Shourkabi, A (2016) A study of designer time utilisation in Iranian construction consultancies. PhD thesis, Loughborough University, UK.
Abstract
Productivity improvement within the construction industry has addressed issues that are predominantly associated with activities and tasks on construction sites, and less so in the office work. The lack of an understanding of the proportion of productive time during working hours for designers, as well as the measurement method forms a significant gap in the knowledge of the design process. Productivity management cycle comprised of 4 phases: measurement; evaluation; planning; and improvement. Therefore, measurement becomes essential in productivity improvement. This study identifies the lack of defined duration for design task and measurement of design activity time as an essential gap in the productivity knowledge that relates to designers. This research was aimed at measuring the productivity of the designer based on the amount of time spent during working hours, to facilitate the establishment of a realistic output value for the design stage. The study presented in this thesis focuses on investigating a standard activity time for design tasks along with establishing a set of explanatory statistical models that could be employed as a solution for complementing existing design productivity efforts. The data for this study obtained through a convenience sample of six cases comprising building consultant companies in Iran, with the key data mobilised by video observation. The findings of the research show that the proportion of productive time in one hour of working is 75% which is 45 minutes, while the proportion of non-productive time in one hour of working is 25% which is 15 minutes. In order to provide a means to validate the findings reached, two Iranian and two British consultant managers were interviewed separately to gain an industry perspective and it verify that the minimum acceptable level of productive time hovers around 75%.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction site; duration; evaluation; improvement; measurement method; productivity; valuation; designer; design process; case study; interview |
| Index terms: | productivity, designer, case study, construction industry, duration, statistical model, construction site, manager, interview, design process, measurement method, consultancy, working hours, design stage |
| Subjects: | project controls, industry analysis, management, employment law, work location, financial and cost management, data science, profession, data collection methods, design methods, professional practice, organization, practitioner |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Time Control, Site Management, Organizational Design, Cost Management, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Legal Issues |
| 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