APPLIED PROJECT MANAGEMENT

To: Dr. MaryEllen C. Nobe

From: Abhishek Rajshekar
Date: 9/23/2015
RE: CON 560 Assignment #3 Productivity
Answers:
1. In the construction industry, because of traditional and practical reasons, productivity is usually
expressed as the amount of time required to produce a unit of output, where the unit varies with
each trade. Moreover, in construction industry, which is labor intensive, it is often referred to as
Labor Productivity. Generally, it is represented as constant dollars per labor hour, for example,
$50/hr. It is convenient this way, since dollar values are more easily aggregated from a large
amount of data collected from different sources.
In service industries, for example, in health care, a nursing unit uses a single patient as one unit of
service. In industries that manufacture complex products, for example, if an aircraft company
determines that it requires 5000 labor hours to assemble an airframe, so the productivity here, is
assessed on how many actual hours were invested on each assembly.
2. Productivity is formally, defined as output produced per unit of time. Labor productivity is a
measure of combined efficiency of system in utilizing labor, equipment and capital to convert
labor efforts into useful output.
Since, construction is human specific, management and human related factors do affect
productivity. Leadership and quality of supervision affects the morality and motivation of
individuals. Management of materials, which involves Pre-planning, Procurement and Handling,
will also lead to delays in delivery or shifting around, if poorly managed. Along with these,
factors such as Sit layout planning and Constructability factors influence productivity directly. In
all of these above, the labor are at not much fault, since they merely follow the planning and
orders given by the management.

Productive activities are those activities that are directly devoted towards completion of project.
Indirect activities such as, rework or correction, work delays due to material delays, training
sessions and strikes, are called as Non-Productive activities. These non-productive activities take
up the potential labor resources which otherwise could be directed for productive work towards
the project. Some of the non-productive activities are necessary for smooth functioning, but in
most cases poor management would lead to non-productive hours and thus affect the overall
productivity.
3. Unionized Labor in most cases have a positive Jobsite productivity. Unionized labor are trained
apprentice in their respective trades, so often they are more productive than the unskilled
counterparts. At the same time the wages of these unionized labor is on higher side compared to
non-unionized ones. This lead to employers screening workers more carefully to obtain higher
quality labor and to substitute other inputs for labor in the production process. Also Union hiring
halls serve to increase efficiency when large numbers of workers are needed by making adequate
supplies of labor available on relatively short notice.

ABHISHEK RAJSHEKAR

Assignment #3 Productivity

CON 560

APPLIED PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Union labor operates under collective bargaining agreements that set a wage rate for a particular
region. Companies that are forced to pay a union labor wage do not have the flexibility to create a
pay structure that keeps costs down and makes the company price competitive. In this case Nonunionized labor is useful. The relationship in a nonunion labor arrangement is between the
company and the worker. Union workers are a collective that work under a contract. If a dispute
occurs between a company and the labor union, the company may have to endure the cost and bad
publicity of a strike. Companies that employ non-unionized workforce, have a freedom to
promote an individual worker based on his merits, or dismiss the worker, thereby maintaining a
healthy balanced workforce.
4. Materials management
Material management is the system for planning and controlling to ensure that the right quality
and quantity of materials are specified in a timely manner. Since material costs are a major
portion of construction expenditures, minimizing procurement or purchasing costs will greatly
reduce overall costs. If properly not planned, early procurement and storing of materials can get
risky. In case of early purchase, capital might get held up and interest on this excess inventory
grows. Even worse, the materials in storage may get deteriorated, or stolen or damaged. Secondly,
if material lead times are not properly managed, it may delay the activities, thus in a fast track
construction, timely flow of materials is to be ensured.
Material Procurement and delivery
Some of the problems involving procurement and delivery would be:
On time order, delivery at right time, over or under ordering, wrong materials procured, theft,
storing and order checking. These factors affect the construction productivity severely.
We need to understand the six and degree of project, complexity, competition contract type and
relationship between various parties and plan accordingly, well in advance. Along with planning,
proper material classification and site layout arrangement helps rectify some of the problems.
5. Most jobsite layout plans will include lay down area, Access roads, Office trailers, Material and
equipment storage, toilet facilities, parking areas and temporary facilities like warehouses,
fabrication shops and batching plants. On site management of all these items requires coming up
with an optimum layout. Some of the challenges that are faced are:
Material stock pile wrongly located. They may be far from work area, remote from radius
of crane. This leads to repeated handling and far distance.
Plant and equipment wrongly located. The mixer is inaccessible for delivery pf materials
or not enough room store aggregates.
Materials maybe stacked too high or spread across roadways, causing restricted
movement and leading to blockages or fragile pile up causing accidents. Congested
pathways create bottlenecks for vehicles trying to turn around.
Site office trails wrongly located. Too near to fabrication or noisy and dusty roads or
activities like mixers, or too remote leading to insufficient overview of site.
No proper signage leads to confusion and delays. Non availability pf safety measures,
first aid can lead to serious effects.

REFERENCES:
ABHISHEK RAJSHEKAR

Assignment #3 Productivity

CON 560

APPLIED PROJECT MANAGEMENT

1. Gillikin, J., & Media, D. Measurements of Employee Productivity. Retrieved September 17,
2015, from (http://smallbusiness.chron.com/measurements-employee-productivity-1227.html)
2. S. P. Dozzi and S. M. AbouRizk, Productivity in Construction, Institute for Research in
Construction, Ottawa, Canada, 1993
3. Allen, S. (1983). Unionization and Productivity in Office Building and School Construction.
Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 187-187.
4. (http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/advantages-disadvantage-labor-unions-3553.html).
5. Donyavi, S. and Flanagan, R. (2009) The impact of effective material management on
construction site performance for small and medium sized construction enterprises.
In: Dainty, A.R.J. (Ed) Procs 25th Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2009,
Nottingham, UK, Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 11-20

ABHISHEK RAJSHEKAR

Assignment #3 Productivity

CON 560