scholarly journals Assessment of Human Productivity Drivers for Construction Labor through Importance Rating and Risk Mapping

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 8614
Author(s):  
Murat Gunduz ◽  
Abdulrahman Abu-Hijleh

Labor constitutes a significant portion of the overall cost of a construction project, where labor productivity is often the main driver of the cost. Although studies on labor productivity factors exist, their frequency of occurrence in terms of their ranking remains unexplored. This study differs from other studies in the literature by introducing the frequency component to the productivity factors, a more realistic ranking of the factors by adjusting the importance by frequency (frequency adjusted importance index) and risk mapping of the factors. Moreover, this study is the first to apply risk mapping on labor productivity drivers. The aim of this paper is to identify the project factors affecting the labor productivity in construction projects and to rank these factors considering the perception of the industry on project performance. A literature review of past relevant studies was performed to identify and draft a list of factors affecting labor productivity in construction projects. Thirty-seven labor productivity factors were presented in a questionnaire to investigate the impact and frequency of their occurrence in construction projects. A 9-point scale structured questionnaire was constructed to measure the importance and the frequency of the factors and to evaluate the ranking for different categories. The frequency adjusted importance index (FAII), Spearman’s rank correlation, and risk mapping were used to study and analyze the 105 completed responses. The participants rated the following factors as the five most significant labor productivity-influencing factors: (1) poor labor supervision, (2) delays in payments, (3) poor work environment, (4) lowly skilled labor, and (5) bad weather conditions.

Author(s):  
Zain Ghazi Al-Kofahi ◽  
Amirsaman Mahdavian ◽  
Amr Oloufa

It is vital to investigate the system dynamics (SD) between the change orders and labor productivity to identify the causes of the productivity loss of the construction projects. Most productivity loss studies were financed from the contractor’s part and rely on the contractor’s data. This research highlighted the problem of productivity loss resulting from issuance of a change order by utilizing a previously developed SD model. It conducted a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the impact of overtime, overmanning, temperature and learning on the behavior of the SD model quantifying change orders' impact on labor productivity. Based on the results, SD provides more reliable results comparing with the measured mile analysis (MMA) approach for the compensation request, considering the leading factors affecting the productivity loss other than the change order. The model developed in this study can accept or reject the responsibility of a change order for occurrence of productivity loss.


2018 ◽  
Vol 162 ◽  
pp. 02032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tareq Khaleel ◽  
Yasser Nassar

Productivity is a very important element in the estimation process in construction management. The objective of this research is to identify and analyze the factors which affect labor productivity in construction projects. In this research, 42 effective factors were collected from site survey, interview with engineers and experts, and previous research in the Arab world. These factors are grouped into Nine categories “Workforce, Leadership, Motivation, Supervisors, Safety, Project, Time, Material, and External”. A survey questionnaire of 70 respondents was distributed among different experts. A statistical analysis was done using SPSS and EXCEL packages. The Relative Importance Index was used to find out the most significant factors affecting the labor productivity in construction sites. The results accomplished from the survey revealed that the major factors negatively affect the labor productivity (ranked from the worst factor with Relative Importance Index values, respectively) namely, Availability Material (88.571%), Climate status “Weather” (88%), Religious occasions (86.29%), Number of working groups (86%), Ganger experience (85.714%), Workforce surveillance (84.857%), Ganger Age (84%), working at height (82%), Drawings and specifications alteration during execution (81.69%), and Sequence of floor (80.571%). Based upon these findings, this can help the construction professionals to improve the productivity and project performance in Iraq.


