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MAIN FACTORS INFLUENCING LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY OF THE INSTALLATION OF ON-SITE PREFABRICATED COMPONENTS
Mohd Hanizun Hanafi , Abd. Ghani Khalid , Arman Abdul Razak , Shardy Abdullah
1 2 1 2 1 1

School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Darul Takzim (MALAYSIA)

ABSTRACT The construction industry is a key sector in the fulfilment of a countrys development agenda. However, the industry is usually referred to as a `backward industry in the performance context when compared with the other industries. One of the approaches, which evidently enable the increase of labour productivity at construction sites, is by implementing Industrialised Building Systems. This paper aims to identify the main factors influencing labour productivity in the operation of the installation of prefabricated components at construction sites. Construction labour productivity at construction sites was assessed using 42 important factors developed from literature studies. These data were then subjected to the calculation of importance indices, which enabled factors to be ranked. The ten most important factors identified was planning and scheduling of work, availability of machinery and prefabricated components, project design team professionalism, competency of site supervisor, skilfulness of workforce, availability of precise tools and workforce, adequate related information and implementation control level of fixing the prefabricated components at construction sites. The analysis drawn from this study is essential for construction firms to take these elements into account in increasing the labour productivity rates at construction sites. Key words: Malaysia; labour productivity factors; prefabricated components; importance indices 1. INTRODUCTION The construction industry, which is big in magnitude by nature, is tied to the development of other industries both in backward and forward relationships and subsequently imparts a great impact on the economic environment of any country. Any positive change in the implementation level of the construction industry will give a significant effect towards a countrys Gross Domestic Product. Unfortunately, the construction industry is perennially referred to as a backward industry. It is a fact that the industry still maintains a very low technological image and at the same time a very high dependence on manual workforce in the construction sites (Lim and Alum, 1995). This fact has been espoused by academics and research bodies alike, such as Egen (1998); Kazaz and Ulubeyli (2004), Ofori and Tat (2006) and Business Roundtable (1982). Therefore, focus and emphasis towards the aspects of performance and the potential of the construction industry cannot be avoided if the aspirations of a country are to be fulfilled (Abdul Rashid, 1998; Abdul Kadir et al., 2005). The term performance in the construction sites according to Oglesby et al. (1989) can be divided into four main aspects, namely, quality, productivity, safety and adequateness. These four elements cannot be separated from one another. However, productivity is the simplest indicator of all to be understood. This is because the elements of quality, safety and adequateness (at the time of their occurrence) have a direct impact towards the relationship between the tangible elements of input and output. Productivity in the construction industry refers to the workforce as it is more easily quantified, is the largest contributor towards the overall construction costs, has a significant bearing on the management and is the hardest to control and anticipate in terms of its behaviour. One of the approaches that is capable of increasing productivity drastically within the construction industry is the implementation of the industrialised building system (IBS). This approach gives a positive effect towards reducing operational costs in the long term, increasing quality and reducing the continuous use of labour including an increase in the implementation of standardization concepts (Nurul Azam et al., 2009). That being said, Dulaimi (1995) has stressed that previous research within the context of industrialized building systems have focused more on the hardware element rather than the software component. The lack of research on the software element which refers to system data and information, users, clients, fortifying production systems in factories, site layout, implementation processes and placement of resources within work sites of the industrialized building systems has made it difficult to be developed in the same vein of mass production in the manufacturing sector. Hardware components of the industrialized building systems are aspects pertaining to the structure, such as concrete and steel strength, load sharing and structural moment (Badir et al., 2002). Therefore, the research on which this paper is based upon focuses on identifying main factors influencing labour productivity in the installation of on-site prefabricated components which is commonly preferred by engineers and architects in Malaysia. The ultimate aim is to devise an appropriate strategy for improving labour productivity towards encouraging the applicability of the industrialized building system in Malaysia. The undertaking of this perspective is vital as it is capable of increasing the competitiveness of the construction industry practitioners in an increasingly challenging environment, and at the same time, enables the Malaysian government to achieve the aspirations of becoming a developed nation by the year 2020.

