A PROPOSAL TO INCREASE THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CONSTRUCTION UNION FOREMAN

Burl F. George, III and F. Eugene Rebholz

Department of Civil Engineering and Construction

Bradley University

Peoria, Illinois

Introduction

Union construction work has been viewed with a critical eye in recent years. The adversarial approach between employer and union during collective bargaining is thought by many to affect the implementation of the construction process. Currently, the concept of "Partnering"-the cooperation of all parties involved in the construction process is receiving great attention. Does this mean that the old standby-competitive union construction-is outdated?

The authors feel that unionized construction has great potential to compete in the continually changing construction environment via further development of traditional union practices. One potential area of development involves the construction foreman. By increasing the importance of this key role, the chain of command can adapt to a more participatory worker role. However, highly capable and trained foremen are needed for this to be accomplished.

The authors propose that construction foremen be utilized in more of a managerial role in order to bring the decision level down lower-closer to the workers themselves. In order to utilize them in this role, their competency must be raised in the areas in which the decisions need to be made. They need to have skills in the traditional areas of field management, decision making, physical fitness, and mental maturity. However, in the role that we perceive, they also need to learn skills in computer literacy, negotiating, delegating, and working as a team. Future needs will involve anticipating, acting as an agent of change, and even sensitivity to cultures within the team.

This paper suggests how the training needed for the foreman be assessed, and examines the appropriate training methods that could be utilized in order to accomplish the desired results.

Obviously, the same concept can be applied to non-union construction (and perhaps is already done to a certain extent), but the chain of command, work restriction and jurisdiction rules in the union sector would seem to lend themselves to our proposal.

Historical Overview

The division of labor is certainly as old as the human species. Obvious differences can be attributed to both age and sex. In early times the limitations of a pregnant woman or nursing mother, and likewise-the elderly who lacked the strength and agility for hunting in early society, would result in sedentary tasks such as food preparation. As society became more complex, specialization naturally continued. The code of Hammurabi and the epics of Homer mention the specialized crafts of carpenter, blacksmith, house builder, etc. The massive public works projects of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, required expert organization of labor.

When the guilds reemerged during medieval times, there were new specialties: "The carpenter, originally both a house builder and furniture maker, divided into carpenter and joiner, the latter using lighter and more precise tools to fashion cabinets and other interior woodwork. A third craft, that of the wood-carver, split off for the most delicate work. Eventually the painting of the finished wood products devolved upon still another new craft."¹ The Middle Age guilds were divided into masters and apprentices, and by the thirteenth century a middle grade of journeyman was introduced.

In the old craft guilds, the workers skill was demonstrated by hand work. The industrial revolution meant that machinery provided some of the skill and a new division of labor resulted from the structure of the work process. Construction workers still require hand skills, but improvements in tools, machines, and technology have changed the character of the work. The organization of the labor is now very important. Job enrichment and participatory management are now being used. These require a shift in thinking, not only of management, but of the work force as well.

How chosen

The typical union collective bargaining agreement outlines information on the foreman (the term as applied is generic in nature and is not construed to be male or female), and states under what circumstances they are required. Typically, they call for the employer to appoint such foremen or pusher foremen, if any shall be needed. Often, a foreman is designated as a "Working Foreman", a "Foreman", or a "General Foreman". A "Foreman" being one who supervises only, instead of working alongside the rest of the crew. A "General Foreman" would be required when a certain number of crews are present on the site. The agreement also outlines how much extra pay the foreman is to receive. The employer may employ as many foremen or pushers as in their judgement is necessary for the safe, expeditious, and economical handling of the work.

Responsibility to Union

The typical union collective bargaining agreement requires that any foremen appointed shall be journeyman members of the local union. However, they are not in any way deemed to be an agent of the union.

