10-19
Appraisal of Planning and Control as Management Tool for Optimum Productivity on Construction Sites
Authors: Maria Musa Mukaddas, Umar Hassan, Fatima M. Abubakar, Ziyaulhaq Haladu
Number of views: 198
An appraisal of planning and control as management tool for optimum productivity on construction sites was assessed with the view of finding the various ways to establish the best alternative planning and control techniques for some particular kinds of projects. Questionnaires were distributed to professionals. Not all construction firms have a separate planning department, this means that they integrate the planning job into other department, and out of the 43 respondents, none had PhD, while majority had M.Sc. A minimum level of planning tools and procedure use is important but what kind of tools is of no importance. However, the most used planning technique for building projects is the Bar chart/Gantt chart and it was discovered that its choice was due to the reasons being that they are simple and easy to handle and manipulate, flexible and it graphically presents the activities with their start time and dates along with links and overlaps. It is suitable for all kinds of project irrespective of its size and nature. Planning tools like progress curve, line of balance, project evaluation and review techniques (PERT) are almost non-existence. The major challenge encountered on site when implementing the plan is delay in completion of the works and dispute does arise between the construction team. Most planners nowadays use computer Aided software to prepare and design their plan, and the major software used is Microsoft project among others. Furthermore, it encourages project managers to believe that although planning does not guarantee project success, lack of planning will probably guarantee failure. Finally, it was revealed from this research that planning is never an easy undertaking but it requires attention since it helps to achieve success. Similarly, Planning is considered a central element of modern project management, the assumption behind the position is that planning reduces uncertainty and increases the likelihood of project success.