Addressing minority discrimination in a master’s education program for construction management

Paper in proceeding, 2023

Increasing minorities’ participation in high-tier and managerial positions in the construction sector, can compensate for the shortage of skilled workers faced by the industry even in Sweden. However, relevant initiatives seem to not have achieved substantial results yet. This is also evident in construction management education, which then creates implications for the industry. In this paper, we attest shortcomings in tackling the aforementioned issues, as well as present possible solutions. Theoretically, we adopt diversity management and critical diversity theory, and then conduct a literature review followed by an empirical focus on a master’s education program for construction management in a Swedish university. Our findings show that while methods and policies may exist, they are generally implemented inefficiently. Even more alarmingly, there can be a “diversity washing” through relevant low-budgeted programs, which may serve more as an extraction for underperforming managers rather than serious initiatives. As such, university-proposed solutions may fail, as the organizational structure does not support them, and the responsibility of implementation lies primarily with the teachers. We therefore propose broader initiatives with a strong reflection in praxis – such as following up on students’ behaviour in the classroom, and examining not only the way foreigners can be integrated, but also the way the majority is blindly maintaining and reproducing its privilege. Those could allow construction management education to contribute towards a diverse and equitable development of the Swedish construction sector. In that vein, this paper aims to contribute to SDGs 4, 5, 8, and 10.