage challenge in construction industry in Sri Lanka. International Journal of Economics, Business and Management Research, 2(01), pp.75-89.

Online articles 

pdfs.semanticscholar.org, 2021 Identifying and Addressing Critical Issues in the Indian Construction Industry: Perspectives of Large Building Construction Clients, Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2fa4/f9fde14678f1a3d8aff96aa6a472a253edf6.pdf [Accessed on: 08/10/2021]