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2. FACTORS INFLUENCING LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY AT CONSTRUCTION SITES Borcherding et al. (1986) has provided an overall depiction of the factors that influence labour productivity at construction sites. There are numerous factors which influence labour productivity and they have been categorized into several main themes, namely a) workers idling due to the unavailability of production resources, accidents, delayed inspections and congestion at the work sites; b) ineffective work schedule as planned due to the problems of impractical planning, logistics and imperfect work flow in construction sites; c) improper machinery as well as low levels of workforce motivation and moral values; d) ineffective work caused by work implementation that is often halted as well as the presence of obstructions on site; and e) repetitive construction work due to conservative and defective design, low quality of work as well as defects on the finished works. Thomas and Napolitan (1995), on the other hand, have exposed the indirect effects, i.e., changes and acceleration which lead to overtime working, increase in use of manual labour as well as more work shifts, caused by these factors towards the rate of labour productivity in construction sites. The occurrence of overtime working, for instance, will negatively affect labour productivity levels on work site as problems relating to supervision, availability of tools, equipment, materials and other resources will escalate and become to complex to handle. Factors influencing labour productivity, namely, congestion, work sequencing, weather conditions, supervision, plant status, information, equipment, tools, materials and rework under the work environment theme is still considered and recognized as important by them. At the same time, factors under the theme of work to be done, namely, size of components, specifications and quality requirements, work content, design features and nature of work are also considered to be significant in this subject matter. Ovararin (2001) subsequently conducted a comprehensive literature review on the factors that influence labour productivity in construction sites. That study resulted in categorizing the influencing factors into seven main sections which includes these following characteristics: a) project; b) management organization; c) site and resource management; d) labour and moral values; e) acceleration; f) changes; and g) external environment. An analytical study was done on these main factors and it was discovered that 13 factors impart a strong influence towards labour productivity rates in the construction sites of the United States of America, which are: i) work planning and scheduling; ii) competency of site supervisors; iii) availability of construction materials; iv) workforce availability; v) work sequence; vi) congestion; vii) repetition of similar works; viii) communication failure; ix) subcontractor coordination; x) unpredictable weather conditions; xi) access to work sites; xii) scheduling of overtime works; and xiii) disruption to the workforce on construction sites. Basically, labour productivity on work sites is influenced by various factors that are internal and external in nature (Zakeri et al., 1996). Previous researchers such as Bocherding et al. (1986), Lim and Alum (1995), Zakeri et al. (1996), Kaming et al. (1997) and Abdul Kadir et al. (2005) have to a certain degree managed to demystify the complexities surrounding the factors that influence labour productivity in the United States, Singapore, Iran, Indonesia and Malaysia respectively. Nevertheless, these previous researchers did not specifically focus on identifying and listing the main factors that influence labour productivity in the installation works of prefabricated components at the construction sites. These researchers conducted their studies based on a more general aspect of construction projects involving both conventional and IBS methods. Therefore, a literature review as depicted in Table 1 was made as the basis for the efforts to identify the main factors that influence labour productivity in prefabricated component installation operations. 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY In order to determine the main factors that influence labour productivity, a quantitative survey using questionnaires was conducted. The researcher had sent questionnaires to 44 and 51 contractor and consultant firms (Engineers (22) and Architects (29)) respectively. The list of these firms was obtained from the Industrialized Building Systems Report published by the Technology Development Section, CIDB Malaysia (2006). A pilot study was initially conducted to verify the validity level of the developed questionnaires on representatives of the contractor (nos. = 2) and consultant organizations (nos. = 2). The survey was carried out and 43 questionnaires were returned, representing a response rate of 45 percent. This paper will only delve into Section 2 of the survey questionnaire, which deals directly with the importance level listing of 42 factors influencing labour productivity for the on-site installation of the prefabricated components. The respondents were given a choice to determine the importance level according to the order of very important, important, neutral, not important and very not important. This order was based on previous research in determining the importance of labour productivity factors to construction methods or systems in general conducted in Singapore (Lim and Alum, 1995) and in Malaysia (Abdul Kadir et al., 2005). The Importance Index was then utilized to determine the order of rank for each item, using the following equation:4. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION After all data from the respondents was collected, the Alpha Cronbach Reliability Test was conducted and a value of 0.8739 was obtained. This value is significantly high, demonstrating that the data can be used to analyze the importance of the relevant factors. The factors that were listed in the research were arranged in order according to the importance rank, from 1 to 42, based on the importance index calculation as per Equation 1. The overall analysis of the listed factors using the importance index, the mean score and the response rate is shown in Table 2.

