International Journal of Human Resource

Management and Research (IJHRMR)

ISSN (P): 2249-6874; ISSN (E): 2249-7986
Vol. 5, Issue 3, June 2015, 57-66
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.

A STUDY ON JOB SATISFACTION AND TRAINING NEEDS AMONG

CIVIL ENGINEERS IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
R. UDHAYAKUMAR1 & P. KARTHIKEYAN2
1
2

DGM (Operations), URC Construction (P) Ltd, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India

Assistant Professor, School of Management Studies, Kongu Engineering College,

Perundurai, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India

ABSTRACT
In Construction Industry we can say tentatively 37 million people are involved in multiple cadres, where over
85% are serving as workers. There are acute shortage of workhands especially in skilled trades in employees and as well as
workers. On account of Natural attrition and the need of skills for contemporary trades, Construction Industry needs
infusion of at least 6 million persons year. The total training capacity is woefully inadequate. Skill-up gradation schemes
launched by both State and Central Government level are not really adequate and the Industry needs to start several
apprenticeship schemes. The funding requirements for training and skill-up gradation and extension of loans by NSKDF
are neither practical nor workable. As a concluding remarks construction industry is very much depended on the
performance of the engineers, so studying the quality of life and career advancement is very much essential. The study was
conducted in M/s URC Construction (p) ltd., to find the present employees job satisfaction and understand their training
need. Mostly employees are not satisfied in their present role due to their non-performance due to skill gap. The
questionnaire was designed in such a way to understand the employees present level of satisfaction in their job with
respect to various parameters and what type of training required to elevate their skill form present level to next level.

KEYWORDS: Job Satisfaction, Training Need, Performance, GDP, and Career Development.
INTRODUCTION
The Indian construction industry is an integral part of the economy and is poised for solid growth due to
industrialization, urbanization and economic development together with peoples expectations of improved living
standards. The construction sector employs approximately 31million people and account for 6-8% of GDP. After
agriculture, construction industry is the largest employment sector in the country. The construction industry in general has
been growing at 9-11% a year, primarily due to the strength of increased domestic and international manufacturing
activities and industrial growth. Level of investment by the Government in infrastructure and real estate projects are
increasing and growth rates for the construction industry sectors are currently expected to exceed overall GDP growth over
the next 2 years.
Construction industry makes a significant contribution to the national economy and provides employment to large
number of people. The use of various new technologies and deployment of project management strategies has made it
possible to undertake projects of mega scale. In its path of advancement, the industry has to overcome a number of
challenges. However, the industry still faces some major challenges in housing, disaster resistant construction, water

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R. Udhayakumar & P. Karthikeyan

management and mass transportation. Recent experiences of several new mega-projects which indicates that the industry is
poised for a bright future.
The construction sector is a major employment driver, being the second largest employer in the country next to
agriculture because of backward and forward linkages to other sectors of the economy. About 250 ancillary industries such
as cement, steel, brick, timber and other building material are dependent on the construction industry. A unit increase in
expenditure in this sector has a multiplier effect and has the capacity to generate income as high as five times.

METHODOLOGY
Statement of the Problem
Civil Engineers are the backbone for the Construction projects. The Construction Companies rely upon to make
the Company function efficiently and become leader in the industry. The main function of the Civil Engineers is to create
efficient systems in all departments with clear Vision, Mission, Goal and Objectives in alignment with the policy and
turnover of the Company. The authority and responsibility of the personnel have to be well defined with smooth Inter
Departmental Communication and Operation Manual. The Research Scholar deeply interested to study the Job satisfaction
and training need analysis of Civil Engineers in M/s URC Construction Company for them to fill the skill gap and reach
new heights in their career with best efficiency.
Objectives of the Study
The main objectives of the study are to find out the Job satisfaction level of civil engineers in M/s URC
Construction, Erode, and Tamilnadu. The other objective of the study includes follows:

To study the demographical profile of the civil Engineers working in M/s URC Construction, Erode

To know the present skill set of Civil Engineers and to find out the Job satisfaction Level.

To estimate the training need for Civil Engineers

Scope of the Study

Although, the study is done within the employees of URC Construction Erode, it is exclusively applicable to other
construction companies in the same magnitude. Construction employees are facing problems like job stress, personal life,
URC Construction employees deputed to work in different environments with short term intervals.
Research Hypothesis
Hypothesis1

There is no significant association between designation and Job satisfaction. The hypothesis was proved. The
result is significance between designation and job satisfaction in this study.

Hypothesis2

There is no significance between Job satisfaction and performance. The hypothesis was proved. The result is there
is significance between designation and performance in this study.

