Investigating the Perceptions of Hispanic High School Students Towards Construction Managers

Abstract

Since 1968 Americans have recognized September 15 to October 15 as Hispanic Heritage Month. Each year, we celebrate the history and culture of Hispanic and Latino Americans and their contributions to society. In 2014, Hispanics and Latinos accounted for 16.1 percent of the 146.3 million employed people in the United States. The Construction industry is the dominant employer of Hispanics. 90.5% of Construction managers are White, making that the most common race or ethnicity in the occupation, while about 29.8% of the workforce is made of Hispanic people. This creates a cultural and lingual gap among the managers and workers. One of the most common reasons for failure at a job site is miscommunication. This study focuses on investigating the perception of Hispanic Highschool students towards construction managers and creating awareness about what a construction manager does. This study follows a multidimensional surveying method with targeted groups of Hispanic Highschool students and parents. After analysis of the survey and sketches received from the participants, the study concludes that there is a significant misconception in the Hispanic community about what a construction manager profession looks like, where the construction manager is located and what does the construction manager does. The study also concluded that there is need to create awareness among students about the profession, to increase the likelihood of Hispanic students choosing construction management as their profession, thus decreasing the gap in the industry.