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Title: A diary study of the disruption experiences of crew members on a jobsite (Working Paper)
Creator: Menches, Cindy L., Chen, Juan
Date: 2012-06-01, 2012-06-01
Description: This article demonstrates the use of a diary technique in a construction setting. The advantage of a diary study over other methods for...
Show moreThis article demonstrates the use of a diary technique in a construction setting. The advantage of a diary study over other methods for capturing subjective experience is its ability to capture the thoughts, decisions, actions, and emotions of individuals in situ – while they are working in their natural setting – at multiple points in time during an individual’s workweek. Hence, the diary method is uniquely designed to answer questions about group-level trends as well as individual behavior. The specific goal of the study reported in this article was to derive an understanding of the types of fast decisions and actions that are made following a workflow disruption and how the disruption impacts the worker’s state of mind. The analyses revealed that there was a group-level positive correlation between experiencing a disruption and initiating a fast improvised decision and action. However, some workers tended to improvise frequently when disrupted while others did not. The analyses also revealed that the workers’ emotions fluctuated throughout the week, and two emotions – determined and interested – tended to decline following a disruption. But, some of the workers also experienced increases in their negative emotions while others did not, suggesting that not all workers react in the same way to disruptions. Consequently, the diary technique provides a novel way to identify the impact of disruptive events on worker decision-making and performance.
Sponsorship: National Science Foundation
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Title: Using ecological momentary assessment to understand a construction worker’s daily disruptions and decisions (Working Paper)
Creator: Menches, Cindy L., Chen, Juan
Date: 2012-06-01, 2012-06-01
Description: Capturing the momentary decisions and actions made by construction workers in response to workflow disruptions is challenging because, until...
Show moreCapturing the momentary decisions and actions made by construction workers in response to workflow disruptions is challenging because, until now, there has not been a minimally-disruptive data collection method that allows workers to identify their decision process “in the moment.” However, an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) method – designed to capture momentary work experiences in natural settings – can provide researchers with detailed information about the daily challenges experienced by workers during the course of performing their tasks. An explanation of the method is provided, along with examples of the types of research questions that can be addressed and appropriate analysis techniques. The EMA method is being used on a federally-funded research program in the United States that is investigating how construction workers adapt to workflow disruptions by improvising their decisions and actions. Consequently, this article demonstrates the use of the method by presenting an idiographic study of William, an electrical construction worker. The evaluation of William’s disruptions, decisions, and actions elucidated an important relationship: every one of William’s disruptions required an improvisational action in order to continue working. The EMA method opens the door to the development of new theories about rapid decisions and subsequent actions on construction sites.
Sponsorship: National Science Foundation
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Title: Selecting a Compensation Strategy to Control Project Duration: Empirical Comparison of Lump Sum and Reimbursable Strategies (Working Paper)
Creator: Chen, Juan, Menches, Cindy L.
Date: 2012-05-01, 2012-05-01
Description: Reducing project duration is a significant concern for many industries in the speed-to-market era. Numerous studies have examined the effects...
Show moreReducing project duration is a significant concern for many industries in the speed-to-market era. Numerous studies have examined the effects of project delivery methods on speeding up the process of construction. However, no study has quantitatively compared the effect of using different compensation strategies on schedule duration and schedule reduction. Using the data obtained from 175 international construction projects, this paper focuses on examining the influence of compensation strategy (lump sum versus reimbursable) on project duration while specifically taking into account the industry sector (heavy industrial versus light industrial). The results of the study provide empirical evidence that using a reimbursable compensation strategy can potentially shorten the procurement duration, construction duration, and overall project duration of heavy industrial projects. However, reimbursable contracting did not appear to reduce the project duration on light industrial projects.
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Title: Innovative Uses of Native CAD Files
Creator: Menches, Cindy L., Kleps, Stephen M.
Date: 2012-08-31, 2011-08-31
Description: This technical report describes the outcomes resulting from conducting interviews with professional estimators within the electrical...
Show moreThis technical report describes the outcomes resulting from conducting interviews with professional estimators within the electrical construction industry. The purpose of the interviews was to identify whether native files are shared, why sharing does not occur more frequently, how file sharing might benefit the estimating process, and barriers to sharing native CAD files for the purpose of estimating from CAD drawings.
Sponsorship: Electri International
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