According to Nawaz & Ikram (2013), despite the economic levels of growth, the construction industry has a major role to play in the country’s national economy. The business is a major employer of the nation’s workers. Pakistan’s construction industry has not been fully exploited and explored. However, this industry is marked by significant immoral and dishonest practices, which constitute major barriers to competitiveness and development. A survey questionnaire was devised and disseminated to various respondents with a view to uncovering corrupt activities in this field (Nawaz & Ikram, 2013). The findings indicated that bid shopping, lack of ethics training, unfair conduct, fraud, bribery and corruption are the key factors that contribute to unethical behavior. As such, these problems can only be addressed by formulating an ethics code, which imparts quality training and setting of personal examples among the top managers in the organization.
In the Pakistani Construction Industry, majority of organizations and firms have codes of Ethics in different shapes and forms (Nawaz & Ikram, 2013). However, there is lack of ethical training in the firms. As such, majority of the practices, which are conducted in these organizations are considered to be unethical. The codes of ethics are formulated, but still these firms lack the potential of adhering to them in order to achieve organization success. There is also no annual employee training.
In the construction projects, there are unethical practices and quality issues. These contribute to the emergence of the fraudulent, embezzlement, financial misappropriation, and corruption cases (Nawaz & Ikram, 2013). As such, the contractors and engineers indulge in the incorporation of low quality materials for the purposes of personal benefits and gains. The overall outcome is the compromising of the quality level of the projects in the industry.
Quality management is also not exercised in the industry. Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle also exists that helps in ensuring that there is conformance to the fitness and requirements of the services and product (Nawaz & Ikram, 2013). However, such a methodology is redundant because of the unethical practices in the organization or company. Moreover, there are a lot of financial malpractices in these construction projects. The situation occurs because the stakeholders engage in attempts to ensure that the projects are accomplished with an aim of achieving personal advantages and gains. The outcome of this is the quality specifications and standards, which tend to be compromised successfully within the jobsites.
It is the unethical issues and ill-legal acts that have contributed to making the construction industry not famous and being notorious as compared to other service sectors. Illegal claims, bribery and corruption, as well as advancement payments for the contractors are some of the major causes of unethical behavior in this industry (Nawaz & Ikram, 2013). A nexus of core stakeholders exists in the public service departments, which include contractors, consultants, and clients. It is because of this that this industry has gained poor reputation among other service based industries in the region. Unfriendly, unsafe, and unhealthy requirements at work also impact the organization performance. Majority of people believe that this industry is highly pictured and characterized of unethical and corrupt practices (Nawaz & Ikram, 2013). In spite of this, there are no effective training programs, which are aimed at solving the unethical practices in the industry.
References
Nawaz, T, & Ikram, A. (2013). Unethical practices in Pakistani construction industry. European
journal of business and management. Vol. 5, No. 4.
