Do site managers and the head office perceive productivity factors differently?

Abstract

This paper is based on a review of the literature on construction productivity and findings from a survey investigating, first, whether there are significant differences in opinions between head office personnel and site managers on factors that influence construction productivity and, second, to determine groups of factors that mostly influence site productivity. A critical discussion is structured under three general headings: (1) management factors; (2) employee motivation; and (3) experience and training. Twenty‐nine factors were extracted from the above headings and were assessed by 19 head office personnel and 17 site managers. The survey indicated that both samples regard ‘ineffective project planning’ and ‘constraints on a worker's performance’ as the most crucial factors influencing productivity. Other highly ranked factors by both samples are ‘difficulties with material procurement’, ‘lack of integration of project information’, ‘disruption of site programme’, ‘lack of experience and training’ and ‘exclusion of site management from contract meetings’. Ultimately, when the factor analysis technique was applied on the 29 factors, the result shows that Resource Management Effectiveness appeared to be the most dominant group of factors influencing construction productivity.