Ladda Philavong. Assessment of Productivity Perceptions and Factors for Lao Construction Personnel. Master's Degree(Civil Engineering). King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi. : King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, 2005.
Assessment of Productivity Perceptions and Factors for Lao Construction Personnel
Abstract:
The main objectives of this research are 1) to assess productivity perception and
awareness of head-office engineers and on-site engineers, and 2) to identify major
factors affecting construction productivity in Lao PDR. Low productivity has been one
of the major problems of construction industry all over the world. It disturbs project
success, and causes cost overrun, project delay as well as poor workmanship. In least
developing country like Lao PDR, low productivity and poor labor productivity in
construction works are evident because of several reasons, namely lack of skilled labors,
lack of equipments, out-off-date construction techniques, shortages of material and
financial constraints. Labor productivity improvement in construction industry and
other sectors may help Lao PDR leaves from least developing country.
To achieve the aforementioned objectives, questionnaire survey was used. Totally, 120
questionnaires were distributed to the head-office engineers and the on-site engineers.
Sixteen factors were asked and rated the degrees of impacts by the respondents. So far,
89 questionnaires were returned. The data gained from the questionnaires are analyzed
and interpreted by using two kinds of statistic methods as descriptive statistics and
inferential statistics. The descriptive statistics are purposed to describe and characterize
the sample being examined as frequencies, the mean (average), maximum, and
minimum. The Inferential statistics are aimed to looking for relationship among
variables such the perception and awareness of head-office engineers and on-site
engineers. The ranking of the factors can be obtained by using the relative important
index (RII).
The result indicate that Lao head-office and on-site engineers have the same perception
and awareness on productivity improvement. The six most major factors affecting Lao
construction industry such as Financial shortage, Poor workers work experience and
skills, Improper planning and unrealistic schedule, Lack of tools and equipment,
Inefficient equipment and tools utilization, and Lack of material. The authors have
till expected that the results of this study will be contributed construction industry in
Lao PDR as a recommendation as well as basic data for private construction firms and
public sectors use to improve their short-term and long-term planning in productivity
improvement.