MODULE 7 INDIVIDUAL ASSIGMENT 3: CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW

UNIVERSITY OF ROEHAMPTON
UKR1.60090.201760: MGMT-
00004,170511,1,R ESEARCH METHODS .201760-2

U NIT 3: C HOOSING A R ESEARCH Q UESTION AND A PPROACH

CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW

I NDIVIDUAL A SSIGNMENT

Marvin F. Arinuelo Dr. Dimitrios

Koufopoulos
MSc Project Management University Professor
Student ID: J00046827

June 2017

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 MODULE 7 INDIVIDUAL ASSIGMENT 3: CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW

Contents
Chosen Research Topic ...................................................................3
Introduction ...................................................................................3
Earlier Research Findings ............................................................... 3
Epistemological Perspectives.......................................................... 5
Research Approaches/Methodologies .............................................5
The most and least discussed topics ...............................................6
References: ............................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

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Chosen Research Topic

Importance of employees Training in Qatar Construction Industry

Introduction
According to ISO 9000:2015, organization is defined as “group of people
and facilities with an arrangement of relationships, authorities, and
responsibilities” (ISO, 2000: 9). There is no doubt that the people plays a
crucial role on the success or failure of the organization and many
organization believes that “employees are greatest asset of the company”
(Holbeche, 2006: 52). Considering such as one of the values of organization,
people considered as greatest assets needs a capitalization to enhance its
potential to sustain the success.
Globalization is boundless opportunity but a potential threat if not remain
competitive (Han et al., 2004: 346). Client expectations changes very
rapidly hence training of the staff in construction industry should be taken
very seriously (Odusami et al., 2007: 73). As asserted by Barker and Ingram
(2011) cited by Detsimas et al. (2016: 488), employee skills give a company
an edge over other competitors as it directly influence organizational
performance. Indeed, ‘employees’ performance is the key success factor for
any construction company (Detsimas et al., 2016: 486)

Earlier Research Findings

A research conducted by Ayarkwa et al. (2012: 234) through structured
survey questionnaire in construction students reveals that training produced
a higher level of performance achievement in the ability of to function as
team player, carry out instruction, and apply knowledge among those who
do not (Ayarkwa et al., 2012: 234 ). Another research through structured
survey questionnaire in Australia Construction Project Managers suggested
that the ‘certified’ project managers has no major difference to the non-
certified construction project managers in achieving the required project
performance (Ma et al., 2009: 7).
In 2006 study, a heated debate happened in mandatory Construction
Induction Training (CIT) and certification implemented by the Government
legislation in Western Australia as many managers believed that “in-house”
is better than what the government offered. However, longitudinal time
horizon study in 2010 was compared to the earlier study. But this time, no
one disagree, 79% agreed, and 21% strongly agreed that CIT training is
important (Bahn and Barratt-Pugh, 2012: 341). It reveals that, the
perception of construction project managers pertaining to the mandatory

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 MODULE 7 INDIVIDUAL ASSIGMENT 3: CRITICAL LITERATURE REVIEW

training imposed of the government change over time and created a positive
effect on a safer workplace (Bahn and Barratt-Pugh, 2012: 341). Another
research on emission and cost effects of training for construction equipment
operators showed that that the training is effective in short period of time
but gradually diminish as the time progresses due to drivers returned to
their original driving habits (Jukic and Carmichael, 2016: 99). Indeed, study
revealed that training effectiveness has a significant correlation with period
of time.
A study conducted by Detsimas et al. (2016: 499) in Australian construction
industry exhibited that both ‘informal’ and ‘formal’ training is being of high
important using the 1-5 Likert scale (Average score is 4 & 5) to successful
job performance and career development. Another research conducted by
Edum-Fotwe and McCaffer (2000: 122) through the use of descriptive
statistics (survey) reveals that developing PM competency from the
construction industry in UK reveals that job experience is perceived to be
more important than formal training and academic courses.

Types of Studies
Generally, most of the earlier research is based on the descriptive –
structured survey, which normally had a Likert scale of 1 to 5 like the
research conducted by Wilkins (2011), Ahadzie et al. (Ahadzie et al., 2009),
Arendse (2013), Detsimas et al. (2016), & Odusami et al. (2007). The
research normally conducted independently (detached) from the
interviewee. The data collection method is normally done through
structured/non-structured interviews (smaller sample), surveys, and
questionnaires (large samples) using a simple (SRS) or stratified non-
probabilistic & probabilistic random sampling technique. Further, it is worth
to emphasize that training is mostly believed to be important factor of
increasing employees performance and productivity to gain competitive
advantage (Khamaksorn, 2016: 93; Dobgegah et al., 2011: 27; Tse and
Choy, 2005: 10; Edum-Fotwe and McCaffer, 2000: 123). There are few
considerably studies that both qualitative (descriptive) and quantitative
research design approach (content analysis or inferential statistics) are
considered like the study conducted by Ayarkwa et al. (2012: 234), Hassan
et al (2005: 97), (2016: 501), etc.

