This is the eight posting regarding\u00a0labor productivity and disruption<\/strong>.\u00a0 This contribution provides some practical suggestions for the manager in the field.\u00a0 The\u00a0Subject Series<\/a><\/strong> can be viewed here.<\/p>\n Isn\u2019t it always the obvious that gets us in trouble?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t seem to make much difference what area of life you talk about, the aspects that are obvious are most often those that we assume will take care of themselves and we skip over as we develop our plans.\u00a0 Considering the area of worker productivity, everyone knows how the work gets done.\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 Well, it is quite obvious.\u00a0 You just pick up the material and put it in place.\u00a0 After all, how can there be anything different about doing the work?\u00a0 Get the material to the job site, hire craft workers, provide drawings and the project will miraculously get built.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When thinking about various construction sites, even in the US, several differences in the manner in which the exact same work is accomplished in various locations are revealed.\u00a0 In order to properly plan and organize construction activities, the way people work in the specific location under consideration must be understood and incorporated.\u00a0 For example, is it better for productivity<\/strong> for each pipefitter welder to have an assigned stand-alone welding machine?\u00a0 Or possibly, the welder should use a welding machine located in an eight-pack of welders.\u00a0 That question could be strictly a planning matter, or it could be related to the site location and area practice.\u00a0 If one approach is better than the other for the project, area practice may need to be addressed and modified in some way for improved productivity to be realized.<\/p>\n The point to be made is that the planner should fully understand the way people work in an area.\u00a0 That is accomplished by spending time in the field \u2013 watching, observing, talking, questioning and probing to identify area practices, worker habits, installation logic, materials management, tool supply, consumable availability and every other aspect of how the workers work and construction is progressed.\u00a0 Sure, it all looks the same as the last job.\u00a0 Truth is, it is the same \u2013 that is except for all the small seemingly insignificant dissimilarities.\u00a0 These variances could make the difference in whether a project meets or fails to meet the project objectives.\u00a0 The construction business is filled to overflowing with the \u201cwe\u2019ve always done it that way\u201d mentality.\u00a0 No one likes change.\u00a0 Change is uncomfortable.\u00a0 But, small changes to seemingly insignificant aspects could provide huge benefits.\u00a0 Could consumables (nuts, bolts, washers, hangers, gaskets, small tools, etc.) be placed right in the work area so workers don\u2019t have to stop work and walk over to a central location for one single nut to complete a flange-up?\u00a0 How about that bank of welding machines and the welder having to string out several hundred feet of leads just to reach his assigned work-face?\u00a0 Then, if there is an issue with settings on the machine or something else, he has to walk all the way back to the location of the machine to make any adjustments \u2013 hoping they are correct so he does not have to make the trek yet another time.<\/p>\n In observation, do the workers pick up all they need for their work while they are at the supply location?\u00a0 Maybe they make numerous trips throughout the day to and from the work-face and supply area.\u00a0 Just a small amount of thought could eliminate countless trips and significantly improve productivity.\u00a0 Some of these \u201chabits\u201d could be area practice or just developed habit.\u00a0 In either case, observation will identify and training will correct many of those time wasters.<\/p>\n Some people are more productive than others.\u00a0 Construction workers generally want to be productive.\u00a0 They tend to be competitive and take pride in doing more work than the next one.\u00a0 The project management<\/strong> role has as one aspect to encourage and support that desire by removing barriers, and helping the worker realize that goal.<\/p>\n Not only should the planner-scheduler be pro-active in this aspect, but the project manager, field engineers, superintendents and anyone associated with project implementation and betterment must be, as well.\u00a0 Multiple observations by all disciplines accomplish several things.\u00a0 Certainly, there are more data points.\u00a0 But more importantly, the idea that management cares, not just about the work, but the worker too goes a long way to promote worker satisfaction and improve overall job morale.<\/p>\n It is important to note that observations and data collecting are not conducted in a spy-like fashion.\u00a0 They are done informally in conversations and friendly exchanges with the workers.<\/p>\n Observe the details of how work is performed.\u00a0 Talk with the workers about barriers, why they do tasks in a particular manner or sequence or what is keeping them from being their best.\u00a0 Act on this information by incorporating it into the work plan and schedule development.<\/p>\n It is important to note that McLaughlin and McLaughlin [M&M]<\/a><\/strong> is not a law firm and is not intending to provide legal advice.\u00a0 M&M<\/a><\/strong> is a consulting firm providing (among other services) non-legal expertise in dispute resolution and litigation support.\u00a0 The Resource Center<\/a><\/strong> is for the convenience of blog visitors and M&M<\/a><\/strong> does not offer this for commercial purposes.\u00a0 For further information on M&M<\/a><\/strong> services, please see<\/em> <\/em>www.McLaughlinandMcLaughlin.com<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is the eight posting regarding\u00a0labor productivity and disruption.\u00a0 This contribution provides some practical suggestions for the manager in the field.\u00a0 The\u00a0Subject Series can be viewed here. Isn\u2019t it always the obvious that gets us in trouble?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t seem to make much difference what area of life you talk about, the aspects that are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[9,49,16,3,8],"tags":[52,80,95,39,72,4,81,64],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/projectprofessionals.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/MP900216042-2-picture2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/projectprofessionals.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/projectprofessionals.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/projectprofessionals.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/projectprofessionals.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/projectprofessionals.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/projectprofessionals.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":711,"href":"http:\/\/projectprofessionals.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702\/revisions\/711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/projectprofessionals.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/projectprofessionals.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/projectprofessionals.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/projectprofessionals.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}