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Table 1: The factors influencing labour productivity

Rojas and Aramvareekul (2003) Thomas and Sakarcan (1994)

Abdul Kadir et al. (2005)

Lim and Alum (1995)

Halligan et al. (1994)

Kaming et al. (1997)

Kaming et al. (1998)

Zakeri et al. (1996)

Ovararin (2001)

Park (2002)

* FACTORS INFLUENCING LABOUR PRODUCTIVITY AT CONSTRUCTION SITES

A) MANAGEMENT CHARACTERISTICS Profesionalism of Design team The level of management control Late inspection of completed work Work planning and scheduling Incompetence of site supervisors

Difficulties in employing site supervisors B) SITE AND RESOURCES MANAGEMENT CHARACTERISTICS Method and Machinery (including impairment) Availability of tools and machinery Availability of materials Financial problems (payment to suppliers) Financial problems (late payment by client) Difficulty in recruitment or availability of workforce Sequence of work Congestion Rework (wrong information given by supervisor) Information Communication breakdown Unsecured construction site Qualtiy control

Coordination of subcontractors C) PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS o o o o o Location Inclement weather (temperature and humidity) Site characteristics (including health) Site access Project size Design requirement Structure size Specification Project characteristics Quality Experience, training and education level Absenteeism Turn over Communication problems between labourers Frequent changes in labourers Morality (e.g. alcohol influential, social problems)

D) WORKFORCE CHARACTERISTICS

Disturbance E) EXTERNAL CHARACTERISTICS Acceleration - overtime schedule Variation order Current economic condition Research and Development

Note: * Refered to the Ovararins categorisation; = This factor has clearly been mentioned by the researcher Source: Halligan et al. (1994); Thomas and Sakarcan (1994); Lim and Alum (1995); Zakeri et al. (1996); Kaming et al. (1997); Kaming et al. (1998); Ovararin (2001); Park (2002); Rojas and Aramvareekul (2003); Abdul Kadir et al. (2005)

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Equation 1. Importance Index (II) =

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5n1+4n2+3n3+2n4+n5 5(n1+n2+n3+n4+n5)

where, n1 = number of respondents who answered very important n2 = number of respondents who answered important n3 = number of respondents who answered neutral n4 = number of respondents who answered not important n5 = number of respondents who answered very not important From the findings of the analysis on the 42 factors, 10 most influential factors regarding labour productivity based on the main numbers as put forth by Abdul Kadir et al. (2005) is as follows:(1) Accuracy of work planning and scheduling (normal time) (Importance Index (II) = 0.9395); (2) Availability of machinery at construction site (II = 0.9302); (3) Availability of prefabricated components at construction site (II = 0.9209); (4) Professionalism of design team (II = 0.9116); (5) Competency of site supervisor (II = 0.9116); (6) Labours Skilfulness (IK = 0.9070); (7) Availability of precise tools at work sites (II = 0.8905); (8) Availability of specific workforce at the work sites (II = 0.8791); (9) Adequate related information (II = 0.8762); and (10) The level of control on the prefabricated components installation (II = 0.8651) Table 2. The importance rank of factors influencing labour productivity of on-site pre-fabricated components installation operation
Importanc e Index (II)

Importance degree which @ stated by 40 Respondent Factors influencing labour productivity 1 Accuracy of work planning and scheduling (normal time) Availability of machinery Availability of materials Professionalism of design team Competency of site supervisor Skilfulness of labours Availability of precise tools Availability of precise workforce Adequateness of related information The level of control by management Design requirements Coordination of sub contractors Training which attended by workforce Site condition Site access Less concentration on quality control aspect Variation order Research and development Management communication breakdown Absenteeism Project size Less concentration on safety aspect Machinery breakdown Financial problems by contractor Congestion Late inspection of completed work Work planning and scheduling (extension of time) Work sequence Communication problems between labours Disturbance Continously implement rework activities Current economic crisis Contractor incompetent to pay credit to suppliers Frequent changes on labours number Unusual humidity condition Workforce formal education level Workforce morality problems Unusual temperature condition Difficulty in occupying site supervisor Workforce turn over on their desire Inconsistent fee among workforce
@

