ABSTRACT
The ability to attract, retain and develop talented employees is a key feature of successful businesses. People are an organisation’s most valuable asset and this is especially true in relatively low-tech, labour-intensive industries such as construction. However, people also represent the most difficult resource for organisations to manage. Unlike physical assets, people have their own individual needs which must be met and idiosyncrasies which must be managed if they are to contribute to organisational growth and development. People are individuals who bring their own perspectives, values and attributes to organisational life, and, when managed effectively, these human traits can bring considerable benefits to organisations (Mullins 1999). However, when managed poorly they have the potential to severely limit organisational growth and threaten the viability of a business. There are countless examples of corporate and project crises in the construction sector which have arisen as the result of people’s behaviour, and it would seem that human resource management (HRM) has the potential to eliminate more construction risks than any other management approach (Loosemore 2000). More importantly, HRM has the potential to release a significant amount of productive potential in the construction industry, which has remained untapped because of widespread ignorance of good practice in this area.
