Issues in Australian Construction Industries- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theIssues in Australian Construction Industries for GDP. Answer: Identification of Issues Australian construction industry is one of the core contributors to the GDP of the country, in fact, it contributes 8% to the GDP and is the third largest industry of the country only after mining and finance (Chou 2017). However, the recent scenario of the industry is undesirable because it is facing significant challenges recently. Some of the challenges have been discussed as follows (Fullford and Standing 2014): Price rise: One of the core challenges that the construction industry is facing is the rise of the rising prices due to increase in the cost of the metals, high-interest rates, continuous change in Australian currency value and even the price of oil. The deemed scenario is offering significant challenge to the constructors. Quality Control: Australia lacks a proper structured protocol for the quality control of construction works and is resulting in reduced productivity. Due to lack of proper standards, another major challenge has arisen for the construction industry, and that is CORRUPTION. In the recent years multiple cases have been evident on corruption and malpractices in the construction industry. The government are attempting to control the scenario, however; no substantial results have been determined till date. Site safety: Another critical challenge that the Australian construction industry is facing is the safety of its workforce at the construction sites. The construction companies are adopting methods to ensure the workers by getting them insured, however, the attempt is getting backfired because it is affecting the project cost and in the process is affecting the productivity of the projects. Site safety is also giving birth to another challenge for the construction industry, and that is REDUCED WORKPLACE PRODUCTIVITY. Recent studies suggest that in the recent years more and more Australian labours are reducing their working hour and are becoming responsible for the reduced productivity of the sector. Cash flow issues: Australian construction industry has earned a bad reputation for itself when it comes to project planning which is creating issues. It has become difficult for the management to find financial support easily because of the threats associated with recovering their invested capital. The financial sectors (banks, market lenders and others) are also taking adequate care before investing their money in the construction industry of Australia which is creating pressing challenges for the subject. Evaluation of One of the Core Issue The section above has discussed some crucial issues that the Australian construction industry is facing today. However, one of the core issues that have not been discussed in the section above is the shortage of workforce for the industry (Zuo et al. 2017). To be more precise, the construction industry is facing a shortage of skilled labours. The reason for the shortage lays on the fact that the country has proved itself to be incapable of producing capable professionals who hold the capability and the knowledge to manage derive the construction projects to successful completion (Guthridge 2012). To cope up with the scenario, the owners are recruiting workforce from abroad which is also creating challenges for the managerial team. In the deemed scenario the challenges are associated with educating the foreign workforce in the working processes, tools and techniques of the Australian construction industry. The crucial factors that are responsible for the shortage of skilled labour in the Australian construction industry are training funding, immigration, increased age population of Australia and financial limitations. All of the factors are very crucial for the shortage of skills in the construction Industry. Training and its funding: The problems are associated with the changing tools technology and lack of formal education of the labour. It forces the construction project owners to invest in the training which affects the budget of the project, while is also time and effort consuming. Additionally, if the training is provided to the immigrants than the cultural and communicational barriers offers a significant challenge to the project owners. The remedy for the deemed solution would be to include the training plans within the project management plans; it would also enhance the productivity of the project. Additionally, the training responsibilities should be given to the team consisting of bilingual bicultural members of management. Immigration: One of the primary reasons that the construction industry of Australia is facing a skill crisis is because of the introduction of immigrants (Bahn, Barratt-Pugh and Yap 2012). The migrant workers are ready to work at a much lower price than the local labour and hence are more preferred by the construction owner. However, the owners ignore the fact that as the migrants are not from Australia, it limits their knowledge about the tools techniques used in Australia for construction. Additionally, their compatibility with the Australian construction techniques can also be questioned. The potential solution for the discussed scenario would be selection of the immigrants for the jobs in construction that demands little skills and more skill requiring jobs should be offered to those who are aware of the working patterns of the industry. Training can also be of assistance for minimising the deemed threat. Increased age of Australia: The deemed scenario is one of the very complicated scenarios because the recent years have witnessed an increase in the retirement of construction employee and a decrease in recruitment which is leading to skills shortage. To counter the deemed scenario, the project owners can increase the apprentice ratio and offer permanent jobs to the best of them after completion of their project. Financial limitations: It has been discussed in the section above that the construction industry is facing a capital shortage and it is influencing the hiring of skills, ultimately leading to shortage of skills in the project process. Resource utilisation planning is the potential solution for the deemed factor. The project planners can utilise the resources (human, inventory and others) appropriately to save cost which they can invest on hiring skills and in the process increasing productivity profit which can be used to hire more skilled workers for the next projects. Bibliography: Abcc.gov.au. (2018).Industry issues | ABCC. [online] Available at: https://www.abcc.gov.au/industry-issues [Accessed 21 Apr. 2018]. Bahn, S., Barratt-Pugh, L. and Yap, G., 2012. The employment of skilled migrants on temporary 457 visas in Australia: Emerging issues.Labour Industry: a journal of the social and economic relations of work,22(4), pp.379-398. Chou, D. (2017).Construction slowdown to weigh on economy. [online] ABC News. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-25/construction-work-done-gdp-impact/8559176 [Accessed 21 Apr. 2018]. Fulford, R. and Standing, C., 2014. Construction industry productivity and the potential for collaborative practice.International Journal of Project Management,32(2), pp.315-326. Guthridge, M., 2012. Education-a critical root cause of the industry's skills shortage.AusIMM Bulletin, (5), p.68. Zhou, Z., Goh, Y.M. and Li, Q., 2015. Overview and analysis of safety management studies in the construction industry.Safety science,72, pp.337-350. Zuo, J., Pullen, S., Rameezdeen, R., Bennetts, H., Wang, Y., Mao, G., Zhou, Z., Du, H. and Duan, H., 2017. Green building evaluation from a life-cycle perspective in Australia: A critical review.Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,70, pp.358-368.