No abstract

Construction productivity has been a recurring problem throughout international construction. Stagnant productivity increases project costs and bid prices, jeopardizes completion dates, and adversely impacts safety and quality during project delivery. Reduced productivity can result from a variety of labour, management and sector/process factors. Management techniques can be argued to have the greatest potential for productivity increase and thus the focus of this study. Specifically, research was undertaken to explore the effectiveness of using Total Quality Management (TQM) in a middle-eastern context. TQM approaches have been proven to provide positive impact and to increase productivity in both controlled manufacturing and in construction activities. Nevertheless, the approach has been seldomly used in the (United Arab Emirates) UAE or the broader Middle East. Past efforts have demonstrated the effectiveness of TQM-based approaches on electrical subcontracts for commercial development and, using a similar approach, results are expanded to evaluate mechanical activities. Ongoing performance of teams completing like activities under a common schedule were evaluated and earned value data collected to compare the impact of active management to status-quo approaches, which are traditionally top-down and authoritarian in nature. Results are presented and compared to performance of electrical subcontracting activities to identify broader conclusions based on the research results. Future research efforts are outlined.