Safety 2010 Proceedings

744b Awareness Training Program for Residential Construction Supervisors Working with Multicultural Populations

Instructor: Luz Stella Marin
Maria Brunette Ph.D.
Dept. of Work Environment
University of Massachusetts Lowell

Description: Supervisors play an important role within the construction site due to their role as a liaison
between the company’s interests and the workers` needs (Flin and Yule 47; Dingsdag, et al. 631;
Jaselskis, et al. 604; Sawacha, et al. 312). Currently, construction supervisors are faced with a
multicultural employee population. They need to improve their cultural sensitivity to motivate
and influence their work groups to reach organizational goals (Menzel and Gutierrez 6).
Supervisors who are committed to safety, encourage workers’ open communication and
engagement them in safe behaviors (Gillen, et al. 249; Burt, et al. 82). Hence, supervisors need to
be effective leaders in the workplace because their style of leadership affects the organization
performance. Supervisors’ leadership style may have a significant influence on their
subordinates’ behaviors and attitudes (Michael, et al. 173) as well as the safety and health
conditions at the workplace (Gillen, et al. 251; Flin and Yule 47). In addition, lack of effective
communication, inability to resolve conflict or to interpret non-verbal signals between supervisors
and team members, among others, might be inadequate for the purposes of effective safety and
health communication (O'Driscoll and Beehr 143; O'Connor, et al. 273; Trajkovski and
Loosemore 450). It is well-known that on construction sites supervisors are the most noticeable
leaders with enough authority and power to influence workers’ behaviors

Level: