"IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY IN THE NIGERIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY - A MANAGERIAL APPROACH

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Date
1981-09
Authors
OKWA, ANTHONY ABOKI
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Abstract
This study, based essentially on the premise that the construction industry retains a great deal of nu-released potential in terms of productive capacity, has sought to evaluate the capacity and capability of managers in the industry to release this potential - to improve productivity from within their firms. The problem of low productivity as experienced in our construction industry has been highlighted by abnormally high costs, delays and general inefficiency. These problems, it is noted, are detrimental to the industrial and technological advancement of the nation because of the pace-setting nature of construction activities - major- infrastructural and physical facilities have to be provided before industrialization can take off. The objectives of this study, therefore, have been to evolve practical guidelines to enable managers in the industry to improve productivity from within the spheres of their organisations to the extent that factors within their control can be manipulated in this direction. This is in line with the contention that managers, more than anyone else, have the greatest potential to bring about the ouch-needed increpse in the level of productivity of the construction industry. vii The procedure adopted includes an overview of the current level of productivity to identify potential areas for improvement. Management responsibility for productivity improvement is emphasized with support drawn from relevant literature and eventually from construction managers themselves. In subsequent discussions, it is suggested that management leverage for productivity improvement is undermined by the classical approach to organization and management. Pointing to the fact that the modern management ideas and techniques discussed and recommended in the second part of the thesis have, most of them, been available for a long time, managers, it is noted, often ignore them, feeling either that they are impracticable, or that they are just commonsense descriptions of what they do instinctively. Thus, this researcher has emerged with the view that managerial response to the problem of low productivity has been far from adequate. This view is supported by the nature of the productivity frustrations suffered and the factors mitigating them.(as identified in the survey, chapter 3*0). Thus, with the problem recognized and the factors responsible identified, areas requiring management involvement are pin-pointed. These are achieved in the first part of the thesis, THE RESEARCH REPORT. The second part, GUIDELINES FOR MANAGING PRODUCTIVITY IN THE CONSTRUCTION FIRll, outlines a practical, workable framework f.r. o
Description
A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE, CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT
Keywords
MPROVING,, PRODUCTIVITY,, NIGERIAN,, CONSTRUCTION,, INDUSTRY,, MANAGERIAL,, APPROACH
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