Milan Radosavljevic

The evidence of complex variability in construction labour productivity

The complex variability of the 12 construction labour productivity data sets has been examined by analysing the central moments of tendency, and applying the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Anderson-Darling tests of normality. The results consistently show that the productivity is not normally distributed. In addition, undefined variance causes a failure of the central limit theorem, thus indicating that some basic statistical diagnostics like correlation coefficients and t statistics may give misleading results and are not applicable. A brief comparison with volatility studies in econometrics has revealed surprising similarity with Pareto distributions, which can model undefined or infinite variance. Such distributions are typical of chaotic systems like the logistic equation, whose properties also are described briefly. Therefore, it is suggested that future research should be focused on studying the applicability of chaos theory to construction labour.

MC as a Means for Supporting Information Flow in Construction Processes

This paper initially presents the potential use of mobile computing in the construction industry. However, it is further assumed that the use of mobile computing can significantly improve the flow of relevant information among the project participants only if the present organisational culture is subject to changes. That is further supported with the results from the experimental study of the potential use of various mobile computing devices in the project information exchange. In this respect only cost effective, commonly available and standardised solutions would prove a project-wide applicability. The final objective of the paper is to show why there should be further research in mobile computing focused on identifying weaknesses in project-related information exchange and how to apply existing optimised IT procedures to alleviate these weaknesses.

Prominent demotivational factors influencing the productivity of construction project managers in Qatar

Purpose – An extensive search of the literature revealed a dearth of research on the demotivational factors affecting the performance and productivity level of site-based construction project managers. Following the announcement of awarding the FIFA 2022 World Cup hosting rights to the State of Qatar, the State is pledging to spend tens of Billions of Dollars on hundreds of new construction projects. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify, explore, and rank the relative importance of the demotivational factors influencing the productivity of the States construction management force. Design/methodology/approach – A structured questionnaire survey comprising 38 potential demotivational factors, which were shortlisted based on relevant previous studies on the impact of motivation on construction productivity, and numerous interviews with local industry professionals, was distributed to a relatively large sample of site-resident project managers. Using the “Relative Importance Index” technique, ...

Practicing sustainability in PFI project management

This paper investigates the relationship of the project management in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and sustainability. A live PFI project is selected as a case study, where contract review and monitoring on project management are carried out to evaluate the sustainability of project management. The PFI procurement shows great advantages in increased contractual responsibilities of the contractor in sustainable construction, and also in practicing sustainability in project management. Six main sustainable attributes of the project management are selected to evaluate the sustainability of project management in the PFI project. The project management process in the case study is closely monitored in order to verify how the PFI project promotes sustainability in practice. The project management in the different stages of the PFI project, including tendering, design, construction and operation, contributes to the six sustainable attributes in different ways. The project management in PFI project paid more attention in sustainable development during its whole process. As the private sector is responsible to the whole life of the building project, the project manager has to consider the long-term benefits during the management process. The government should take advantages of PFI project management in practicing sustainability therefore to promote sustainable development of the national infrastructure services.

Process planning methodology: dynamic short-term planning for off-site construction in Slovenia

Planning is a vital element of project management but it is still not recognized as a process variable. Its objective should be to outperform the initially defined processes, and foresee and overcome possible undesirable events. Detailed task‐level master planning is unrealistic since one cannot accurately predict all the requirements and obstacles before work has even started. The process planning methodology (PPM) has thus been developed in order to overcome common problems of the overwhelming project complexity. The essential elements of the PPM are the process planning group (PPG), including a control team that dynamically links the production/site and management, and the planning algorithm embodied within two continuous‐improvement loops. The methodology was tested on a factory project in Slovenia and in four successive projects of a similar nature. In addition to a number of improvement ideas and enhanced communication, the applied PPM resulted in 32% higher total productivity, 6% total savings and created a synergistic project environment.