The management of present day construction projects is becoming increasingly complex and challenging due to many factors. To meet this challenge it is of the utmost importance to provide efficient management throughout projects. This research is an empirical study to human resource management (HRM) in the Sri Lankan construction industry. The research focuses on the particular roles that staffing, employee development and rewards has on the motivation of masons in the Sir Lankan construction industry. The structured interview was chosen as a main research instrument for data collection. 90 masons and 30 supervisors were randomly selected from 10 construction sites within the Sri Lankan construction industry. The study's findings show that the supervisors and masons in the construction industry in Sri Lanka are aware of the supposed advantages of staffing, employee development and the rewards of a HRM approach. However, these characteristics have yet to play a significant role in the motivation of Sri Lankan supervisors and masons. The contextual application of these three strategies will improve motivation of the Sri Lankan construction workforce. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on motivation and also presents a HRM framework for improving the motivation of supervisors and masons in the Sri Lankan construction industry (SLCI). The implementation of this HRM framework could give a new dimension and benefits to the SLCI. If successfully implemented this same framework, could be applied in other industries such as manufacturing and defence after it has been tailored to fit such industries. It could also be used in other developing regions similar to Sri Lanka.