Hadavi, A (1991) Improvement in construction productivity through goal setting in a unionized environment. PhD thesis, Northwestern University, USA.
Abstract
Goal setting is one of the motivational techniques used in manufacturing and service industries to improve the productivity of the work force. Previous studies have shown that specific, difficult goals produced better performance than medium, easy, do-your-best goals, or no goals and a programmatic use of goal setting and feedback increases productivity by an average of almost 20 percent. Due to the inherent characteristics of the construction industry, there has not been an attempt to apply this technique to the construction of new buildings. However, the application of goal setting for routine road maintenance work has been tested successfully in Pennsylvania. This study explored the effectiveness of the goal setting technique on masonry work and showed that it can be used in the construction industry to improve productivity if certain guidelines are followed. However, there is a definite possibility that difficulties will be encountered in the implementation of a goal setting program. Some of these difficulties are (i) job disruption during construction due to a strike, lack of material, or interference from other trades, (ii) interference from owner and/or design engineer in the form of major change orders, (iii) interference from unions, and (iv) absenteeism. Some of these difficulties were encountered during this study and disrupted the goal setting process, which, in turn, affected the experimentation. Two hypotheses were considered for this study: (i) the productivity of construction work in a unionized environment can be increased by using the goal setting technique, and (ii) short-term goals are more effective than long-term goals. Three experiments were performed over a period of fourteen months. In all three experiments, the groups with a goal outperformed the groups without a goal. This increased performance is shown by higher expected profits at each experimental site. Comparison of all three experiments allows conclusions to be advanced that (i) goal setting induced increased productivity of unionized groups with a goal and (ii) short-term goals resulted in higher productivity than long-term goals.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Krizek, R J |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | absenteeism; effectiveness; motivation; masonry; new build; feedback; manufacturing; productivity; mason; owner; experiment |
| Index terms: | program, motivation, profit, experiment, routine, absenteeism, implementation, construction industry, construction productivity, construction work, effectiveness, new build, change order, experimental site, engineer, owner, mason, productivity |
| Subjects: | operations management, psychology, economic analysis, contractual arrangements, profession, data collection methods, practitioner, sociology, research management, industry analysis, performance management, software systems, construction integration, management, contractual condition |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Project Management, Business Strategy, Procurement, Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Quality Management, Human Resources, Digital Applications, Contract Administration, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here