Chapter 4Culture, Attitudes and Beliefs

(2 hours)

Prof. Dr. Hari Krishna ShresthaSeptember 2016

Culture

• Culture is a set of values and assumptions that are commonly held and acted upon by members of a particular social, geographical or ethnic community and passed on from one generation to another. These values and assumptions are used to interpret the world and guide individual and group actions. Each culture has its own unique characteristics. (C. Wright, 1993)

7 Elements of CultureHow the following culture elements affect CM?

• Language: workers and supervisors’ language/gesture same?• Norms: dress codes effect? Speaking up? Dos and Don’ts?• Values: life? time/punctuality? Money? Integrity?• Religion Beliefs &Ideologies: fatalism/work pays/equal pay• Social Collectives: large groups (political, professional, dance, music,

art, literature, drama, …)• Statuses and Roles: social status/gender based roles• Cultural Integration: persons with different cultural background

working together

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How does use of multiple languages, including sign language, affect management of a construction project?How does social norms affect CMDC?How does values (value of life, value of integrity, value of respect to different opinion, … affect CMDC?How does religious beliefs and religions harmony affect CMDC?How does existence of different social statuses among workers affect CMDC?

“Culture of Safety” in Construction Project Management

• What is “Culture of Safety” in CPM?• What is the importance of CS in CPM?• Benefit/Cost Ratio of CS in CPM• Effect of Social Culture/Belief/Attitude in CS in CPM

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Safety? Whose?

• Pedestrians cannot walk on street

• Electric wires dangle on side walk

• Wires jumbled• Cyclist in the middle of

motorized vehicles• Safety Last Culture!• ‘Safety is an unnecessary

luxury for a developing country’!

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Culture of Quality• Timely completion of project activities and sub-activities• Honesty and integrity in project activities• Professionalism in construction project participants• Safety First, and Zero Accident Culture• Culture of documentation: information recording and sharing• Culture of Insurance of project, and workersCulture of accepting cheap/low quality:• Completion of specific work by damaging other works• Culture of acceptance of bribery• Culture of acceptance of “will complete/finish/bring tomorrow”• Culture of intimidation, extortion,• Higher priority to social customs than project work• Rent seeking culture. Rent-seeking is a culture in which the principal route

to wealth is not creating wealth, but taking possession of or benefiting from wealth created by others

• Workers’ unending demands 7

• Culture of reward and punishment: carrot and stick• Individualism vs. group culture: output based payment• Culture of risk taking/avoiding• Culture of blame game: “passing the buck”• Formality vs. informality: need of formal documents• Culture of Collective bargaining: unionism, trade union• Culture of lawsuits: sue rather than using physical force• Culture of arbitration: let’s work out differences together• Discrimination to women: less pay for same work• Children as construction worker: illegal but cost effective?• Culture of Arma/Parma: mutual help in construction and

agriculture

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Some other aspects of culture affecting construction project management

Cultural Axpect Effect on CMDC

Predestination

Gender based approach

Procrastination

Waiting till deadline

Collective bargaining

Working on Holidays

Bribery

Political intervention

Rent seeking

Physical action to attract attention to demands

Work start without formal document

Insurance as waste of money

Safety as unnecessary luxury

Ceremonies

Obeying order

Passing buck vs. taking decision

Develop your own matrix of the effects of different cultural aspects on CMDC.

AttitudeAttitude is the demonstrated reaction towards a particular situation, idea, or environment. Attitude is mostly formed by experience, culture and beliefs.

Positive, Negative and Neutral Attitude

• Attitudes help predicting work behavior• Attitude help people adapt to their work environment• Attitude make up the personality and is thought of as a whole person

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A partial list of the attitudes include:• commitment, • confidence, • consideration of others, • curiosity, • fairness, • high expectations, • honesty, • integrity, • intuition, • good judgment, • optimism, • persistence, • positiveness, • respect, • self-esteem, • sensitivity, • thoughtfulness, • thoroughness and • tolerance • group work

Source: Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century

Type of Attitude Potential Impact on CMDC

Develop your own matrix of attitude versus potential impact on CMDC. Propose numerical values for the relative effect of each type of attitude.