Respond Rate

Position

Mean

2 5 11 11 11 15 20 13 22 17 19 13 26 24 19 23 23 12 19 18 20 17 24 24 13 23 16 17 20 17 17 17 11 12 17 19 18 18 12 10 6 9

3 4 2 3 2 2 0 5 2 3 5 5 3 5 8 6 3 9 9 9 10 8 5 9 12 9 14 11 11 12 13 15 16 16 13 15 16 9 17 16 24 24

4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 1 2 1 3 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 4 3 2 4 4 5 3 4 7 6 9 4 5

5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 3 3 0 2 2

34 30 29 29 26 23 24 19 21 19 24 14 14 15 13 13 18 13 13 11 13 10 8 14 7 9 11 7 9 8 7 11 9 6 3 3 5 5 4 5 2

100 100 100 100 100 100 98 100 98 100 100 100 100 100 100 95 98 98 98 95 95 98 98 98 95 93 98 93 98 98 98 100 98 98 100 100 98 100 91 95 98

1.3023 1.3488 1.3953 1.4419 1.4419 1.4651 1.5476 1.6047 1.6190 1.6744 1.6829 1.7442 1.7907 1.8837 1.8837 1.9024 1.9524 1.9524 2.0000 2.0238 2.0244 2.0714 2.0714 2.1190 2.1707 2.1750 2.1905 2.2000 2.2619 2.3333 2.3571 2.3721 2.4286 2.4762 2.6279 2.6279 2.6429 2.7674 2.7692 2.8049 2.9048

0.9395 0.9302 0.9209 0.9116 0.9116 0.9070 0.8905 0.8791 0.8762 0.8651 0.8634 0.8512 0.8419 0.8233 0.8233 0.8195 0.8095 0.8095 0.8000 0.7952 0.7951 0.7857 0.7857 0.7762 0.7659 0.7650 0.7619 0.7600 0.7476 0.7333 0.7286 0.7256 0.7143 0.7048 0.6744 0.6744 0.6714 0.6465 0.6462 0.6390 0.6190

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

Note: 1 Very Important; 2 Important; 3 Neutral; 4 Not Important; 5 Very Not Important; II Importance Index