Responsibility to contractor

The typical union collective bargaining agreement requires that foremen be appointed when a certain number of craftsmen are employed. For example, a laborers agreement might state that foremen shall be placed on all projects on which six or more laborers are employed and shall work along with the men. If ten or more laborers are employed, the foreman's activities will be confined to supervision. The employer reserves the right to supervise the men at all times. A "Working Foreman" is not to exercise any of the functions customarily exercised by supervisors as defined in the National Labor Relations Act. It sometimes is stated that if an employee is required to read blueprints, they shall receive foreman's wages.

Today's Foreman Responsibilities

In contrast to the union steward, who enforces the union work requirements on the job, the foreman serves more as an administrative helper in the chain of command. Thus, they should be more of a manager and decision maker. The construction foreman represents the interests of the project's contractor. They are not the senior person on the project, but do have work decision responsibilities.

In the non-union sector of construction, the occupational titles and job titles are not as distinct as in the union sector. This can work to the detriment of a unionized construction project in that the work restrictions of someone like a foreman could be viewed as possible featherbedding, work preservation, or as an award that may be resented by the rest of the workers. Obviously this would not be desirable working conditions. However, the clear chain of command through a foreman, offers great potential when the foreman is regarded as an integral part of the team and has corresponding responsibilities.

"As a general rule, the Department of Labor recognizes only three classifications of workers: journeymen, laborers, and certified apprentices."² Beyond these titles, the superintendent is clearly part of the "employer" team, but the foreman is in an "in between" position.

One of the difficulties that the foremen face is that one day they may be serving as a co-worker, and the next as management. Since the foreman typically comes from the ranks of the trade, the management background to reach a more productive level is lacking. Furthermore, they may be viewed as "just another union worker" by both management and the crew. A sense of cooperation may be lacking.

How Changes Within the Industry Affect Foremen's Responsibilities

Construction organizations operate in a dynamic business environment. Thus technology, markets, and personnel changes have far reaching consequences upon both unions and contractors. Unless these organizations are positioned to change with the times, their competitiveness is eroded and opportunities for growth are forfeited. The following areas of concern illustrate the seriousness of efficiently using manpower.

Technological

The construction foreman must be knowledgeable about the use of equipment and tools that might be used in the field. This requires good field experience, but since both materials technology and methodology are changing, there must be the academic ability to keep up to date as well.

Economic

Since construction field techniques can have a great affect on costs, the foreman should be informed of actual costing procedures to help in the decision making process. This kind of information is typically withheld from the work force by higher level management due to the competitive nature of firms. It is unfortunate that the typical foreman is not provided with the type of information needed to make decisions that can benefit the employer.

Governmental

Governmental influences are now felt in a wide variety of ways on a construction project. This is particularly true in areas that affect the work force. Regulations that affect these areas include the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), and of course the safety requirements on the job site as mandated by OSHA. A foreman is typically in the position of gaining knowledge about these areas through gossip alone--which is certainly not the most informative or accurate method!

Political

More than any other person on the construction job site, the foreman is put in the position of being both union and management. As such, they may be under unusual pressures in the conflict of management rights in trying to manage certain tasks, yet also be a co-worker.

The foreman can easily be caught in an adversarial relationship between the employer and the union. Fortunately, such hostility rarely exists on a continual basis.

Open Shop

Both the unions and construction employers may view the competing open shop construction as a threat to their establishment. The use of a good, highly trained, and capable foreman has the potential of improving the construction process in the union sector. A greater utilization of foremen in the decision making process puts many of the decisions at the worker level with a greater sense of participation from the workers themselves. This could improve the cooperation that has been noted as missing from many union construction projects.

Skills Needed by the New Foremen in the 90's and Beyond

Skills and knowledge required by the foremen of the 90's can be generally grouped into four categories: technological, managerial, personnel, and political. In order to develop the needed skills and knowledge, a foreman must have an understanding of the following areas:

Multidimensional Perspectives

The foremen must be able to see both sides of a problem and act accordingly. The old "us versus them" outlook of the past will ultimately give way to situations where the various trades and contractors will work in harmony to overcome outside industry threats.

