TERM PAPER FINAL REPORT

EVALUATION OF FACTORS IMPROVING LABOR PRODUCTIVITY

THROUGH ANALYTICAL HIERARCHY PROCESS (AHP):
A CASE STUDY

SUBMITTED BY: FARJAD ARIF ANIS (CE-069 / 2018-19)

RAHIL RIAZ (CE-076 / 2018-19)

COURSE: CE-550 CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTIVITY MANAGEMENT

COURSE FACILITATOR: MUHAMMAD SAQIB (ASSISTANT
PROFESSOR)

Department of Civil Engineering

NED UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY,

KARACHI.
 Table of Contents

1. Abstract..............................................................................................................................................3
2. Introduction.......................................................................................................................................4
2.1. Significance of the Study...........................................................................................................4
2.2. Scope and Objectives.................................................................................................................4
2.3. Methodology...............................................................................................................................5
2.4. Organization of the Report.......................................................................................................5
3. Background and Literature Review.................................................................................................6
4. Methodology.......................................................................................................................................8
5. Study Design......................................................................................................................................9
5.1. Questionnaire Design.................................................................................................................9
5.2. Data Collection Method.............................................................................................................9
5.3. Survey Target Audience.............................................................................................................9
6. Results:...............................................................................................................................................9
7. Conclusions......................................................................................................................................12
8. Recommendations............................................................................................................................12
9. References:.......................................................................................................................................13
1. Abstract
Construction sector has a wide impact in economic growth for countries all around the
world. Meanwhile, construction is a labour focussed industry so the productivity is considered as
backbone in economic development. In the country like Pakistan, the economy is brutally
challenged by the effects of rapid population growth. Due to this situation, construction projects
are considered as low profit margin, time and cost overrun making labour productivity a
significant component of company’s success and competitiveness. Though, labour productivity
has been focused of study by many researchers, a detailed knowledge is still required to improve
labour productivity. The main purpose of this study is to identify key factors affecting labour
productivity in the residential construction of Karachi and Hyderabad and to analyze their impact
on Labour Productivity through Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). By intense review of
international Journals, Research papers and books, twenty-one (21) critical factors related to
labour productivity were identified and categorized into five major groups i.e. 1. Management 2.
Moral and Ethics 3. Environment and Weather 4. Material and Machinery 5. safety and
Supervision. On the basis of, Analytical Hierarchy Process method, a questionnaire was
designed and sent to different experienced as well as mid-career professionals and to the
contractors for their opinion on how labour productivity might be affected. A total of 15
responses were recorded and analysed through the AHP. The results indicated that Material and
Machinery related factors have a significant impact on labour productivity in Residential
Construction of Karachi and Hyderabad.
2. Introduction