Functions of attitude(according to Katz)

• The adjustment function• The ego defensive function• The value expression function• The knowledge functionthese functions serve people’s need to protect and enhance the image they hold of themselves(Sree Rama Rao, 2010)

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http://www.citeman.com/10170-functions-of-attitudes.html

Barriers to changing attitudes

• Prior commitments/convictions• Insufficient information• Peer pressure

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Attitudes can be changed• New information

• Use of fear• Resolving discrepancies

• Influence of friends/peers• Co-opting approach

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Attitude change: From Wikipedia,Attitudes are the evaluations and associated beliefs and behaviors towards some object. They are not stable, and because of the communication and behavior of other people, are subject to change by social influences, as well as an individual's motivation to maintain cognitive consistency when cognitive dissonance occurs--when two attitudes or when attitude and behavior conflict. Attitudes and attitude objects are functions of affective and cognitive components. It has been suggested that the inter-structural composition of an associative network can be altered by the activation of a single node. Thus, by activating an affective or emotion node, attitude change may be possible, though affective and cognitive components tend to be intertwined

Beliefs: Acceptance without proof or logic

What are the effects of belief system in construction project management?Effect of Vaastu in construction project managementEffect of advertisement in selection of materials/brand 16

• Belief/trust: the foundation of religion and other aspects of culture and attitude.People filter what they hear and read, and interpret based on their belief.

• A certain level of belief is necessary to conduct life, sustain culture, including a construction project management. Opening a bank account or going to a barber for shaving rests on belief.

• Necessity to believe is inversely proportional to development in science and technology. DNA has reduced necessity to believe biological connection, and reduced belief on eye-witness accounts.

• The degree of challenge in project management is directly proportional to the level of mutual belief (or trust) between project manager and workers.

Beliefs related to CM in Nepal• Should start on auspicious day.• Should sacrifice life (chicken, goat, egg, coconut) to appease black forces in and around the

construction site so that they do not disturb project activities. Accidents at project can be reduced by life sacrifice.

• Accidents/injuries are results of pre-destination of laborers/manager/owner.• Machines should be worshipped before use and on Vishwokarma Puja.• Project vehicles need life sacrifice to prevent vehicle accidents.• Should perform pooja/rudri to welcome good energy and bar bad energy.• A turtle in foundation increases bearing capacity.• Should stop going to project site if path crossed by a black cat, or snake, or if see empty vessel, or

sneeze, or someone ask “Where are you going?”, …• Should not excavate on Bhoomi Pooja day.• Beliefs related to Vastu; kitchen in SE corner will catch fire; sleep with head in south.• Beam casting over wall is/is not better than casting over form-work.• X brand cement is better than Y brand cement, based on advertisement.• “Pillar system” buildings are inherently better than load bearing.• Foreign tools, equipment, materials, are better than local; foreign technicians know more than local.

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What is the impact of each of these belief on preparedness against accidents?Separate the beliefs into Positive and Negative effects on construction management.

Belief Impact on CMDC

Develop your own matrix of the effect of belief system on CMDC. Give relative importance to each parameter.

Genesis of life sacrifice:

• Knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the culture, attitude and beliefs of the project stakeholders will facilitate better project management.

• Skill to effectively deal with people from different cultures, attitudes and beliefs is one of the key components of a successful project manager.

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How do you deal with the following questions?• Discuss the common elements of the culture of a society. How does the culture

influence the management of a construction project?• Select one of the basic elements of culture, and suggest how that element affects

the management of a construction project. • Discuss the potential impacts of culture of documentation and culture of

punctuality on management of a construction project.• Discuss the factors that may change the attitude of a person? If you are a project

manager, what method will you choose to change the attitude of the persons that you consider to have negative attitude?

• What role, do you think, the belief system of Nepalese society, like the predestination (purba janmako karmako phal) is playing in Nepal being one of the least developed countries? How does this type of belief system affect the safety measures taken by a contractor against accidents and disasters in a construction project management? Suggest ways to improve the safety measures in a construction project site.

• List out the prevalent beliefs in Nepal related to construction projects. How does each of them affect project management? Which belief has most positive / most negative effect on project management?

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