Mewomo, M C (2022) Construction labour productivity in South Africa: Challenges and possible remedies. In: Tutesigensi, A and Neilson, C J (eds.) Proceedings of 38th Annual ARCOM Conference, 5-7 September 2022, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK.
Abstract
Low labour productivity in the construction industry has become a concern for many professionals, not only in South Africa but also in most other developing countries. Earlier studies reveal that South Africa’s labour productivity is one of the lowest in the developing world. This has several ways of negatively impacting the nation’s economy. Consequently, this paper investigates the critical challenges affecting labour productivity in the South African construction industry, and the possible ways to overcome the identified challenges. Secondary data obtained from the literature review generated 33 challenges which were examined and analysed using the RII to rank the significance level. The 33 identified productivity challenges factors were systematically grouped into 6 clusters revealing five critical labour productivity challenges namely: Quality of site management, ineffective communication, disruption from the local forum group, equipment problems and delay in material delivery. Possible remedies to the identified challenges were highlighted and further discussed.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | labour productivity; construction industry; South Africa |
| Index terms: | construction industry, South Africa, labour productivity, construction labour, site management, secondary data, productivity, literature review, developing country |
| Subjects: | data analysis and analytics, construction operations, data collection methods, industry analysis, development economics, Geography, management |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Geographical Context, Research Practice, International Construction, 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