2.1. Significance of the Study

It is an established fact that the construction industry plays a vital role in the
economy of any Country. It serves as a backbone in the economic development of any country.
In many third world countries the construction industry like the other industries depends upon
manpower and most of the work is done by the labours and workers manually. This is the major
reason why this industry in developing countries is less productive. Karachi is the largest and
thickly populated city of Pakistan whereas, Hyderabad ranks among 6 th largest city of Pakistan
and 2nd in the Sindh province. According to the 2017 census, their population is about to 16.65
million now. With this growth of population residential construction is the need of an hour and
increasing day by day. It uses numerous types of resources that include; labour, equipment and
materials. These resources need effective planning and how to manage individuals in a team.
Relating to labour, labour productivity is the major concern of this time and causes several
delays which overrun the cost of the project.
Instability in labour productivity is challenged by a number of factors. Identifying
these factors and measuring the level of their impact on labour productivity is very much
important for the better management of labour. Whereas a number of factors related to the labour
productivity in residential construction have been listed, it remains to identify the clear group of
factors and their impacts will be considered. Specifically focusing the residential construction of
Karachi and Hyderabad cities, this particular area of construction sector has been spreading
rapidly and because of this excessive increase the residential construction is facing multiple
problems, among them, the labour productivity has a much serious impact. The primary purpose
of this study is to identify the important factors affecting labour productivity in the Residential
construction of Karachi and Hyderabad cities from some contractors and to the experienced as
well mid-career professional’s point of view and secondly, to analyze their impacts on labour
productivity through Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP).
2.2. Scope and Objectives
The primary focus of the study is to identify the group of factors and the impact
caused by them will be assessed using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). This study is only
limited to the residential construction of Karachi and Hyderabad cities.
The main objectives of the study are:
 To identify the group of factors affecting labour productivity in residential construction of
Karachi and Hyderabad.
 To assess the impacts of identified factors using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and to
determine the most impacted factor in residential construction of Karachi and Hyderabad.
2.3. Methodology
With the help of relevant literature and consultation of experienced professional 21
factors were identified in the residential construction of Karachi and Hyderabad. Firstly, the
analysis of different relevant research papers, publications and books was carried out.
Furthermore, these identified factors were grouped into five different categories i.e.
1. Management
2. Moral and Ethics
3. Environment and Weather
4. Material and Machinery
5. safety and Supervision.
On the basis of these factors a questionnaire will be developed and provided to different
experienced as well as mid-career professionals and to the contractors working in residential
construction of Karachi and Hyderabad and the results will be further analysed by Analytical
Hierarchy Process (AHP).
2.4. Organization of the Report
The organization of the report is as follows:
 Firstly, it consists the cover page and detailed table of contents.
 Abstract of the study is written.
 Introduction consists of significance, scope and objective and brief methodology is
written.
 For supporting and finding the factors a detailed literature review is provided.
 After identifying some 21 factors, they are grouped in five major groups and an online
questionnaire is developed
 Responses are collected from different experienced professionals from the residential
construction sector of Karachi and Hyderabad.
 Those responses further analysed through the Analytical Hierarchy Process and their
impact on labour Productivity is evaluated.
 After that the conclusion and recommendations are suggested.
3. Background and Literature Review

