Changing Craft Skills In The Kenyan Construction Sector
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Date
2008Author
Wachira, N
Root, D
Bowen, P
Olima, W
Type
PresentationLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The skills required of construction craftsmen are determined by factors related to their
work environment such as the prevailing technology, materials and methods of work,
and their employment relationships. As these factors change over time, it follows that
the skill sets of the craftsmen will also change. An argument put forward by several
writers is that the traditional classes of skills are inadequate to cope with the range of
work required in today’s construction sector. In addition, these changes, which create
new knowledge, skills and attitudes that the craftsman requires for adequate work
performance, highlights the crucial role of training in ensuring that the craftsmen are
equipped with the appropriate skills. The Kenyan construction sector has experienced
dramatic changes in the work environment of craftsmen over the last 20 years, driven
mainly by the decline of the formal sector, the increased casualisation of operatives,
and the growth of informal procurement. This has arguable led to equally significant
changes in the nature of and demand for crafts skills. This paper reports on the
findings of a pilot study that sought to investigate the type of skills that Kenyan
craftsmen are acquiring. The results show that, in addition to the traditional trade
skills, the craftsmen are acquiring generic skills e.g. material specification, estimation,
supervision and costing. These new skills are driven mainly by changing
employment relationships, particularly between the craftsmen and employers utilising
informal procurement rather than the skills required by the formal construction sector.
Consequently, the changing skills requirement among craftsmen highlights the need
to overhaul the existing training programmes to meet the changing needs of the
construction sector.
Citation
Wachira N, Root D, Bowen P and Olima W (2008) Changing craft skills in the Kenyan construction sector. In: Dainty, A (Ed) Procs 24th Annual ARCOM Conference, 1-3 September, Cardiff, UK, Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 63-71.Publisher
Department of Real Estate and Construction Management, University of Nairobi Department of Construction Economics and Management, University of Cape Town