Productive Construction Work Spaces: Lessons learned from Hydropower Construction Projects in Nepal.
-Abhushan Neupane/M.Sc. (Practicing Civil Engineer/Nepal)
Abstract
There are several stakeholders in construction workspace, each of them have different interest and have varying degree of impact in decision making. They also adhere to the concept of team work where storming, normalizing and performing are the main features. But, due to lack of proper skills of top management teams, they do not perform well and ultimately fail. Furthermore in the modern construction practice, cultural and ethical concerns need to be given due consideration. Along with team functioning, concerns related to human resources and their motivation also plays a key role in successful completion of any construction project. Motivation of the working crew can be boosted by positive reinforcement and equity along with classical motivational approaches.
Keywords:
Stakeholders, Team performance, Construction work space, Motivation
Introduction
Among the various stages of design and development of the civil engineering projects, construction of the design stake important position. It is because; the intangible concept of different engineers and architects became tangible in this stage of the project cycle. However, the intended plan and actual product will vary significantly due to various interest groups in the space.
Construction work space is a universe and its subset comprises Employers, Engineers, Contractors, Sub- Contractors, Local people, Media and Material suppliers etc. According to FIDIC Contracts Guide (2000), there is a formal contract between Employer and Contractor but Engineer acts only as employer’s representative. But, the technical authority to supervise, provide instructions, and present several determinations to the contractor is given to engineers. Hence, the prejudicial analysis of construction problem and their logical solving remains crucial factor in engineer’s role. Similarly, contractors shall be abide by the clause in the formal contract and utilize their best effort to accomplish their intended task in desired quality, within stipulated time and in reasonable cost. Furthermore, employer shall facilitate the entire construction effort by providing timely access to site, maintaining cash flow of the contractor and act to solve other various legislative hurdles during the entire construction process.
The construction work space becomes productive when there is significant progress of the civil engineering works in desired quality and within reasonable price. This stage can be achieved when there is harmonious relationship between the several stakeholders in the work space. But, the situation always does not remain conductive as in some of the existing failure projects like Melamchi Water Supply project in Nepal, where different stakeholders hold different stake during construction phase.
Stakeholders analysis in construction work space
As discussed earlier, in every construction project there are several stakeholders in action. Some of the major stakeholders are Employer, Engineer, Contractor, Sub-contractors, Local people, Media, construction material suppliers, local staffs, Labor unions and politicians. Each of the stakeholders has different interest and the gravity of their impact is also not same.
According to Kezner (2010), a strong co-ordination within team members is necessary for effective performance of any team. In order to get good performance from the various key actors in the space, one should have a strong involvement of Employers, Engineers and Contractors in decision making. The involvement shall be through the co-ordination meeting and discussions. There must be informal information sharing between these parties through regular mini gatherings and receptions. Instead of doing formal and harassing correspondence, informal information sharing and idea collection can be a great tool. These actors shall be given Key attention every time during the construction phase. There was excessive cost and time overrun in Middle Marsyangdi Hydroelectric Project, in Nepal due to lack of proper co-ordination between the key players working for the project.
However, the local people, staffs and Labor union needs to be informed to the vital decisions made by the key stakeholders. The information dissemination channel can be formal source like periodic meetings, monthly gatherings and construction website. These stakeholders can also be made responsible sometimes by engaging in formal decision making process like forming coordination committees to solve particular problems.
There are several stakeholders who have little interest and pose moderate impact during construction period. However, their involvement for smooth operation of construction workspace should never be under estimated. So, these stakeholders shall be kept satisfied all the times. Their satisfaction can be boosted by providing milestone information regularly, arranging site visits and providing some tangible and intangible benefits time to time.
How does a construction team function?
Normally, the key construction team is formed by systematic procedure like tendering and selection. However, bonding between key players is not formed at the beginning. There are various corporate culture and styles inherent in each party. So, formation of the good working construction team does not suffice the productive work space.
The formation of each team is followed by a type of power war between the team. They storm with each other to control over authority and power. The storming phase should be handled carefully by the professional facilitation and normalization techniques, which includes relationship building activities, informal communication and socialization. The construction work space should not be made a rigid place, flexibility between partners to obtain Win and Win condition is very crucial to damp the storming between the partners.
The normalization and understanding between partners should be attained soon in order to get good performance. In this phase each of the party knows their culture and their internal driver. They have sufficient degree of flexibility and cooperativeness between each other. After this phase they perform their best to achieve the stipulated objective in fairly productive manner. The productive work force adjourns the team with enough lesson learning and experience sharing.