 Definition of Labour Productivity

Improving productivity is a significant concern for any profit-oriented organization, as
portray the effective and efficient conversion of capitals into marketable products and
determining business profitability. Although a great number of journals exist concerning
construction productivity, there is no agreement on a typical productivity measurement system.
Scholars have concluded that it is hard to obtain a standard method to measure labour
productivity because of project complexity and the unique features of construction projects. The
individuality and non-repetitive operations of construction projects make it difficult to develop a
standard productivity definition and measure. However, there is a general consensus amongst
researchers to define productivity as the ratio of output to input. Subsequently, construction
productivity can be regarded as a measure of outputs that are obtained by a combination of
inputs. In view of this, two measures of construction productivity arise. These are total factor
productivity (TFP), where all outputs and inputs are measured and partial factor productivity
(PFP), often referred to particular factor productivity, where outputs and only selected input are
considered [3].
 Literature Review
Hasan Hamouda [5], “Enhancing labour productivity within the construction industry
through the AHP”. According to him construction is a labour focussed industry. While, labour
productivity has been a focus of research by a lot of researchers, a deeper knowledge is still
necessary to improve labour productivity. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze serious
factors affecting labour productivity in the Gaza Strip and the aims to frame a labour
productivity model by using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). In this paper, thirty critical
factors related to labour productivity were identified and categorized into six groups: experience,
psychological physical, supervision and leadership, time and workload, and external factors.
Based on the Analytical Hierarchy Process method, a questionnaire form was planned and given
to sixty contractors, Engineers to take out the view on how labour productivity might be
affected. A total of 56 responses were identified through the AHP. The results showed that Job
lack of incentive scheme, satisfaction & security, drug use, skill& experience, overtime and
weather changes have a critical impact on labour productivity. In addition, the developed AHP
models offers a structure that can assist managers in assessing multiple factors and hence
effectively get better labour productivity.
S. Thiyagarajan [6], discussed factors affecting labour efficiency. According to him,
Construction activities are expensive and normally cause in arguments and claims, which is
usually affects enhancement of construction projects. In the construction industry, it is necessary
to find the weakness of specific activity in order to clarify and overcome them. This chapter
represent the likely solutions and give general idea for the factors affecting the onsite labour
productivity that was analysed on the check of the brick work and plastering work that was
accepted at the site. Additionally, some of these proposals have been implemented in the site to
 progress of productivity. A construction company should recognise each activity of its process to
find out what the barriers are to improving productivity.
G. Robles [7], research paper aims to recognise, analyze and rank factors affecting labour
productivity in Spain with respect to their relative rank. With a selected set of 35 factors, an
organised questionnaire survey was used as the method to collect data from companies. Target
population is covered by a random representative sample of experts related with the Spanish
construction industry. Results reveal the top five ranked factors are as follows: (1) shortage or
late supply of materials; (2) clarity of the drawings and project documents; (3) clear and daily
task assignment; (4) tools or equipment shortages; (5) level of skill and experience of laborers.
Furthermore, this research also pretends to provide simple and wide-ranging recommendations
so that they could be applied by construction managers for an efficient management of
construction labour forces.
According to Himanshu Agarwal [8], Most of the construction activities are costly and the
material cost are increasing day by day, which directly affects the total project cost and this
analysis the weakness of specific activity in construction field. In this assessment paper we
represent the labour productivity in first part and also give the factors in two group management
and technical that impacts the labour productivity in construction site. And one set of factors
management associated classified in detail. Total 20 factors are recognised. And we have
shortened the previous work on literature review. And one type of method Analytic hierarchy
process was defined in the paper. That one type of method is usually used to simplify the tough
problem easily and give the overall idea to assess the factors that affects the labour productivity
in construction fields.
On the basis of information published in previous paper’s literature, factors are identified
which contribute more in improving construction labour productivity. From those factors more
suitable factors relating to residential construction were adopted to be looked into this research.
Total 21 Factors were identified from the above literature and those were further grouped in five
major groups for better results i.e.
1. Management
2. Moral and Ethics
3. Environment and Weather
4. Material and Machinery
5. Safety and Supervision.

 Analytical Hierarchy Process

The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) established by Dr. Thomas Saaty in the 1980s, is a
multi-criteria decision-making method [9]. It supports in structuring multifaceted problems
into a system by taking both qualitative and quantitative factors. The AHP is much of
concerned by lots of researchers mostly due to the excellent mathematical property of the
method and in this the essential enter data are rather simple to obtain. The AHP is a decision
supportive method which can be used to simply resolve complex decision problems. In this the
multi-level hierarchical development of criteria, objectives, sub-criteria, and alternatives is
done. The related data is consequent by means of a set of pair-wise comparisons. These
 comparisons are results in to obtain the weights of the decision criteria, and the relative criteria
calculate of the alternatives in terms of each individual decision criteria.

Then, the AHP process can be completed physically or mechanically by the Expert Choice,
AHP software:
 Organise the pair-wise comparison matrix
 Find the priority vector for a criterion, sub criteria
 Find the consistency ratio, CR
 Find λmax
 Find the consistency index, CI
 After calculating the CR and for finding the CI select appropriate value of the random
consistency ratio, RI
 To know the consistency index is consistent or not.

4. Methodology
Through an intensive literature, twenty-one factors were identified which affects the labour
productivity. Firstly, the review of different books, journals and research paper was carried
out. Those were researched using google search and google scholar, under the keyword of
factors affecting labour productivity, efficiency of labour productivity, impacts of labour
productivity on project delays etc. These factors were further grouped in five major groups
i.e. 1. Management
2. Moral and Ethics
3. Environment and Weather
4. Material and Machinery
5. safety and Supervision.
On the basis of those groups an online questionnaire consists of questions was developed.
The targeted audience for this survey was experienced as well as mid-career professionals
and the contractors working in the residential construction sector of Karachi and Hyderabad.
After collection of responses which were 15 in total then the result was analysed through the
Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP).