2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Mwanaki Alinaitwe ◽  
Jackson A. Mwakali ◽  
Bengt Hansson

Poor productivity of construction workers is one of the causes of cost and time overruns in construction projects. The productivity of labour is particularly important especially in developing countries, where most of the building construction work is still on manual basis. This paper reports on a survey made on project managers of building projects in Uganda, where an increase in productivity is being sought. Respondents were required to rate using their experience how 36 factors affect productivity with respect to time, cost and quality. The survey was carried out by a questionnaire and responses received over a period of 3 months. The ten most significant problems affecting labour productivity were identified as incompetent supervisors; lack of skills from the workers; rework; lack of tools/equipment; poor construction methods; poor communication; inaccurate drawings; stoppages because of work being rejected by consultants; political insecurity; tools/equipment breakdown; and harsh weather conditions. Although lack of materials is ranked highest with regard to average rating on loss of time, it was not ranked among the top ten using the importance index that takes into account time, cost as well as work quality. The policy makers and researchers should focus on the identified major factors in order to improve productivity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-124
Author(s):  
Jifara Chimdi ◽  
Sisay Girma ◽  
Alemu Mosisa ◽  
Degefe Mitiku

Construction projects are getting progressively complex and their scales are getting sophisticated. Along these lines, it is getting more problematic to finish the projects inside planned cost limits. In Oromia public building construction projects these problems were raised as a typical challenge. Hence, evaluation of factors affecting the accuracy of cost estimation in public projects was the aim of this study. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized for information assortment. Relative Importance Index (RII) was utilized for information investigation. Totally sixty -two variables were investigated and the best five most significant were selected by this assessment based on the average view of respondents. These significant factors are; Material price/accessibility /source /quality /imports, Experience and ability of the consultant, Variability in the Economy of the country, and financial conditions of client.  Spearman's rank correlation coefficients (rho) investigation was conducted by the assistance of SPSS 20 version for a testing level of connections among respondents on the positioning of the factors affecting the accuracy of cost estimation. Spearman’s rank correlation results were 0.823 among Clients and Consultants, 0.813 among clients and contractors, and 0.802 among Consultants and Contractors. The outcome shows that the rate of the rank correlations was a high positive number, which implies there is a positive connection between them on the ranking of factors disturbing the accurateness of cost estimation in public building construction projects in western Oromia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-38
Author(s):  
Wesam Salah Alaloul ◽  
Muhammad Ali Musarat ◽  
Hussain Mehmood ◽  
Muhammad Altaf

Road construction in Pakistan is booming because of China’s One Belt One Road program. Pakistan is in a developing stage and facing a lot of challenges in construction projects, primarily in labour productivity. This research focuses on the factors affecting labour productivity in road construction projects of Pakistan. A questionnaire was developed to observe the impact of critical factors on labour productivity. Based on the gathered responses, the factors were ranked using the Relative Importance Index (RII). The analysis shows that out of thirty (30) factors, the most important five (5) factors that affect labour productivity on road construction are unskilled workforce, payment delays to labour, tools and equipment shortages, poor communication of supervisor with labours and financial difficulties of owner/contractor. By focusing on these critical issues’ betterment can be made in labour productivity which will directly enhance the projects’ performance.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Sarmento ◽  
◽  
Miguel Luiz Ribeiro Ferreira

Executing projects according to its estimated cost and schedule is fundamental to guarantee the economic and financial viability of the businesses associated with them. In this context, the estimated duration of an activity is very important for the development of the project schedule and budget. Therefore, determining the main factors that contribute to labor productivity becomes imperative. This research identified the main factors affecting labor productivity in construction projects around the world. Then, it was verified the pertinence of these factors to the Brazilean industry . The 56 factors identified were prioritized, according to the importance index, and categorized into four main groups: management, labor, external and technological. Factors such as: poor material management, lack of construction manager’s leadership, site supervision inefficiency, strikes and lack of tools are at the top of the list. It was also observed the balance between the management, technological and external groups. Finally, when compared to researches carried out in other countries, there is a reasonable correlation between the results identified by this research and those found by previous researches.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (7A) ◽  
pp. 1069-1076
Author(s):  
Layth T. Ali ◽  
Raid S. Abid Ali ◽  
Zeyad S. M. Khaled

