The construction industry is considered one of the most fraudulent businesses across the globe offering a perfect opportunity for ethical issues due to its low-price mindset and severe competition. Equally, the building industry is vulnerable to unethical behaviors because it entails a higher production cost posing a significant scale of opportunities for obtaining rent. Unscrupulous practices can occur at every stage of the project such as planning, tendering, implementation, and maintenance. This can lead to projects that when completed can be regarded as inappropriate, overpriced, and overlaid intricate components (Adnan et al 720). The impacts of unethical activities have lasting effects which are harmful to the construction institutions for example misused tender costs, blacklisting of the company, and reputational damages. The ethical dilemmas in the field of construction involve bribery and conflict of interest. According to the transparency international corruption scales the price of open contracting to a value more than 25% and enhances wastage of public properties.
Ethical Issues
Research materials indicate that the level of fraud is greater in the construction industry than other sectors of a country’s economy. The parties usually affected by the ethical issues include the contractors, clients, and the technical experts that mostly contribute to the project defects (Adnan et al 720). Numerous studies extrapolate that majority of the unethical practices in the construction management mainly involves biased demeanors, conflicting interest, collusive tendering, and bribery.
Biased Behaviors. Unfair behaviors in construction management occur when there is intense competition among the companies and when implementing contract terms. For instance, in the construction industry biased demeanor exists when there is little disclosure of important and applicable contract information in which the weaker party needs to be conversant with before entering the contract (Adnan et al 722). Equally, when there are no clear informative materials on the most significant terms of the contract mainly those that might affect the lesser party. The ability of the dominant player to determine the nature of the relationship to make it advantageous to them contributes to the unfair conduct.
Conflicting Interest. Conflicting interest is a situation in which one of the parties has a rival expert or personal interests that make it challenging to exercise the bestowed duties (Mukumbwa and Muya 54). This can develop an appearance of immodesty that can greatly affect the capability of the contractor to perform adequately on the project.
Fraud and Bribery. The major types of corruption in construction management include bribery, misappropriation of funds, and extortion. Consequently, various forms of fraud are entailed in the procurement stage such as bid rigging, fraud in audit analysis, a conspiracy by the bidders, falsification of price, and acceptance of gifts ((Mukumbwa and Muya 55). Other kinds of inducement comprise dishonest bids, deceit in contract enactment, and product substitution by the contractor.
The construction industry is one of the sectors that is faced with rampant unethical issues compared to other commercial entities across the world. This is because the industry involves higher costs of production with significant opportunities for obtaining greater profits after completion. However, the unscrupulous practices can have a lasting impact to the companies such as misusing of the funds, blacklisting of the firm, and reputational damages. Some of the unethical issues in construction management include conflicting interest, corruption, and unfair conduct. Notably, the affected parties include the contractor, client, and the technical expert that mostly contributes to the project defects.
Works Cited
Adnan, Hamimah, et al. “Ethical issues in the construction industry: Contractor’s perspective.” Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences vol 35, 2012, pp 719-727. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042812004545
Mukumbwa, B., and M. Muya. “Ethics in the construction industry in Zambia.” International Journal of Construction Management vol 13, no 2, 2013, pp 43-65. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15623599.2013.10773211