Proficiency in Field Management

Expertise in managerial systems enables the foremen to structure subordinates work, design meaningful work activities, assign responsibility, institute information systems, and develop a supportive work climate.

Prudent Decision Making Skills

The foreman must exhibit competency in making strategic decisions. First line strategic decisions ultimately affect the profitability of the construction project.

Resourcefulness

Resourcefulness in overcoming site personnel problems with unique/innovative solutions most certainly impacts upon the success of a project. Furthermore, expertise in devising unique solutions for technical problems may be the key to a profitable venture or financial disaster.

Cultural Adaptability/Sensitivity

Understanding of racial/ethnic/sexual differences and their effects upon the work crews calls for a sensitivity and adaptability in. creating solutions which are workable in nature.

Ability as a Team Builder

The foreman must be adept at bringing a diverse work group together to accomplish specific objectives.

Physical Fitness

The new foremen must be physically adept with regard to the specific demands of the project.

Mental Maturity

The foreman must exhibit those personal and behavioral characteristics associated with full development of emotional and intellectual capabilities.

Computer Literacy

The foreman in question must be comfortable in exchanging information electronically.

Prudent Negotiating Skills

The foreman must have the ability to and/or a proven record in conducting business negotiations. Many of the problems passed on to the business agent are better handled at the lowest level due to the immediacy of the situation.

Ability as an Agent of Change

The foreman must possess the ability to successfully initiate and implement change.

Visionary Skills

The foreman must have the ability to quickly recognize and respond immediately to business opportunities and potential political/economic problems.

Effective Delegation Skills

The foreman must demonstrate the ability to engage in participative management practices and the ability to delegate duties.

Thus, as can be seen, the foreman must possess a host of competencies. Administering, monitoring, evaluating, communicating, problem solving, etc. suggest a host of skills that the foremen of the 90's must develop.

Training Procedures

Responsibility and authority for supervisory training.  If individual supervisory personnel are to meet current and future managerial job requirements and organizational needs, the responsibility and authority for supervisory training must be assumed by the individual, the union, and the contractor. A joint venture is suggested for a program to develop the skills of foremen and/or supervisors.

From the individuals point of view, development includes the desire to increase supervisory skills and ability. From the union and contractors viewpoint, supervisory development refers to developing personnel versed in appropriate procedures for management of personnel, technical expertise, productivity enhancement, implementing the strategic plan, and other related issues.

In order to accomplish these goals the leaders of the joint venture programs must come to grip with what they want from the program. Determining what is needed is a difficult process since it means minimizing favoritism while codifying the knowledge and experience necessary for individuals to perform ably as foremen. None the less, if the development program is to meet the needs of todays changing construction environment, four key issues must be addressed. They are:

Establishment of the developmental program's purpose must define why the program is being undertaken. It should provide answers to the following:

Clarification of a programs purpose in a written document allows the key issues to be addressed, thus providing clarity of direction. The process of identifying supervisory developmental needs, whether they are caused by a lack of necessary knowledge/skill, or by an obstacle in the work environment, is crucial for planning the learning experience. These needs are identified through assessment processes designed to uncover and prioritize the areas of concern. These procedures must focus on the knowledge and skills needed to perform supervisory tasks in addition to recruitment, selection, and reward practices associated with current foreman/supervisor selection policies.

Establishment of a foreman developmental curriculum capable of removing gaps in performance should be met through planned learning experiences. This curricula must stress a process designed to help personnel meet job responsibilities, prepare individuals for enhanced opportunities, and develop new insights about the industry.

Perhaps the best approach to curriculum development is an experience centered approach, as opposed to either the subject centered, objective centered, or the opportunity centered approach. The highly participative nature of the experience centered curriculum builds long term organizational change through interactive processes of chosen individuals, and both union and management hierarchy. The experience centered approach consists of participants identifying needs and strategies for meeting those needs on a continuous basis. This approach lends itself for inclusion in T.Q.M. (Total Quality Management), e.i. employee involvement and work team managerial practices.

