Construction on a global scale is amongst the largest most challenging industries that exist. Global construction will outpace GDP growth over the next 10 years, with China and India accounting for 38% of the 4.8 trillion US dollars increase in output by 2020 according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC 2012 Report).
After overtaking the US as the biggest construction market in 2010, China’s construction sector will more than double in size to 2.5 trillion USD by 2020, accounting for a fifth of world construction, emerging markets, with their fast-growing populations, accelerating urbanization and robust economic growth, will account for 55 percent of global construction by 2020, up from 46%, according to PwC.
A study, conducted by market research firms Global Construction Perspectives and Oxford Economics also forecasts that 97.7 trillion USD will be spent on construction globally during the next decade and the sector will expand by 5.2% on average every year, outpacing global GDP growth.
The construction sector worldwide currently accounts for more than 11% of global GDP and the report predicts that it will account for 13.2% of world GDP by 2020.
As a result of the above statistics, it is not surprising that construction productivity has formed a major research area for a considerable time (Olomolaiye et al 1998). However despite all the research that has been expended over the last 40 years there appears to be a broad consensus in the construction industry that productivity has declined. The graphic below extracted from Paul Teicholz’s research on ‘Labor Productivity Declines in the Construction Industry: Causes and Remedies’ (2009), shows the comparison between Construction productivity and non – Farm labour productivity.
The graphic indicates that there has been a decline in productivity in construction projects and that ‘the construction industry seriously lags other industries in developing and applying labour saving ideas and in finding ways to substitute equipment for labour. While there are a number of construction tasks that have been made more productive through the use of labour saving equipment, it is clear that, looking at the whole industry, there is a significant productivity problem’(Teicholz 2009).
An avenue of study which has not been explored in depth is the role of Psychology and project control management and their relationship with productivity and performance on construction projects.
To study performance in the work place or in the business world, we must first look at Industrial and Organisational Psychology (I-O). This is the study of relationship between man and the world of work. Blum & Naylor (1968) defined it as the application of psychological facts and principles to the problems concerning people operating within the context of business and industry. Stemming from social psychology, psychologists examine the role of the work environment in performance and other outcomes including job satisfaction and health.
How do we identify and understand the role that Psychology and Project Control Management plays in the performance and productivity of construction projects? To even achieve planned productivity is considered a major success in today’s projects. To go one better and achieve greater than planned productivity, it is essential that the organisational leadership develop and maintain a culture of excellence in how projects are planned, measured and executed. Organisational leaders can use varying psychological – behavioural based methods to harness their energy for performance and productivity through to the white collar within the project management and project controls team and down through to the blue collar labour that are physically performing construction activities.
If we look at another key area of the industry. Safety, in the Construction Industry companies who provide a psychological – behavioural based awareness systems and procedures have significantly reduced accidents on their projects and improve safety ratings (Bhattacharjee, Ghosh, Young Corbett 47th ASC Annual International Conference Proceedings 2011). The behavioural based safety approach underlying promotes the individual being accountable for safety of themselves and work colleagues.
Can the same be true for improving construction productivity and performance? What would the outcome be if all construction staff from CEO, senior management to blue collar workers took responsibility and accountability for their own performance and productivity and that of their friends and colleagues?
When leadership is committed to improving productivity and they reinforce that by implementing best practices for project control management combined with psychological – behavioural based training, then it might be possible to achieve increased productivity and performance improvement.
To be continued……..
REFERENCES
a) Labor Productivity Declines in the Construction Industry: Causes and Remedies – Paul Teicholz’ (2009).
b) Industrial Psychology: Its Theoretical and Social Foundations – Milton L. Blum, Jack C. Naylor (1968)
c) Safety Improvement Approaches in Construction Industry: A Review and Future Directions Bhattacharjee, Ghosh and Young Corbett; (2011 47th ASC Annual International Conference Proceedings)