Impact Factor (JCC): 5.2129

NAAS Rating: 3.25

59

A Study on Job Satisfaction and Training Needs

Among Civil Engineers in Construction Industry

Hypothesis3

There is no significance between experiences and career in URCC. The hypothesis was disproved. The result is
there is no significance between experiences and career in URCC.

Hypothesis4

There is no significance between Training and Career growth. The hypothesis was disproved. The result is there is
no significance between training and Career growth.

Research Methodology
Research design is the logical and systematic plan to carry out a research preparation of the design of research
project. The study describes the level of well-being among post graduate students. Further the researcher attempted to find
out the relationship between significant variables and adopted a descriptive research design in this study.
The study of Job Satisfaction among civil engineers was conducted in M/s URC Construction (p) Ltd., Erode.
The organization was incorporated in the year 1956; URC Construction is a national contractor and the flagship company
of the URC Group. The other divisions of the Group are Information Technology, Education and Real Estate
development. The organization has very good employee relationship which company has 65% of its employees for more
than 10 years. It concluded that long term relationship is the ideal environment for employees quality of life and career
development.
The researcher used self-structured questionnaire to collect the primary data from civil engineers of URC
Construction (p) Ltd., Erode among the engineering cadre in all the levels. The researcher selected sampling method for
collecting data. The organization had technical employees of 312 No. in different levels. Out of 312 the researcher felt that
112 numbers are fresher and new to the organization. For the study of training need, fresher and new employees are must.
So in the balance 200 employees the researcher selected 132 employees for conducting the survey. The sampling proposal
was worked out based on the Table No.1.,
Level 1 President to General Manager,
Level 2 Deputy General Manager to Senior Manager,
Level 3 Assistant Manager to Assistant Engineers,
Level 4Junior engineer to Supervisors

Table: 1 Employees Headcount Details

Designation
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Total

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Total Employees
07
64
128
113
312

Survey Conducted
05
30
55
42
132

% Of Employees Surveyed
72
47
43
37
42.50

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R. Udhayakumar & P. Karthikeyan

Pilot Study
The researcher gave the questioner to 25 respondents (8%) before involving in research in order to test the
efficiency of the tool. The respondents suggested the researcher to include more number of questions related to job
satisfaction in accordance with the opinion of the respondent the researcher modifies the questioner.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS

In this context, researcher analyzed and interpreted the details and data collected from the respondents. Through
this analysis the researcher found the problem and analyzed the hypothesis.
Hypothesis
There is no significant association between designation and Job satisfaction. This hypothesis was proved. The
result is significance between designation and job satisfaction in this study.
Table: 2 Respondents Overall Job Satisfaction
Designation of the Respondents
Level 4
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
No. % No. % No. % No. %
1
0.8
3
2.3
7
5.3
3
2.3
Highly satisfied
22 16.7 29
22
14 10.6
1
0.8
Satisfied
19 14.4 19 14.4 10
7.6
1
0.8
Average
0
0
3
2.3
0
0
0
0
Dissatisfied
Total
42 31.8 54 40.9 31 23.5
5
3.8
Significance = .002
X 2 = 26.637
df = 4
Level of Satisfaction

Total
No.
14
66
49
3
132

%
10.6
50
37.1
2.3
100

From the above table, about 60.60% employees are happy with the job what their performing now and 39.60 %
employees are feeling that their present job satisfaction level needs to be improved. The organization can appoint Public
Relation Officers (PRO) to understand issues of employees related to job and solve the employees problems by which
it will improve their overall job satisfaction.
The hypothesis concludes there is no significance between designation and job satisfaction .The result shows the
significance value as 0.002, the Null hypothesis were proved
Hypothesis
There is no significance between Job satisfaction and performance. The hypothesis was proved. The result is there
is significance between designation and performance in this study.
Table 3: In-house training Attended by the Respondents
Number of Training Programs
Nil
1 to 3
>4
Total

Impact Factor (JCC): 5.2129

Designation of the Respondents

Total
Level 4
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
No. % No. %
No.
% No. % No. %
16 12.1 14 10.6
9
6.8
3
2.3 42 31.8
19 14.4 29
22
19
14.4
1
0.8 68 51.5
7
5.3
11
8.3
2
1.5
1
0.8 22 16.7
42 31.8 54 40.9
31
23.5
5
3.8 132 100
Significance = .033
df = 12
X 2 = 22.436

NAAS Rating: 3.25

A Study on Job Satisfaction and Training Needs

Among Civil Engineers in Construction Industry

61

From the above table, only 16.70 % people attended training conducted by the organization and 83.30 % of
employees were not participated in the training program. The Training and development department has to give more
awareness on the importance to attend trainings and assist the employee participation.
The Hypothesis study proves, there is no significance between performance and training. The result shows the
significance value as 0.033, the Null hypothesis were disproved
Hypothesis 3
There is no significance between experiences and career in URCC. The hypothesis was disproved. The result was
there is no significance between experiences and career in URCC.