Training needed

The most common approach to designing foreman/supervisory training curricula is to rely on a needs analysis list compiled by field personnel, both union and contractor managerial teams, and/or outside human resource development professionals and an examination of established competencies. The bulk of needs analysis inventory lists are made up of similar items, differing only in their perspective. That is, management tends to view needs from a prescriptive viewpoint as opposed to a foreman/supervisors subjective viewpoint. None the less, the items described as critical are similar in nature. The following list is a compilation of those recognized needs:

In order to accurately determine the needs of a a particular situation, a weighted needs-analysis questionnaire may be prepared. In this instance the questionnaire would be administered to all participants (see figure 1). A comparison can then be made of the rank order of topics determined by union management, contractor management and foremen/supervisory personnel.

Scoring of the needs-analysis questionnaire is rather simple. A weight of 2 has been given to column 1 (great need), I to column 2 (some need), and 0 to column 3 (little need). The weighted score of each topic is then calculated and converted to a rank order.

Other types of need assessment models may be used (see figure 2), but for our purposes, the questionnaire fulfills our requirements of high incumbent involvement, high management involvement, moderate cost, and relevant quantifiable data.

Selection and Ice of Training Methods

Planning and the use of formal foreman development techniques may be broken down into external, internal, and joint group training procedures. External methodology is instruction that is planned, delivered, and evaluated by external sources (vendors, university faculty, community college staff) while internal training is provided by in house staff. The joint training ventures are a collaborative venture between outside ventures and in house personnel. This type of training accounts for approximately 68a/o of all supervisory and foreman level training procedures⁴. Because of the prevalence and availability of training material associated with joint ventures, we will concentrate on this venue.

After training curricula and performance objectives have been selected, it is time to select training methodology. Two key questions must be addressed. What are the participants expected to accomplish, and what materials/ activities will help them achieve the performance objectives. To this end, there are a variety of methods/techniques used in the transfer of knowledge. The most popular training delivery techniques are:

» slides/films/video tapes,

» lectures,

» one to one instruction,

» role playing,

» audio tapes,

» games/simulations,

» case studies,

» self assessment/testing,

» self study (non computer),

» teleconferencing,

» video teleconferencing,

» computer assisted instruction,

» selected readings, and

» on the job training.

Many of these techniques will not be available to or applicable to the individual local situation, thus the local will have to choose carefully in order so attainment maximum benefit from ind. tech. a listing of advantages/disadvantages associated with each technique follows.

Video Tapes/Slides/Films--Captures attention through the use of visual identification of ideas and behaviors. Gives hands on experience. Used mainly to highlight and/or supplement other training techniques. Introduction of complex theories suffers through lack of questioning. May become obsolete over a short time span.

Lectures--Efficient method of communication in which learning objectives are tied to facts/theories. Guest speakers used as role models to impart sense of reality in proceedings, can offer insights that reinforce classroom discussion. Depends heavily on the skills of the lecturer.

One to One Instruction--Permits immediate feedback of comprehension of facts, theories, and principles. May be unstructured.

Role Playing-Learner involvement provides means by which facts, theories, and principles can be tied to comprehension/application of same. Some students may have difficulty in immersing themselves in artificial roles/situations.

Audio Tapes--Inexpensive, lends itself to use in automobiles, trucks, etc. Learners attention will wander overtime.

Games/Simulation--Involves student in situation by which they can practice what they learn. Some students find it difficult to immerse themselves into game or act within the rules of the game.

Case Studies--Builds learner involvement via comprehension and application of facts, etc. when case studies provide a means by which the students can "practice what we preach". Case studies which supply appropriate amount of details for problem solving are difficult to construct and/or obtain.

Self Assessment/Self Testing-Provides individual insight via self discovery. Expensive and difficult to validate.

