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The purpose of this paper is to investigate how on-site blockwork craft gangs’ learning impacts productivity within the production environment on-site to optimise their productivity.

The research is adopting a quantitative method with the observation of seven craft gangs’ blockwork with an average of five members in each gang, using the learning curve model application in a 17-storey tri-tower construction project in Nigeria. The linear regression method was employed in the analysis stage of this study using labour-recorded productivity time input as the dependent variables.

The paper provides empirical insights about the significance of on-site craft gangs’ learning. The overall blockwork craft gangs learning observed at the site level shows an average learning rate of 94.21 per cent resulting in 5.79 per cent improvement gains.

Due to the nature of the study and the research question, the observations in this research study were limited to FCDA construction project in Nigeria. The limitation of this scenario is that the research results may lack generalisability. Therefore, there is the need for further study on the learning rate.

This research study includes the implications for the development of on-site blockwork craft gangs learning; the significant impact of learning rate of 94.21 per cent resulting in 5.79 per cent improvement gain can be used in the planning and to fast track the productivity of craft gangs’ construction.

This paper identified the need to improve construction productivity through craft gangs’ on-site learning with the application of the learning curve theory.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the perception of tradespeople about project-specific constraints (PSCs) influencing construction productivity in Nigeria.

Using a qualitative descriptive survey comprising face-to-face semi-structured interviews and a purposive sampling method, views of eight groups of tradespeople and seven project managers on live construction projects in Nigeria were collected. The study used conventional content analysis with the aid of NVivo 12 pro computer software for the analysis.

The research evaluated the PSCs and their effect on construction productivity of tradespeople. The findings identified five key PSCs, namely: lack of promotions/reward system, unsafe/poor health condition of workers, delay in material availability, inadequate site amenities and an ageing workforce. These results support earlier research on constraints influencing labour productivity, however, the poor health condition of workers and material unavailability appear to be more unique when compared to other previous studies.

The study focussed on the Federal Capital Territory Abuja and the Lagos State of Nigeria. It provides insight into the PSCs influencing the productivity of tradespeople in the Nigerian construction industry. Further research to identify the PSCs in depth, in the Eastern part of Nigeria is necessary.

The PSCs influencing tradespeople’s productivity was identified. The level of the relative impact of the PSCs is expected to guide the project team in addressing the PSCs in a method that is cost effective.

This study is original research that has underlined some areas of improvement in construction project performance.

The world economy has developed significantly causing increase in greenhouse gases emissions level resulting in the global warming and related natural disasters. Women are more vulnerable to these disasters and global warming compared to men especially with respect to mortality rate and increase in the workload. For example, especially in developing countries women’s workload increased due to the global warming and water scarcity, as they spend more time to carry water to their homes as they get water from longer distances. This example reveals opportunity cost of climate change for females as their increased workload can obstacle their education affecting their entire life and their contribution to their countries’ sustainable development. Women are underrepresented in the workforce and politics all over the world. This situation prevents humanity to get benefit from their potential in and contribution to the climate change fight. Women encouragement in economics and political life can support their participation in the climate change fight. Empowerment of women and enabling them to take more active role in decision-making process especially in the climate change fight can contribute to mitigate the climate change’s effects and support sustainable growth. Based on literature review, this chapter aims to investigate women’s role in the climate change fight and ways for empowering women to mitigate climate change’s adverse consequences. This chapter is expected to be beneficial to politicians, academics, and economists as well as to all stakeholders of nature.

Mentorship is a valuable aid in developing professional competence and enhancing career objectives. The article examines male‐mentor/female‐protegee relationships from the angle of ambiguity between cultural mating roles and mentoring roles.

This purpose of this paper is to test if social network theory applies in a developing country like Mexico. A set of Mennonite milk processors is tested against non‐Mennonite milk processors along five dimensions of firm performance.

A sample of 61 milk processing firms is tested utilizing logistic regression where regression variables are financial fluidity, number of employees, age of the enterprise, productivity and efficiency, and other business related difficulties.

It appears that social network theory in the form of religious ties, applies in Mexico as it does in much different industrialized economies that have typically been the setting for previous tests of social network theory.

Secondary data rather than primary data were used for this test, as a result, the usual battery of tests on research variables that ascertain validity and reliability could not be conducted. Moreover, the data covered only milk processors in northern Mexico.