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Accuracy of Work Planning and Scheduling (normal time) (II = 0.9395) Work planning and scheduling (normal time) within the project (organization) management category is the most important factor where 85 percent of the respondents agreed that it was a main contributor towards determining labour productivity levels in the installation operation of pre-fabricated components on the construction work sites. It is the earliest management stage that needs to be considered by the builders in establishing an efficient implementation of the installation operation. Normal time refers to the 40-hour working period for a construction worker per week (The Business Roundtable, 1980). In ensuring that the execution of the pre-fabricated components installation is smoothly done, an effective plan has to be established. This will greatly affect the labour productivity level at the construction work sites. From the literature review that was done, it was found that this is the most important factor influencing labour productivity in general construction sites in developed countries (refer to Park, 2002; Rojas and Aramvareekul, 2003; Aramvareekul, 2002). The findings of the research support the findings obtained from previous research on the importance of precise work planning and scheduling factor compared to other factors. Availability of Machinery at Construction Site (II = 0.9302) The second most important factor influencing labour productivity of the installation work is the availability of machinery at the construction sites with an importance index of 0.9350. 75 percent of the respondents report that this factor is very important in determining the labour productivity rate in construction sites. When compared with conventional building systems, the application of the industrialized building system will reduce labour usage in work sites and encourage the use of high technology, similar to what is happening in the mass production system of the manufacturing industry. This is due to the fact that these pre-fabricated components are produced in factories, transported to the work sites and off-loaded to be installed at locations according to the contract requirements. As the capacity of the manual workforce is limited in terms of handling and loading these components, the lack of machinery will give a significant implication to the labour productivity at the construction work sites. The unavailability of machinery due to breakdown, on the whole, has left a significant effect towards the rate of labour productivity at construction sites. The importance of this factor of machinery availability has given validation to the previous research conducted in Iran (Zakeri et al., 1996), as it is the third ranked factor in the overall listing of importance factors. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, these factors are placed at the sixth (Kaming et al., 1997) and seventh (Kaming et al., 1998) positions respectively. Availability of Prefabricated Components at Construction Site (II = 0.9209) The availability of prefabricated components at the construction sites is the third important factor with an importance index of 0.9209. The lack of components refers to the problems faced either by the difficulty in obtaining these components or the supply of the components are done after the scheduled time. A direct implication of these problems is that the workforce will be unable to execute their works or they will be at an idle state while waiting for the prefabricated components to be delivered. Furthermore, through a study conducted by Ng et al. (2004), it was discovered that this factor of construction material availability is a major detriment to worker motivation; or in other words, there might be a de-motivating problem that might be difficult to overcome within a short time. The management should schedule work effectively to ensure that there are no disruptions to flow of the installation work for these prefabricated components. These prefabricated components are usually large in size and failure in the installation work flow will bring about storage problems. From the literature review that was conducted, it is found that this factor (availability of construction material) is one of the more important factors that need to be considered in the implementation of construction at work sites. This has been shown in research undertaken by Abdul Kadir et al. (2005) in Malaysia, Kaming et al. (1997) in Indonesia and Zakeri et al. (1996) in Iran. The availability of construction materials is the most important labour productivity factor either in Malaysia, Indonesia or Iran for construction operations in work sites. Professionalism of Design Team Members (II = 0.9116) The role of the project team in issuing all relevant information about the work implementation is the fourth important factor which determines labour productivity in on-site pre-fabricated components installation works. 73 percent of the respondents have stated that this is a very important factor with a importance index of 0.9116. It is one the more vital factors as the failure of the project team to issue information related to the project will cause the contractors to not have enough guidance in executing the prefabricated components installation works. As an example, the failure in issuing the necessary drawings related to column erection will affect the progress of the following structural component installation work item. The importance of this factor is clearly defined in the study conducted by Abdul Kadir et al. (2005) in Malaysia on the implementation of construction projects, either through conventional means or the IBS approach. This factor is placed among the top four most important factors which influence labour productivity in terms of the execution of construction projects at work sites in Iran (Zakeri et al., 1996). Research findings clearly illustrate that delays in issuing construction drawings by the design team have a negative impact to the labour productivity levels in general construction projects in Malaysia and Iran. However, it is not considered to be among the most important factors in either Indonesia (Kaming et al., 1997; Kaming et al., 1998) or Singapore (Lim and Alum, 1995). Competency of Site Supervisors (II = 0.9116) The fifth most important labour productivity factor is the competency of the site supervisor in handling the prefabricated components installation works on the construction site. The importance index recorded by this factor was 0.9116 with 65 percent of the respondents agreeing that this factor is very important and should be given due consideration during this operation. Site supervisors are the front line parties that are responsible for realizing the project planning into the form of actual work flows. For this purpose, vast knowledge and experience is really needed because the site supervisors will be facing the actual problems that arise from the on-site installation works for these prefabricated components. Delays in supervision by the site supervisors have a significant impact towards