Cost overrun in construction projects is a common phenomenon in Iraq. This might occur due to diversity of factors. This study aims to identify the factors influencing construction projects cost that are potentially controllable by main contractors. A field study through a questionnaire survey was directed to a sample of related Iraqi professional engineers from general contracting companies at both public and private sectors. Their opinions on the impact and frequency of each factor were investigated. The questionnaire offered (59) factors classified in (8) categories namely; legislations, financial and economic, design, contractual, site management, material, labor and equipment. The factors were ranked according to the highest Relative Importance Index (RII). The study revealed (10) major factors that are potentially controllable by main contractors namely; labor productivity, sub-contractors and suppliers performance, equipment productivity, site organization and distribution of equipment, experience and training of project managers, scheduling and control techniques, planning for materials supply, planning for equipment supply, materials delivery and planning for skilled labor recruitment. Recommendations to aid contractors and owners in early identification of these factors are also included in this study.


Buildings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaigham Ali ◽  
Fangwei Zhu ◽  
Shahid Hussain

Like other kinds of projects, construction projects are exposed to uncertainty, which plays a critical role in determining the transaction cost (TC). This study explores the uncertainty factors that are associated with construction projects that substantially influence the TC. To obtain the opinions of construction professionals, a survey questionnaire was developed after identifying 30 relevant causes of uncertainty from the literature. A survey of 216 professionals was conducted in Pakistan, and the relative importance index (RII) was used to prioritize the significant uncertainty factors that escalate the TC. Based on the responses from various construction professionals, this study determined that the most significant uncertainty factors that influence TC are: competitive tendering, incomplete design and specifications, late payments, conflict management, delayed possession of sites, force majeure, and work acceleration. This study also compared and analyzed the views of project managers and consultants and found that uncertainty from internal sources has a more significant influence on TC than that from external sources. The political and environmental groups do not contribute much escalating the TC. However, uncertainties that arise from the commercial, project site, and technical groups are more of an influence on TC. This research helps practitioners and professionals to adopt integrative systems in most uncertain situations proactively to find opportunities in volatile markets to reduce the impact of uncertainty on the total project cost.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 03075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Abramov

Development of design documentation for a future construction project gives rise to a number of issues with the main one being selection of manpower for structural units of the project’s overall implementation system. Well planned and competently staffed integrated structural construction units will help achieve a high level of reliability and labor productivity and avoid negative (extraordinary) situations during the construction period eventually ensuring improved project performance. Research priorities include the development of theoretical recommendations for enhancing reliability of a structural unit staffed as an integrated construction crew. The author focuses on identification of destabilizing factors affecting formation of an integrated construction crew; assessment of these destabilizing factors; based on the developed mathematical model, highlighting the impact of these factors on the integration criterion with subsequent identification of an efficiency and reliability criterion for the structural unit in general. The purpose of this article is to develop theoretical recommendations and scientific and methodological provisions of an organizational and technological nature in order to identify a reliability criterion for a structural unit based on manpower integration and productivity criteria. With this purpose in mind, complex scientific tasks have been defined requiring special research, development of corresponding provisions and recommendations based on the system analysis findings presented herein.


2018 ◽  
Vol 162 ◽  
pp. 02035
Author(s):  
Bevian I. Al Hadithi

The highways sector is a prominent sector in any country’s economy because of its impact on the well-being and safety of its citizens. The transport sector has an impact on social improvement and investment in the nation on the illustration that allows access to markets, production, jobs, health and other social services.This study investigates the causes of delay of highway construction projects in Iraq, which is frequent occurrence. Data was collected using questionnaires which were distributed to the key project participants; contractors, owners and consultants. The data were analyzed using the Frequency index and Spearman‟s rank correlation. The top seven causes of project delays were observed to be political decisions and political realities, the economic crisis of the country, delays in materials test of and obtaining the results, delay in monthly payments of contractor, failure treatment of the delays when implementing the project, the effects of weather, rain and high temperatures, delay in activities during implementation. It is recommended to establish an appropriate number of laboratories and adopt the field laboratory mechanism for the external and remote screens. Owners should give special attention to pay progress payment to contractors on time. The competent contractor who has prior experience in implementing the high projects should be selected. The contractor must take into consideration the weather conditions when preparing the time plan necessary to implement the project. The project management should identify these reasons and deal with them quickly in order to reduce the total delay of the project.


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