It would appear that organizations might benefit from the open observance of religious practice at work, contrary to the secular approach of the past.

This paper may represent one of the first tests of network theory utilizing religious ties in Mexico.

The purpose of this chapter is to propose a new direction in ethnographic research in education through the emergence of critical presence ethnography (CPE). Through a review of the evolution of the field of ethnography as well as the positionality of the self as ethnographer, this chapter illuminates the ways in which critical ethnographic commitments and critical reflexivity can support a critical presence perspective that captures the ways in which the researcher impacts the internal epistemology and ontology of the research environment. This chapter is a conceptual chapter and does not include a specific research design, methods, or approaches. As a conceptual piece, there are no clear-cut findings, however a review of the extant literature concerning the field of ethnography is presented as well as the roles, opportunities, and tensions that ethnographers experience in the field. Based on the authors’ ethnographic work in the field, they employ a CPE to capture the ripples of self in the research context.

The limitations of this work are that it is only presented in its conceptual form and has not been implemented nor tested in the field. As such, the implications of this work are that it be further developed and operationalized in the field of ethnography. Upon implementation and in depth testing, CPE may have the potential to positively impact the way in which education ethnographers manage researcher identity, conceptions of the self, and researcher bias within a given context. This chapter builds upon a strong body of literature concerning ethnography and critical ethnography in education. Using these processes of ethnography and the ways in which the positionality of the ethnographic researcher have been conceptualized and operationalized in the extant ethnographic literature, our work seeks to provide a way in which the ethnographer can measure his or her impact on the given context. Although infant in our conceptualization, we aspire to contribute to the conversation about ethnography, researcher positionality, and context.

There is a perception in the United States that campaign contributions equate with vote buying. Outright vote buying is illegal, but many citizens believe that loopholes in campaign contribution laws allow some to buy votes while perpetuating a façade of legitimacy. Both federal and state laws attempt to regulate campaign contributions, but many of those have been limited by the Supreme Court’s ruling that campaign spending is considered free speech (Buckley vs. Valeo, 1976). Without the ability to limit campaign spending, the amount of money it takes to run a campaign, particularly a presidential campaign, has increased substantially. This had led to an increase in the use of bundling by presidential campaigns, with the winners often rewarding their bundlers. It has also led to an increase in outside independent organizations, known as Super PACs, with an unlimited ability to raise and spend money. This creates an additional problem as a small percentage of wealthy individuals constitute the vast majority of campaign contributors, leading to the perception that politicians cater to the elite. Whether a politician is affected by these factors or not is hard to prove, but it still leaves a perception by voters that their votes are less influential than large campaign contributors and there is always a risk that a vote has been bought.

The need to create and apply knowledge has contributed to the prescription of a learning organisation. However, there is no easy answer to what this concept means. Also a major criticism of the concept relates to the yet unclear connection between learning and performance. The purpose of this paper is to review the broad global literature to identify emergent themes, synthesised into a multilevel framework of process and structural attributes that reflects key theoretical relationships and attributes underwriting organisational learning and change

This paper is based on meta‐analysis of literature published about the learning organisation and organisational learning.

Finds a multilevel framework of process and structural attributes that reflects key relationships and attributes associated with learning and change.

The multi‐level model outlines a framework for future research that may seek to link learning and performance. The causal relationships identified also suggest practical implications for managers seeking to enact the learning organisation concept.

This paper synthesises the conceptual underpinnings of literature on the learning organisation into a practical framework.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the findings from a research project seeking to develop and test a set of key performance indicators for airport facility management, with particular focus on safety and security.

A case study approach was adopted for this project and data was collected from a series of interviews, workshops, the internet and other media.

The need for airport security and safety is paramount, post 9/11. Airports generate revenue from the facilities they provide so they seek to maximise their potential revenues but must do so with safety and security foremost in the operators' minds. In the UK a system for boosting security at the airports termed “multi‐agency threat and risk assessments” has been developed jointly by the Department for Transport and the Home Office after Sir John Wheeler's report on airport security and policing in 2002. This provides a framework for this research and enables the evaluation of current practice to be undertaken.

Previous research has not directly measured the relative performance of airport safety and security and the role of facility management in achieving that level of performance and this is the focus of the study. This paper concludes by presenting a potential list of key performance indicators for airport safety and security that emerged from the interviews and workshops.