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labour productivity levels in the work operations of construction activities in work sites in Indonesia (Kaming et al., 1997; Kaming et al., 1998). Labour skilfulness (II = 0.9070) The sixth labour productivity factor is the skill levels of the manpower in handling the installation operations of the prefabricated components in the work sites. The importance index scored is 0.9070; a difference of 0.0046 from the competency of site supervisors factor. 58 percent of the respondents state that this factor is important in the installation works. This installation of prefabricated components process is a sequential process of placing, securing and casting that is repetitive to form the monolithic building structure and is very much dependant of a highly skilled workforce. Besides this, this installation works are complicated, use machinery and the sizes of the components are relatively large. Therefore, the capacity of the workforce should be emphasized, especially by the contractors who are responsible for the installation works in order to ensure an efficient execution of the works. The importance of this factor is rather specific in nature, being only important for the installation works for the prefabricated components. However, this factor is not among the most important factors that influence work site labour productivity as stated by Kaming et al. (1997) and Kaming et al. (1998) in Indonesia, Lim and Alum (1995) in Singapura, Zakeri et al. (1996) in Iran or Abdul Kadir et al. (2005) in Malaysia. Availability of precise tools at the work sites (II = 0.8905) The factor regarding the availability of specific and precise tools at the work site also imparts a very big influence in determining the labour productivity rate in installing the prefabricated components at the construction work sites. It is the seventh factor of importance out of the entire importance factors list which influences labour productivity in these operations. The importance index for this factor is 0.8905, with a difference of 0.0165 from the importance index of the labour skill factor. The availability of precise tools is a very important factor because any shortcomings in the provision of these tools will hinder the efforts of the workers to place and secure the prefabricated components at the correct locations as required by the works. Analysis findings have shown that this study supports the findings of previous research done on labour productivity in construction sites, both in developing and developed nations (Kaming et al., 1997). This factor is also among the 10 most important factors influencing labour productivity in construction sites in terms of prefabricated components installations. Nevertheless, the lack of precise tools will also give a negative effect in terms of de-motivating workers at construction sites if not provided for sufficiently (Ng et al., 2004). Availability of specific workforce at the work sites (II = 0.8791) This factor is the eighth factor of importance in determining the labour productivity rate of prefabricated components installation at the construction sites. The importance index analysis conducted has shown that this factor returns an index of 0.8791 with all of the respondents agreeing that this factor should at the very least be considered as important. Prefabricated components installation works require a higher level of skill if compared to the monolithic operations of the conventional building systems. The workers need to equip themselves with specific knowledge and experience in making sure these installation works are carried out efficiently. Any failure in providing the necessary specific workforce will obstruct the efforts of the management to maintain a high level of productivity at the job sites. This factor also imparts a significant effect towards the overall implementation of operations in construction sites as discovered by the findings of previous research. The problems relating to absenteeism (Lim and Alum. 1995; Zakeri et al., 1996; Kaming et al., 1997; Kaming et al. 1998), turn over (Lim and Alum. 1995) and lack of workers in the market (Abdul Kadir et al., 2005) are the major sources of the unavailability of specific workers in construction sites which will in turn reduce the level of labour productivity of construction projects on the whole. Adequateness of relevant information (II = 0.8762) Sufficient relevant information regarding the installation works for the prefabricated components is the ninth important factor based on the feedback of the survey respondents. The importance index for this labour productivity factor is 0.8762 with a mean score of 1.6190. However, only 98 percent of the respondents state the importance of this factor. Insufficient information will hinder efforts of the management in sustaining high labour productivity at job sites. This situation will arise because the installation works for the prefabricated components cannot be undertaken at the location which needs the relevant detailed work information. This will give a negative effect on the progress of the components installation work of forming monolithic-like structures on the construction work sites. However, this factor is not among the most important labour productivity factors for the construction activities th at the work sites. This factor is only the 13 placed factor in terms of factors influencing work site labour productivity (Zakeri et al., 1996). The Level of Monitoring the Prefabricated Components Installation (II = 0.8651) The factor regarding the monitoring of the construction work activities is at the tenth position of importance towards influencing labour productivity in the execution of the components installation works. The importance index for this factor is 0.8651 and 48 percent of the respondents stressed that this factor was very important in determining the labour productivity levels at the construction work sites. All respondents have given a positively significant feedback for this factor in determining the level of importance of factors that influence labour productivity. Monitoring implementation imparts a significant effect in determining work site labour productivity because it is a technical operation. It requires precise understanding about the placement and installation of the prefabricated components are the correct locations. This situation is different from previous research conducted by several academicians such as Lim and Alum (1995), Zakeri et al. (1996), Kaming et al. (1997), Kaming et al. (1998) and Abdul Kadir et al. (2005). This factor is not listed among the most important factors that influence labour productivity in construction operations. The positioning of factors influencing labour productivity in construction sites according to their respective importance, on the whole, are dependent on local conditions. However, there is still the presence of universal labour productivity factors in construction sites such as accuracy of work planning and