 Steps involved in Analysis by using AHP

The AHP analysis was a 4-step procedure, which is given as follows:
Step 1: Identify the problems and develop a multi-layer hierarchy.
Step 2: Give weightage to each and every problem with respect to each other according to
survey’s results.
Step 3: Divide the weightage among the groups of factors.
Step 4: Make normalized matrix of each group of factors and identify which group has
highest average. That will be affecting the most.

5. Study Design
5.1. Questionnaire Design
The questionnaire was designed online by using google forms. The questionnaire consists
of two parts: first part is of personal information and second part is of survey questions.
Second part is further divided into Five major groups i.e. each group consists of sub factors
and questions related to them. The survey form is attached in Appendix.
5.2. Data Collection Method
The google based online questionnaire consists of identified factors on labour productivity
is to be developed and will be provided to the experienced as well as mid-career
professionals and to the contractors belonging to the residential construction of Karachi
and Hyderabad through Emails, social media Applications i.e. Facebook and LinkedIn,
WhatsApp and to some extent by hand. The results obtained from the questionnaire will be
analysed through an Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) model to assess the impact of
identified factors on the labour Productivity of residential construction in Karachi and
Hyderabad. After the impact assessment of all identified factors the most impacting factor
will be identified to control the better labour productivity.
5.3. Survey Target Audience
The target audience of the study is the government as well as private contractors and the
experienced along with mid-career professionals who are currently working and had been
working in the residential construction of Karachi and Hyderabad.

6. Results:
Analysis is done by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the step wise procedure
and results are mentioned:

Step 1: Identify the problems and develop a multi-layer hierarchy.

Step 2: Give weightage to each and every problem with respect to each other according to
survey’s results.
Step 3: Divide the weightage among the groups of factors.

Step 4: Make normalized matrix of each group of factors and identify which group has
highest average. That will be affecting the most.
7. Conclusions
From the above study following conclusions can be made:
 Among all the other factors, those related to material and machinery affects the labor
productivity most as they have the highest average value.
 Several other factors also have their impacts on the labor productivity, like safety and
supervision, management factors and the factors related to moral and ethics have
intermediate effects, while the environment and weather conditions have the least
impact on the labor productivity.

8. Recommendations
The following recommendations are made after this study:
 Firstly, management should consider that without labor they are nothing. Importance
should be given to them proper training should also be provided to them this is
beneficial for them as they are the ones by whom they are at management level.
 To eradicate these factors, skill enhancement training should be conducted for labor.
 The best way to increase the productivity is your communication with your staff and
your motivation skills that unite all your individuals into a team.
 Labors should be properly guided about the work which they are assigned for.
 Proper trainings and technical institutions requirement.
 Management and pre-qualification of skilled labor
 Management and communication with labors

9. References:

[1] Hasan Hamouda “Enhancing Labour Productivity within Construction Industry through
Analytical Hierarchy Process, the Case of Gaza Strip” Universal Journal of Management 3(8):
329-336, 2015.
[2] S. Thiyagarajan “Factors Affecting Labour Efficiency” International Journal of Engineering
Research Vol.4., Issue.1., Jan - Feb 2016.
[3] G Robles “Labour Productivity in the Construction Industry -Factors Influencing the Spanish
Construction Labour Productivity” World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Vol:8, No:10, 2014.
[4] Himanshu Agarwal “A Case Study on Labour Productivity” International Research Journal of
Engineering and Technology (IRJET) Volume: 03 Issue: 12 | Dec -2016.
[5] Saaty, T (1980) “The Analytic Hierarchy Process”. New York: McGraw-Hill.