Chart 1: Performance Rating of the Respondents

From the above table, about 2.3% of respondents have performance rating in DME, 6.8% of respondents have
performance rating in BE, 55.30 % of respondents have performance rating in ME, and 4.50% of respondents have
performance rating in FEE. The Organization has to appoint third party agencies to counter check the performance rating
of the employee and obtain possible solutions to improve the employee performance rating. It concludes there is no
significance between performance and job satisfaction .The result shows the significance value as 0.002, the Null
hypothesis was proved.
Hypothesis 4
There is no significance between Training and Career growth. The hypothesis was disproved. The result is there is
no significance between training and Career growth.

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R. Udhayakumar & P. Karthikeyan

Study hypothesis
X 2 = 30.552 df = 12 Significance = .002
Chart 2: Respondents Career in URC Construction
From the above table, about 88.6% of respondents have their career growth in URC Construction, 11.4% of
respondents have no career growth in URC Construction. The organization provides good career for their employees; still
further improvements can be studied for organizations betterment. Hence, there is no significance between training and
career growth in URC Construction. The result shows the significance value as 0.520, the Null hypothesis was disproved.

FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION

Findings

The data collected through the questionnaires were analyzed and the following findings are derived.

The cadre of female employees in the organization is very less.

The strengthening of level 2 and level 1 employees is less comparing to Level 3 and Level 4.

Majority of employees had academic qualification as Diploma.

Employees of 51% percent using company accommodation.

The personnels associated with technical institutions is very low.

The Employee percentage on receiving appreciation cards are very minimum

The overall job satisfaction of the employee is 60%.

The skillset of sub ordinates handling at level 2, 3 is average.

Majority of personnel are not completing the project on time.

Majority of Personnel not aware of the benefit of obtaining clients contact certificate.

The participation of employee in trainings is very less.

Employees deserve that their career is growing in URCC

Employees are very much satisfied in their quality of life at URCC

Suggestions

There is opportunity to increase Female candidates for office work.

The Level 2 and Level 1 personnel strength can be increased by considering the future growth of organization.

Academic credential of employees can be enriched by offering executives program for loyal employees.

The site facility with regards to accommodation, Mess and Travel can be improved for maximum possible extend.

The organization can appointment Public Relation Officers (PRO) to understand and solve the employees
personal problems which will improve their overall job satisfaction

Impact Factor (JCC): 5.2129

NAAS Rating: 3.25

63

A Study on Job Satisfaction and Training Needs

Among Civil Engineers in Construction Industry

The present review and monitoring system to be focused more tocomplete all the projects as targeted.

Awareness program can be conducted among the employees to obtain contact certificates from clients.

HR Can create Consciousness program among the employees to receive more appreciation cards.

Since job satisfaction level is 60 %, more workshops and interactions among the employees should be conducted.

OBL type of schemes can be adopted for improving the employees enthusiasm.

The training needs analysis to be conducted for all the employees to understand their present skillset. Based on
that training matrix can be evaluated.

Employee training module should be focused on their day to day tasks improvement and future skill up gradation
by conducting on job and off the job training.

Social work and Intervention

The social worker can use different social work methods to improve the functioning of self-help. There is a need
to create awareness among the employees to strengthen their present skillset in terms of enriching their job satisfaction. In
this regard social worker needs to work to convince the employees and management to participate in various group work to
get train.
Since employees belong to various levels with respect to their designation the social worker can be guide, enabler,
organizer, motivator, counselor and helper in the process of training the employees. The social methods like casework,
group work could be made use for employee skill development. The intervention of social worker will enhance the
employee career and uplift their performance to reach new height.

CONCLUSIONS
In Construction Industry, we can broadly divide the overall percentage of project scope as 55 % for material part
and 45 % for Men, Machinery, Money and Over heads which all depends on the effectiveness of people. Outstanding
performers can produce optimistic output which leads the organization towards excellence. We can conclude that all the
construction industries should focus on their people development and form a core group to guide the personnel in rightway for continuous career up-gradation in their profession. We can fix our motto as People development is Organizational
Development.
As Said by Albert Einstein
"Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is Insanity."
Management of URC Construction (p) Ltd., Erode, directs their personnel to have continuous learning as a
process and applying the acquired learnings for innovation, think beyond frontiers.

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A Study on Job Satisfaction and Training Needs

Among Civil Engineers in Construction Industry

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