The commitment and retention of employees in the construction industry has been a major concern for a considerable period of time. This problem is exacerbated by the inability of the industry to attract, develop, motivate, and retain employees. These factors have been identified as relating to the communication of employees' expectations in terms of the job role. The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of line managers' communication practices on commitment and retention through the psychological contracts perspective of subordinate construction and project managers. To achieve this aim, the study draws from two well established theories: the concept of the psychological contract which is based on the theory of reciprocity, and Luhmann's social system theory which views communication as the elementary process constituting the social domain. These theories form the basis of exploring the conditions under which perceived employment obligations of line managers, by subordinate construction managers and project managers, have potential impact on their commitment and retention. A selection of construction and project managers in Nigeria and the UK, through an extensive two-stage Delphi study, provided a list of the most significant items of information subordinates in their positions required from line managers in order to undertake their job. The alignment of the expected information versus provided information was contrasted using a Wilcoxon Singed Rank Test which revealed a deficiency in the level of actual provided information by line managers. A further analysis of the perception of the "Communication Style" and the "Nature of communication" and the impact of these communication practices on subordinates commitment and retention show that line managers' communication practices significantly impact commitment and retention of subordinates' in the construction organisations. The findings revealed that organisational commitment and high commitment cannot be achieved without line managers aligning their communication practices with subordinates' expectations to do the job. Specific models are developed to provide a summative overview of line managers' communication practices which impact commitment and retention of their subordinates.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:553020 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Dan-Asabe, Dauda |
| Publisher | University of Reading |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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