Botswana was left underdeveloped in 1966 when it gained its independence from Great Britain. However, with the discovery of diamonds in the late 1970s, the economy of the country changed and two decades later the construction industry had experienced phenomenal growth. A growth propelled by the dominance of foreign contractors and the few citizen contractors available at the time resulted in a competitive environment in the industry. However, citizen contractors were unable to compete on the same level with their foreign counterparts, which was attributable to various factors such as a lack of resources and of business and technical experience. Being a major player in the construction industry, and realising the need to equip and encourage its own base of citizen contractors to actively participate in construction activities, the government of Botswana adopted new measures and policies that were meant to address the imbalances in the construction industry much to the advantage of citizen contractors. The rationale behind this study is to investigate the performance of citizen building contractors following the introduction of preferential procurement policies by the government of Botswana. This research study adopted the descriptive and analytical survey method which entailed the use of questionnaires and a review of the related literature for gathering relevant data. The sample strata included building contractors, consultants, and clients in the Botswana construction industry in Gaborone, Francistown, Selebi-phikwe, Maun, Serowe, and Lobatse. The empirical findings revealed that there is indeed a need to review some of the government assistance programs for citizen contractors in order to avoid the abuse of government resources and to further increase the citizen contractor’s knowledge base, skills, resources and capacity through mentorship and workshops. vi It is therefore incumbent upon government to protect those beneficiaries who genuinely require such assistance by critical assessment of the ineffective policies for the benefit of the whole industry

This research report was submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Building) in Project Management to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Construction Economics and Management at the University of the Witwatersrand , 2017 / Problem Statement: Organisational culture determines employee remuneration, opportunities for promotion, interaction between employees and their job in general. It has a potential to affect the degree to which employees are satisfied with their jobs. If the impact is negative, this will create a problem of low employee morale, reduced performance, and hence low production levels. If this effect is positive, this may boost the morale of employees and increase performance and production. It is, therefore, important to understand the relationship between organisational culture and employee job satisfaction to maximize the benefits and reduce the negative impact. Purpose: The aim of this research was to find out if the prevailing organisational culture has an influence on employee job satisfaction with specific reference to the Botswana construction industry. The objectives of the research were to establish the prevailing and preferred organisational cultures, establish employee job satisfaction, and determine the relationship between organisational culture and employee job satisfaction. Methodology: Focusing on the Botswana construction industry and using a cross sectional study, two concurrent surveys were conducted to collect quantitative data for organisational culture and employee job satisfaction from three construction organisations selected to represent small, medium, and large organisations. Findings: The prevailing organisational culture in all the three organisations was found to be the market culture. The clan culture was found to be the preferred organisational culture in two of the organisations (the medium and large). The hierarchy culture was found to be the preferred organisational culture in the small organisation. Despite employees preferring different cultures (clan and hierarchy) to the prevailing culture (market), employees were generally satisfied with their current jobs, suggesting that there might be no relationship between organisational culture and employee job satisfaction and pointing to the possible existence of a third variable. Implications: The market culture which was found to be prevailing in all the three organisations is characterised by aggressive competition and a focus on winning a share of the market. This indicated that the construction industry was reacting to the current harsh economic conditions by adopting an aggressive survival strategy. By rejecting the prevailing market culture, employees might have felt neglected since the market culture does not focus on employees. Employees remained satisfied with their current jobs despite rejecting the prevailing organisational culture and this might be an indication that jobs are not available leaving employees with no option but to like the only jobs which they have. / MT2018

D.Phil. (Engineering Management) / The construction industry has been recognised internationally as one of the most dangerous industries in which to work, with the statistics often explained in terms of the industry’s inherently hazardous nature. In Botswana a total of 281 fatalities were reported to government agencies, mainly recorded in the high-risk sectors over the period of 2000-2004. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role played by key stakeholders in the health and safety (H&S) performance of the Botswana construction industry and to evaluate their level of H&S commitment and implementation. The aim was to determine how clients, designers and contractors can successfully contribute to H&S performance. Five objectives were identified in this research study. The first was to examine the role of key stakeholders in minimising H&S accidents and incidents in the overall H&S performance of the construction industry of Botswana. The second was to establish whether relevant health and safety planning measures contribute to health and safety performance of the construction industry in Botswana. Thirdly, it was to investigate the extent to which the existing legislative framework is relevant to health and safety performance in the construction industry. The fourth was to determine health and safety commitment levels of clients, designers and contractors’ top management in the construction industry of Botswana. The final objective was to design a multi-stakeholder consultative framework that would address H&S from inception to implementation of the construction project. These objectives were achieved through a research design which included a literature review, methods used and procedures developed to administer the questionnaires, data-collection and analysis through various statistical methods. These included descriptive statistics and nonparametric inferential statistics. The results are then presented in statistical format, tables and graphs. While the literature review revealed that construction industry H&S in developed nations is driven by legislation and regulations, the analysis indicated that there is neither statutory obligation nor the desire on the part of designers and the clients to consider H&S...