Evaluation of worker performance in construction project using six-sigma

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to evaluate worker performance index for improving construction productivity and provide practical solutions for construction performance improvement by applying the six-sigma technique. Construction productivity and performance improvement are vital focus areas in construction industry. Many researchers have experimented various measures such as lean principles, just in time, pull scheduling, last planner system etc. to improving project performance. However, it is being observed that construction industry has witnessed a considerable decline in productivity in terms of both labour and management issues. Based on site observation, questionnaire survey, interviews and examining existing worker performance system, the scenario for worker performance was analyzed. The finding shows that the management and supervisors play key roles in improvement of worker performance. Worker performance index (WPI) is used to evaluate the worker performance quantitatively for various purposes like assistance to managers in planning, supervisor’s assessment and designing incentive scheme for rewarding best worker of any construction organization. Thus, with an improved worker productivity, overall performance of the construction project is envisaged. Further, six-sigma technique is used to validate and improve the construction performance and worker performance during construction execution phase. Managers and supervisors need to follow the management aspects, which is been recommended after the analyses done to improve the worker performance and productivity of construction projects. Thus, in this work, on basis of sigma level obtained, it can be concluded that WPI model proves to be successful for selecting a suitable worker according to their skills for desired work or a construction project with minimum defects with respect to their performance.