Surprisingly, the philosophical instance or research continuum such as

ontology (e.g. realism, relativism, etc.) and epistemology (e.g. positivism,
interpretivism) is not explicitly defined.

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Epistemological Perspectives
Although nowhere is written in the selected article what is their philosophical
stance, I believed that most of the research is somewhat related to
interpretivism/constructionism which considerably generated by the peoples
mind not influenced/independent (detached) of any external factors
(Easterby-Smith et al., 2012: 597). As Ken Gergen asserted,
constructionism describes languages as being creator of reality that “people
create/generate meaning and together we create the future” (Barry Curnow
& Jonathan Reuvid, 2003: 205).

Research Approaches/Methodologies
My research of determining the importance of employees training in Qatar
Construction Industry will pattern to the earlier research like determining
the importance of having a certification in the field of project management
(e.g. PMP, PRINCE2, and so on) which I believe to be valuable to increase
the employee’s performance or productivity. How important it is to send the
employees for external training rather than doing it in-house? Is there any
significant difference? How important it is the level of formality of training
in comparison with the employees output? Which is more important to
develop first (soft skills or hard skills) based on the article of Williams (1984)
entitled “Project management in the construction industry.”
The research approach used earlier is mixed and varies accordingly.
However, the earlier considered research paper broadly based on
constructivism/constructivism epistemological approach.
My preferred research approach will be limited to qualitative data collection
method but will considered both structured and non-structured type of face-
to-face interview with relatively less amount of simple random sample in
Qatar construction industry. Also, I will pattern my research using the
constructivism/constructivism epistemological approach like the research
conducted by Detsimas et al. (2016), Jukic and Carmichael (2016),
Khamaksorn (2016), and so on.

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The most and least discussed topics

The topic mostly discuss are those related to my research methods such
as interviews, surveys which is qualitative approach. The most and least
discussed topics are as follows:
1. Structured rather than ill-structured – For example an article of
Dobgegah et al. (2011: 29) entitled A Principal Component Analysis
of Project Management Construction Industry Competencies for the
Ghanaian used self-administered structured survey questionnaire was
used to collect primary data from a large number of project. It is the
same as the research made by Ayarkwa et al., 2012 (Ayarkwa et al.,
2012) ‘Through a structured questionnaire survey of 120
organizations.’
2. Formal study rather than exploratory study – It is also we are more
concern with descriptive rather than causal and inferential studies. For
instance, Industrial training of construction students: perceptions of
training organizations in Ghana by Ayarkwa et al. (2012), Project
management competency factors in the built environment by Arendse
(2013), and Construction workers’ perceptions of health and safety
training programmes by Wilkins (2011) just to name a few that
descriptive statistics create a mental picture of a set of data
(Wortman, 2006: IX - 13).
3. The classification of Designs based on Methods of Data Collection is
more on Interrogation/communication studies rather than
observational studies/Archival sources - For example, a survey has
been used to study Training needs in construction project
management: 4 countries of the EU by Teixeira et al. (2006), is IT
training in construction industry useful by Tse and Choy (2005), &
Special Issue on Construction Employment and Training by Briscoe
(1998) just to name a few. Observational studies such as ‘determining
the emission and cost effects of training for construction equipment
operators’ before and after training by Jukic and Carmichael (Jukic
and Carmichael, 2016), and observation of the ‘Construction workers’
perceptions of health and safety training programmes’ by (Wilkins,
2011) is not discussed/considered in the selected topic.
4. The time dimension is based on cross-sectional studies rather than
longitudinal – Its usual that the descriptive type of study will draw
from a descriptive type of sample which represent a static or non-
moving picture in a particular time. For instance, An Empirical Study
of the Training Needs of Site Managers within the UK Construction
Industry by Hassan et al. (2005) just considered the descriptive
aspects rather than their inferential statistics perspective. Another
field observations, before and after training example is the ‘Emission

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and cost effects of training for construction equipment operators’ by

Jukic and Carmichael (2016).

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