Learning to see flow: A worker-centric exploration towards task planning and control in construction

Construction projects are inherently wasteful. One reason for this is sub-optimal work preconditions for workers limiting task performance. Task pre-conditions and performance are coordinated by traditional production planning and control, which focuses on coordinating process flow, while detailed operations flow management is often left to workers. This pattern is reapplied across projects with no significant improvement to wasted efforts in task performance. In such a scenario, workers coordinate preconditions mainly autonomously. While management theory promotes autonomous decision-making for improved task performance, productivity in the construction industry has little enhanced due to a lack of understanding of aspects favoring operations flow and autonomous decision-making. This study investigated the effects of workers' task planning and control (TP&C) practices on operations flow to derive aspects of improving task performance. A mixed method approach (survey and time-motion study) in mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) work was applied. The results show that workers constantly perform TP&C activities. Their TP&C behavior differs between pre- and in-task planning. Its extent depends primarily on individual perceptions, which are impacted by trade-specifics, crew size, and other situational factors. TP&C maintains and fragments direct work (DW), on average, every 3.5 minutes. Short-term fragments support the continuation of DW, while medium- and long-term disturbances include significant wasted effort that must be mitigated. The study's theoretical contribution draws parallels between Plato's cave allegory and operations flow. Currently, workers rely on limited, subjective TP&C activities, similar to prisoners in the cave who have a limited understanding of reality. The findings indicate a need for collective, technology-enabled efforts to overcome the limits of subjective, decentralized decisions based on non-relevant information. A paradigm shift in the industry is encouraged to overcome the lack of timely, detailed, and relevant information supporting workers' situational awareness. Production planning should build on operations design involving workers to improve prefabrication, constructability, and site logistics. Production control can track location and movement to better understand the causes of disturbances, which are correlated with increased motion. Overall, the thesis promotes a systemic change in the construction industry in which operations flow is actively and not passively coordinated so that workers are not groping in the dark like the prisoners in Plato's cave.