Although, few construction projects in Nepal do not exactly follow the team performance style as discussed above. There are lots of disputes between the parties and those disputes were not settled amicably by the formal means of conciliation and Negotiations. I think that unnecessary power hierarchy is one of the hindrances for successful completion. There must be centralized decision taking mechanism in each team. Similarly, top level management commitment to rectify the construction related hassles should also be properly coordinated. Even the small projects in Nepal are administered through the central or lesion offices in capital, and have less commitment towards site work.
I further think, the selection of right organizations is crucial for right job. It can be reflected by the key manpower committed for the job. The organization structure should be well formed and it shall be equipped with the modern tools and techniques. Furthermore, corporate style, inherent leadership and Vision of organization shall also be taken due considerations while selecting the parties for construction.
Having said, the above statements, we should not ignore the ego sets between parties, which are generated by previous actions between them. Until the parties come with right commitment and intention to perform, the final product cannot be as desired. In addition, this age of globalization needs to care each party’s cultural and ethical concerns. Several foreign consultants working in Nepal; worry with sincerity and punctuality of Nepalese mid level technicians working for their site is an example of cultural and ethical problem in our country. And other important parameter is to tackle language barriers between them to make healthy relationship, a case of Chinese contractors who do not promptly react to the engineer’s instructions in projects like Melamchi and Upper Tamakoshi HEP.
Individual motivation in planning productive work space
In the above paragraphs we have discussed a lot about organizational factors influencing the productivity of construction projects. But, it is evident that Human resources play significant role in getting works done in right way. According to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchical need theory Lower-order needs; Like Physiological, safety, and social needs and Desires for physical and social well being shall be catered to get certain degree motivation. After lower level needs are clearly satisfied, there are higher order needs like esteem and finally self actualization. So, the lower level need of construction crew shall be given due attention.
But, construction industry is different than other industry, which desires a degree of discipline within the work space. The chain of command shall be maintained properly, so Carrot and Stick strategy helps well to handle with lower level staffs. Some of the successful road projects carried out by Nepal Army is an evident example of discipline and chain of command. Furthermore, there shall be effective hiring and firing policy for lower level staffs, and this strategy is well adopted by International Chinese contractors working for different projects in Nepal.
To the fairly middle managers and engineers Herzberg’s two factor motivation theories shall be taken strong consideration. This theory clearly states about Hygiene and Motivation factors. Hygiene factors like salary perks and other incentives, working conditions, co - workers, and supervisors shall be maintained well but motivating factors like achievements, recognition, responsibility, work advancement and personal growth factors should be given enough care to retain the crucial workforce of the team. This case is attributed by very low retention ratio of Engineers and Professionals in both Engineers and Contractors during entire period of successful construction projects in Nepal.
Some of the aspects of Positive Reinforcement are crucial in overall workforce motivation, in accordance to which top management shall always perform its actions towards supporting and aligning the entire work force towards best quality at stipulated time and reasonable cost. Equity among the work force is another vital demotivating issue. When people believe that they have been treated unfairly in comparison to others, they try to eliminate the discomfort and restore a perceived sense of equity to the situation.
According to McCuddy (2012) Motivation leads to work effort that, when combined with appropriate individual abilities and organizational support, leads to performance accomplishment The motivational impact of any rewards received for this performance accomplishment depends on equity and reinforcement considerations. Ultimately, satisfaction with rewards should lead to increased motivation to work hard in the future.
Conclusion
Among the various stages of design and development of the civil engineering projects, construction of the design stake important position. It is because; the intangible concept of different engineers and architects became tangible in this stage of the project cycle. However, the intended plan and actual product will vary significantly due to various interest groups in the space.
The construction work space becomes productive when there is significant progress of the civil engineering works in desired quality and within reasonable price. This stage can be achieved when there is harmonious relationship between the several stakeholders in the work space.
Each of the stakeholders has different interest and the gravity of their impact is also not same. There should be key involvement of Employers, Engineers and Contractors in making vital decisions. However, Staffs, Labor union and even Connected Local people needs to be well informed to those decisions. There are several stakeholders who have little interest and pose moderate impact during construction period and they need to be kept satisfied all the times. In addition, this age of globalization needs to care each party’s cultural and ethical concerns. And other important parameter is to tackle language barriers between them to make healthy relationship.
Finally, Motivation of work force leads to success the entire project. This can be boosted by positive reinforcement and equity along with classical motivational approaches.
Bibliography
1. International Federation Of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) guide 2000
2. McCudd ( 2012), Management in Canadian Practice, Online available in PPT
3. Harold Kezner (2010), Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling,
and Controlling, 2ed., Van Nostrand Reinhold Company
4. Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Limited (UTKHL) , web site online available in www.tamakoshihydro.org.np
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