Construction productivity measurement and improvement in Thailand by improved work-sampling

Makulsawatudom, A (2003) Construction productivity measurement and improvement in Thailand by improved work-sampling. PhD thesis, University of Strathclyde, UK.

Abstract

The Thailand construction industry is the database for this research, which consists of three main sections. As there has been a lack of research in the construction industry in Thailand, firstly, structured questionnaires were distributed to project manager, foremen and craftsmen, to observe general construction productivity and to find out if a work-sampling study could be tailored to detect these problems. The results indicated that lack of materials, incomplete drawing and lack of tools and equipment have the greatest effect on construction productivity in Thailand, and so a work-sampling study can be tailored to detect these problems. Having confirmed that it is possible to undertake work-sampling to increase construction productivity, this thesis, secondly, has improved and clearly specified all the individual steps required to carry out a work-sampling study. In addition, this research has also reported the application steps of FDS. The work-sampling technique was applied to four construction cases and FDS was also carried out on two of the four sites. The results confirmed that a work-sampling study can highlight the productivity problems, and indicate how to overcome or alleviate them, and inferred that late start/early finish and crew imbalance are likely to be universal construction productivity problems in Thailand. In addition, these two techniques contribute to each other and should be implemented together. The final part of this study applied the Markov process to predict the results of worksampling at any particular periods of time in the future. This concept is not only able to predict the results, but also supports the principle of work-sampling which, if it is to be successful requires full support from management.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Uncontrolled Keywords: craft; equipment; materials; productivity; project manager; Thailand
Index terms: database, productivity, project manager, craft worker, construction industry, construction productivity, Thailand, sampling, drawing, questionnaire
Subjects: data management, industry analysis, management, Geography, operations management, technical documentation, data collection methods, profession, practitioner
Topics: Project Management, Geographical Context, Roles and Professions, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Digital Applications, Design Practice
Descriptive scope: 5 PCTEA

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