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scheduling (normal time), availability of machinery, prefabricated components, precise tools and specific workforce at construction sites, professionalism of design team members, and competency of site supervisor. There are three very important factors that influence labour productivity of prefabricated components installation operations in construction sites that are not listed in previous research. These factors are labour skill, adequateness of relevant information, and the level of monitoring the prefabricated components installation. 5. CONCLUSION From the 42 factors which were presented to the survey respondents, it was found that factors relating to management characteristics such as project (organization) and work site management dominate the ten most important factors; with a percentage of 90 percent. The remaining 10 percent is in categories related to workforce. From the percentages within the management context, 44 percent is under the project (organization) management category while 56 percent is under the resource and work site management category. Only one factor, labour skilfulness, from the workforce category is listed under the ten most important factors influencing labour productivity in the installation works of prefabricated components t the work sites. The findings of this research also exposes the most important factor in determining labour productivity levels in the prefabricated components installation works at the construction work sites as the work planning and scheduling factor. This is the earliest element which needs to be created and should be the main priority of the contractors organization in maintaining a high level of labour productivity on the work sites. As the installation of prefabricated components encourages the use of high technology machinery, there is a need for these machines to be routinely maintained to ensure a smooth implementation of the installation works on site. Findings from this research show that a specific work plan and schedule can have a major impact on the level of labour productivity either for a conventional based construction project or one using the industrialized building system. Apart from these, other factors that are also important to ensure the installation work go on smoothly in achieving the expected productivity level is the availability of the prefabricated components on site. Failure in ensuring this availability will cause the progress of the installation process to be halted, which in turn will bring a negative impact on the construction workers. Their level of motivation will diminish and will be difficult to be raised in a short period of time. The availability of machinery on the construction sites gives a significant impact towards determining labour productivity in the construction sites. It is the main factor that needs attention in executing the installation works as the prefabricated components are heavy and need active participation of lifting machinery on site. Any lack of availability of the machines will have a big impact on the overall labour productivity. This situation is different in most construction projects employing the conventional building system. The main factor that needs to be emphasized by the management in the conventional systems is the availability of construction materials on site after the work planning and scheduling factor, both in developed and developing countries. Nevertheless, this factor is also included as one of the more important factors influencing labour productivity for the installation of prefabricated components in the construction work sites. The non-availability of machinery and building components on site will also have a negative impact towards the motivation of the workforce in carrying out these installation works. Besides these three very important factors of work planning and scheduling, availability of machinery and prefabricated components, the competency of the design team should also be focused on to reach its fullest potential. All design team members must be professional in handling their jobs as it is an asset towards sustaining a high level of productivity in the work sites. Site supervisors, who are the management representatives who have a direct relationship with the workers, must be skilled and efficient as the components installation works is very technical in nature if compared to conventional building systems. A high level of labour productivity can be achieved with the active participation of adequate workers with the necessary high skills at the work sites. Workers must be equipped with the precise tools and information at the construction work sites. In addition to this, stringent implementation monitoring must be undertaken by the management in achieving high labour productivity in the installation works for the prefabricated components at the construction sites. The findings of this study clearly espouse the discoveries put forth by previous research, albeit in a more specific sense. As this research specifically targets labour productivity in the installation of prefabricated components in construction work sites, there were found to be three important factors that were non-existent in previous work. These factors of labour skill, adequateness of relevant information, and the level of monitoring the prefabricated components installation should be undoubtedly considered for the successful and effective installation of prefabricated components within construction projects. REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. M.R. Abdul Kadir, W.P. Lee, M.S. Jaafar, S.M. Sapuan and A.A.A. Ali. Factors Affecting Construction Labour Productivity for Malaysian Residential Projects. Journal of Structural Survey. 23(1): 42-54 (2005). R.Abdul Rashid. A Model for an Effective Implementation of the Government Technology Transfer Policy in the Malaysian Construction Industry. Unpublished PhD Thesis. The University of Reading, UK. 52-80, 1998. E. Allmon, C.T. Haas, J.D. Borcherding and P.M. Goodrum. U.S Construction Labour Productivity Trends, 1970-1998, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 126(2): 97-104 (2000). P. Aramvareekul. An Analysis of Labor Productivity in the U.S Construction Industry. Unpublished PhD Thesis. The State University of New York at Buffalo 76-95, 2002.

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