Srour, I M (2005) A linear programming approach to optimize strategic investment in the construction workforce. PhD thesis, University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Abstract
Construction workforce management practice needs optimization techniques to better address the issue of investment in the workforce. This dissertation presents a linear programming model developed to provide an optimization-based framework for matching supply and demand of construction labor most efficiently through training, recruitment, and allocation. The developed model, entitled Optimal Workforce Investment Model (OWIM), was applied on data obtained from the CII Model Plant, a hypothetical $140-million petro-chemical project to be built in the Gulf Coast region, and a recent survey conducted by the Center for Construction Industry Studies (CCIS) and the Construction Industry Institute (CII). The input data to the model consist of a certain available labor pool, cost figures for training workers in different skills, the cost of hiring workers, hourly labor wages, and estimates of affinities between the different considered skills. The output of the OWIM includes the number of construction workers to be hired and the number of construction workers to be trained in order to meet a job-site demand pattern over a certain period of time in the most cost-effective fashion. Use of the model not only helps to alleviate problems of skilled labor shortages in the US construction industry but also provides firms costs savings by reducing hiring, training, and retainage costs.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Haas, C T |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | optimization; skills; workforce; construction labor; wages; investment; programming; recruitment; training; construction worker; linear programming |
| Index terms: | construction worker, dissertation, construction industry, estimate, recruitment, construction labour, linear programming, Construction Industry Institute, savings, supply and demand, optimization technique, strategic investment, shortages, management practice, programming, survey, wages, skilled labour |
| Subjects: | practitioner, programming, research organizations, research dissemination and communication, data collection methods, economic analysis, financial and cost management, algorithms, management, industry analysis, business economics, market analysis |
| Topics: | Cost Management, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Digital Applications, Human Resources, Site Management |
| 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