Faculty of Engineering and Technology

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SECTION A – TO BE COMPLETED BY THE STUDENT

Module Construction Engineering and Module CE4312

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Student’s M.I Raihan Student’s M19991217002

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Lecturer’s Mr Umesh Krishantha
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 I have been given a copy of the assessment criteria relating to this assignment
 I understand the meaning of the terms Cheating, Collusion and Plagiarism
 All the work submitted is my own work
Raihan 16/03/2022
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SECTION B – TO BE COMPLETED BY MODULE LEADER/TEAM

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 Impact of Motivation on Productivity of Craftsmen in
Construction
Construction industry is a significant sector in the economic development of any nation, contributing
significantly to GDP and employing a substantial percentage of its workforce. It is important for the
workforce to be motivated, as productivity is often measured by workers efficiency. To improve
productivity, researches focus on ways to improve productivity or factors that can help in achieving
productivity improvement. Productivity decline has been widely reported in construction industry, with
time and cost overrun of most projects executed and the cause of low GDP. This study examines the
impact of motivation on craftsmen productivity in Nigeria.

Shashank et al. (2014) grouped factors that cause variation in labour productivity into eight groups:
manpower, environmental, material/ equipment, motivation, safety, managerial and quality. They
concluded that out of these eight groups, motivation group has the highest impact on variation of labour
in enhancing productivity, and recommended that managers should make the welfare of their workers a
priority through motivation schemes. Kazaz et al (2008) classified productivity factors into four groups:
organisational, economic, physical and socio-psychological, and motivational factors. The second most
important factor after organisational factor from their findings is motivational factor.

This research study aims to identify motivation factors influencing construction craftsmen productivity in
Lagos, Nigeria. And determine the relationship between motivation and productivity of craftsmen in
construction firms in Lagos, Nigeria.

Motivation is defined as drive within a person that is responsible for the extent, course and diligence of
efforts expended at work. Machiavelli (1512) and Hogget and Kurako (1991) argued that managers
should work to ensure that work crew is unified through rewards to friends and followers. Traditional
theories such as hedonism, instinct, behaviorism, and reinforcement were based on natural tendency to
initiate behavior in a way desired. Industrialists were concerned with how to increase productivity,
workers efficiency and maximize profit, and the advent of industrial revolution led to the development
of modern motivation theory. Traditional theory was discredited because it cannot be scientifically
proved, but modern motivation theory was able to prove the importance of reward to productivity
improvement and that behavior is a product of need or desire.

The study of Taylor brought about an increase in workers' pay and performance improvement, but this
did not last long due to the industrialist's desire to drive workers like slaves. This led to the formation of
unions to resist such move. The human relations movement advocated that treating man as machine
and taking financial incentive as motivator is responsible for low morale and poor output of workers,
hence the need for change of approach. This work came under strong criticism for not determining the
type of supervision, lack of consideration for environmental factors, refusal to acknowledge conflict of
interest between workers and managers, and not correlating the relationship between workers need
and organisational goals. The perceived shortcomings of this human relations approach brought about
contemporary theory of motivation, which was grouped into content and process theories.

Major contributors to content theory are Maslow, Herzberg, and McClelland. Herzberg identified some
factors that can motivate workers and enhance productivity improvement, such as reduction in working
hour, salary increase, bonus, training, communication, job participation, and job satisfaction.

The most important details in this text are the variables used for this study. These variables include
appreciation of efforts, advancement, satisfaction from work, good supervision and job security.
Productivity is important to economic development of any nation, as it is the measure of the wealth of a
nation and the well being of the people. PWC (2013) identified three measures of productivity: labour,
capital and multifactor productivity. Labour productivity is the total construction output to labour input,
while capital productivity is the effectiveness with which money is used to provide goods and services.

Dozzi and Abou Rizk (1993) identified two measures of labour productivity: effectiveness at which labour
is utilized in construction activity and efficiency at which labour executes a given task within a given
period of time. This is significant in the sense that quotations are submitted by contractors based on
quantity of work to be done.

following methods as being suitable for measuring effectiveness and productivity of work crew:

1. Field rating
2. Work sampling
3. Five Minute Rating

Research Methodology

 Two sets of data were collected for this study.

 The first was through questionnaire survey to craftsmen in large and medium size construction
firms in Lagos, Nigeria.
 They were asked to rank motivating factors on a Likert scale of 1-5, with 1-indicating very low, 2-
low, 3-average, 4-high and 5-very high in accordance with its
 Their productivity level was measured using five-minute field rating method.
  Seventeen observations were made in each of the sixteen sites surveyed, making a total of 272
observations.
 The categorization of firms was made as identified by Inuwa (2014) that large sized construction
firms have capacity
 Thereafter, the mean of motivation of craftsmen and the average productive hour in each of the
sites surveyed were correlated using Spearman ranked correlation coefficient.
 This was used to determine the relationship that exists between motivation and productivity.

The most important details in this text are that safety of craftsmen is the most important motivator,
followed by financial incentive. Recognition by authority is the fifth most ranked motivator, and the
relationship between motivation and productivity is that one influences the other. Locke's study
suggests that financial reward contributes 30% to productivity improvement, and that motivation
strategy that will impact on productivity should be adopted by construction firms in Nigeria. Overtime is
the least ranked motivator due to lack of acceptance of overtime among craftsmen.

This paper examines the impact of motivation on construction workers productivity in Lagos, Nigeria. It
has been found that motivation has a positive impact on workers' productivity, and that financial
incentives should be considered for craftsmen in the industry.