Self Study (non computerized) Programs-Ease of use and distribution. Difficult to construct, difficult to keep current.

Teleconferencing (audio)--Inexpensive, participants attention span wanders over time.

Teleconferencing (video)-Students attention gained through the use of "bells and whistles". May be used to highlight basic ideas. Introduction of complex theories are limited due to lack of time for question and answer session.

Computer Assisted Instruction-Easy to use. Learner can proceed at his/her own pace. Expensive, assumes basic knowledge of computer operations, may be poorly structured/organized, lack of teacher feedback.

Selected Readings--Inexpensive, easy to distribute. May be used to highlight specific areas of interest, easy to update. Authors of readings may assume too high information retention level. Material may need to be modified for instructional use. Easy for student to put off reading. Hard to keep learners interest if too scholarly a pace.

On the Job Training--Excellent for seeing how simple and complex issues are handled. Allows student to "get their feet wet". Possible lack of projects to practice on. Possible lack of cooperation among principals.

Factors Affecting Learning

If training efforts for foremen/supervisors are to be successful, consideration must be given to the factors that affect the learning process. Perhaps the most important group of factors affecting the learning process, are those of attitude. The potential foreman grade personnel bring a variety of attitudes to the training-some good, some bad. They all affect performance. If the personnel bring poor attitudes toward the training (i.e. lack of reward for learning, the need for a class, learning style, lack of desire, etc.) then the job becomes more difficult if not impossible. if, on the other hand, a positive attitude toward the training is exhibited, then maximization of learning is possible.

Another set of factors that impact the learning process are those associated with the classroom. The physical environment of the learning situation, the attitude toward the instructor, the effectiveness of the instructor, the use of teaching aids, the pertinence of instructional material, and a series of learning success among other things all play a role in the success or lack of success of the program. The third set of factors deals with the physiological make up of the participant. does he/she have the mental capacity, health requirements, mental maturity to successfully complete the course work? Is the participant fatigued from the daily grind of work? Does the participants stage of life preclude him/her from making the commitment necessary to change attitude, skill, knowledge, and on the job behavior? The questions or rather the answer to the questions all impact upon the learning process.

The last factor is that of on the the job behavior, specifically the worry that their superiors, immediate or otherwise, will not support the changes. Reluctance to change due to the insecurity associated with changing attitudes, habits, and behavior which have proven to be "successful" is a powerful demotivating force for the typical foreman/supervisor.

Conclusion

Are foremen an important part of the construction process? Are foremen underutilized? Can the foreman provide an important link in participatory management? Is new training for foremen necessary? The authors believe that the answer to each is yes.

Though limited training for foremen does exist, the type of individual that we have in mind must interact with both the lowest level worker and the highest level manager of the project. A highly trained foreman is needed to handle the new skills that are making their presence known in construction today. They must handle the political conflicts that have always been present, but must also work with new technology and management styles that make the project run in a more efficient manner. By decentralizing many of the management decisions to the lowest level, a shift in the traditional approach is required. The foreman, as the first level of management, is the key person that can make the approach work.

Systematic identification of training needs coupled with improvement and/or introduction of managerial techniques at the foreman level make attainment of this goal possible. Attempts to improve a foreman's performance by directing their efforts toward cognitive, behavioral, and environmental modifications of managerial techniques will maximize that employees ability to effectively supervise the work process and result in an elevation of the level of future construction.

End Notes

1. Kranzberg, Melvin, and Gies, Joseph, By the Sweat of thy Brow, G.P.Putnam's Sons, New York, 1975, page 66.

2. Northrup, Herbert R., and Foster, Howard G., Open Shop Construction, Industrial Research Unit, University of Pennsylvania, 1975, page 310.

3. Newstrom, John W., Lilyquist, John M., "Selecting Needs Analysis Methods", Training and Development Journal, October 10, 1979, pages 52-56.

4. Lee, Chris, "Who Gets Trained in What 1991 ", Training, 28:10, 1991, page 55.

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