Effects Of Using Formal Organizational Models In The Industry

Time

Time is one of the most important factors to be considered in the construction industry in handling a project. It is every party's wish to complete the project within the stipulated time. There are various ways put in place to ensure this is achieved within the time constraints. Techniques like activity sequencing as discussed in PMBOK A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge. This Project Time Management Process describes how to monitor and control time spent within a project.

It describes each of the Time Management procedures step-by-step, explaining how to use Timesheets and Time Management Logs to record time spent. By using this Time Process, you can control the amount of time that it takes staff to build deliverables within a project, increasing your chances of delivering "on time" and to schedule. Proper practice of a management model by the project manager or contractor ensures effective communication which ensures coordination among the members involved in the construction. Practice of organizational models also provides better grounds for putting to action the time management practices laid down to ensure achievement of the project within the estimated period.

Other methods of time management

Practice of management model also involves basic management principles of planning, organizing, executing and staffing. Planning and organizing comes in handy in the performance of activities in a project. Which activity to start, for how long should it run, which activity/activities precedes it or come before it? A good organization model will ensure that such operations are run as smoothly hence hindering delays that may negatively affect the timely completion of the project.

Precedence diagramming method. This is a method of constructing a project network diagram using nodes to represent the activities and connecting them with arrows that show the dependencies. It includes for types of dependencies or precedencies:

• Finish-to-start (FS). This relationship means Task A must complete before Task B can begin. This is the most common relationship. Example: The foundation must be set before the framing can begin
• Start-to-start (SS). This relationship means Task A must start before Task B can start. This relationship allows both activities to happen in tandem.
• Finish-to-finish (FF). This relationship means Task A must complete before Task B does. Ideally, two tasks must finish at exactly the same time, but this is not always the case.
• Start-to-finish (SF) This relationship is unusual and is rarely used. It requires that Task A start so that Task B may finish. Such relationships may be encountered in construction and manufacturing. It is also known as just in-time (JIT) scheduling.

Arrow diagramming method. This is a method of constructing a project network diagram using arrows to represent the activities and connecting them at nodes to show the dependencies. This technique is also called activity- on-arrow (AOA).

Conditional diagramming method. Network templates. Standardized networks can be used to expedite the preparation of project network diagrams. They can include an entire project or only a portion of it. Portions of a network are often referred to as subnets or fragnets. Subnets are especially useful where a project includes several identical or nearly identical features such as floors on a high-rise office building, clinical trials on a pharmaceutical research project, or program modules on a software project.

Materials

Skoyles (1982) has described how not all materials delivered to construction sites are used for the purposes for which they are ordered, and how builders frequently use more materials than those for which they receive payment. These materials are either lost or they are used in the building process in ways that are not recognised by estimators. These differences have never been clearly defined and are both known as 'waste'. One of the courses for wastage of materials is negligence and poor storage which is a human error. As earlier stated, one of the major advantages of a good organizational model is that it dictates the duties and responsibilities of the CEO, in this case, the contractor or project manager, and one of them is organizing. Proper organizational practice by the construction industry will ensure that inventories are made of available materials, their storage and conditions, materials to be needed immediately and this will prevent purchasing of materials when their usage is still months away. An example is the buying of roof tiles and bringing them to site when the project is still at the substructure level. This also reduces overcrowding of materials on site.

Labor

In “Labor and Management Bridging the Gap, ” Daniel Law (1994) stated, “Since the beginning civilization, the relationship between those who direct the work and those who accomplish it has been fraught with conflict and resentment”. This is mostly seen in the construction industry’s work force. The inter-relationship between the managers and the workers is always filled with contempts and insecurities an the casual laborer can be fired anytime. This creates distrust and to some extremes may cause poor work done by the unskilled worker. Mental state of the laborer affects greatly their performance. Firing of workers and employing new ones also negatively affect the work flow and rhythm. The construction industry is mainly of small and medium- sized enterprises (SME) which often do not have HRM unit. Dainty et al. 2000 have reported that construction companies have a tendency to rely on less formal structures in terms of managing the employment relationship. Recently Raidén and Dainty 2006 indicated that construction organizations tend to display the qualities of a balance between the chaotic and the orderly organization.

Chan and Kaka 2007 also observed that compassionate paternalistic relationship between site managers and their human resources tend to strengthen the employment relationship in the construction project environment. The major problem construction industry is facing today due to expansion in infrastructural growth is the shortage of skilled labours. Construction companies periodically experiences difficulty in meeting project completion dates because of non-availability of sufficient skilled labors and staff to carry out the work efficiently.