Abstracts Accepted

The following abstracts have been accepted for the inaugural Construction in the Muslim World Conference.

The deadline for submission of full papers is now 30th June 2009.

Abstract 6

Time Overrun Trends in the Construction Industry of Pakistan – An Assessment of the Contributing Organizational Factors

Delay is generally acknowledged as the most common, costly, complex and risky problem encountered in construction projects. Because of the overriding importance of time for both the Owner (in terms of performance) and the Contractor (in terms of money), it is the source of frequent disputes and claims leading to lawsuits. Results of a former study conducted by the lead author on the causes and allocation of delays in construction projects in Pakistan identified that the major share of responsibility for overall delay causes was taken by construction contractors. This study hypothesizes that the behavior of an individual contracting organization would be different in some respects when dealing with the factors causing delays. Larger, more experienced firms as well as firms which are well equipped with management tools can perform better in situations to minimize time overruns as compared to new, inexperienced firms. Similarly, the amount of work in hand, nature of work, size of project, project type and funding patterns may also largely affect the overall time overrun on the project. Based on the above hypothesis, a study has been conducted to determine the effect of these parameters on the time overruns in projects. For this study, construction contracting organizations were focused and data were collected for the planned and actual time durations of several projects as well as for various organizational parameters in order to assess the trends of time overruns. This paper presents the findings of the study.

Analysis of the results shows a comparison of time overrun trends among the different classifications of the contractors (with respect to size, experience, amount of work in hand, etc.). It is expected that the results of the study will be helpful in determining the time overrun patterns of these organizations; moreover, these results can be useful for the owners in the selection process of the organizations for their future projects.

Abstract 5

Effects of Crash Programming on a Construction Project

As a construction project executes, several situations may arise that were not anticipated at the time when schedules were prepared. Some of these unforeseen events cause delays to the project to such an extent that increase in the project completion time seems inevitable, thus creating pressure on the contractors to accelerate the pace of the remaining work implementing a crash program.

An empirical study has been performed, by using survey data collected from the construction practitioners working in Pakistan, to identify the effects of crash programming on construction projects with special importance laid to identify the combined effect on the finished product, the organizations involved and the personnel involved due to the crash program. It is anticipated that the analysis and the recommendations of the study will be beneficial for the planners in determining the aspects that shouldn’t be neglected during the initial planning to avoid unrealistic crash programs. Moreover, the findings will prove to be useful to identify means to improve the quality of the finished product as well as the performance of involved organizations and personnel.

Key Words: Crash programming, Construction industry, Contractors, Pakistan.

Abstract 4

Assessing the Effects of Site Management Practices on Productivity Levels of Construction Workforce

Construction industry has largely been human resource driven industry. Site workforce plays a vital role in achieving a successful project. Efficient site management is also essential to have productive and cost efficient workforce utilization. Poor site management may result in loss of productivity and hence delays, cost overruns and quality losses.

As for most economies, the construction industry of Pakistan serves as the backbone of the country’s economy. Historically, however, the construction industry of Pakistan has remained plagued with under-performance. Anecdotal evidence suggests that adequate site management can prove to be of vital significance in successfully completing the projects within budget, on schedule and as per required specifications.

The purpose of the study is to highlight the effects of site management practices on the productivity levels of construction workforce. The study has been conducted through investigative visits at various construction sites in Pakistan. It is expected that the conclusions and recommendations from the study will prove to be pivotal in providing a process of improving workforce productivity through better site management, and hence can improve the probability of project success.

Key Words: Productivity levels, Site management, Construction workforce, Productivity improvement, Cost control.