MODULE 2

Resource Management: Basic concepts of resource management, class of labour, Wages & statutory
requirement, Labour Production rate or Productivity, Factors affecting labour output or productivity.

Resource Management:
Resource management is the efficient use of resources in order to achieve a goal. Resource Management of
construction project consists of planning, estimation and obtaining various types of resources during pre-
construction stage and control of their utilization during execution stage. In pre-construction stage and
control of their
Resource Management is the process of planning the resources necessary to meet the objectives of the
project, and to satisfy the clients requirements.

v Without proper resource management , projects can fall behind schedule, or can become unprofitable.

v The main objective is to ensure the adequate and timely supply of resources , while at the same time
maximizing the utilization of resources between the projects.

Construction resources may include:-

v Products and materials
v Construction plant , tools and equipments.
v Human resources
v Space and facilities
v Subcontractors
v Finance.

Fundamental to resource management is real time visibility of:-

What resources are needed

What resources are available
Where resources are located
The ability to reschedule those resources accordingly.
Flow Diagram of Resource Management

A Resource Management plan can be used to:-

1. Ensure resource availability and resolve resource conflicts.
2. Optimize time, effort and cost.
3. Ensure workers with the right skills are available.
4. Identify limitations such as site access, weather conditions and so on.
5. Track resources utilization to avoid excessive resourcing or under-utilization.

It should list key information about the required resources for each activity:-
1. Type of activity
2.Start date and duration of activity
3.Activity owner
4.Resource type and quantity required
5.Source or supplier of each resource type
6.Equipment required
7.Cost estimates for each of the resources to be supplied.

8.Risk mitigation.
Successful resource management requires:-
• Access to the up-to-date project plan with clear definition of the different phases of work and activity
scheduling.
• Understanding the types of resources that are needed.
• Understanding the availability and optimum utilization of resources.
• Understanding the potential for developing resources for new uses.

• Understanding of the lead time required to ensure that resources are available when needed .

Class of labour
Construction labour can broadly divided into two types:-
1.Casual labour
2. Regular establishment

Casual labour:
Casual labour is employed as and when required for the execution of work, payment is made on the basis of
the number of days the labour works. There is no provision of leave, except the weekly holidays. This is also
known as daily labour.

Regular Establishment:

Regular establishment generally includes supervisory personal that are required for more or less
continuous period during construction. They are paid monthly wages and entitled to leave and other
benefits. The employees may be temporary or permanent. Permanent employees have great security
of service and may be entitled to more service benefits than the temporary employees.

Wages and statutory requirement:-

Wages are of two types.
1.Nominal wage: This is the remuneration paid to the worker in the form of money, but it does not include
the value of any other benefit that may be provided.

2.Real Wage: Labour is often entitled to different benefits, such as leave, medical care, house rent allowance,
bonus etc.If the value of such benefits is added to the nominal wage, it is known as real wage.
Wages are paid to the labour based on two methods:

1. Depending upon time devoted to the work. This method is known as time rate system.
2. Depending upon the quantity of work performed. This method is known as piece rate system.

Minimum Wages Act, 1948

The Minimum wages Act of 1948 was passed for the welfare of labour and provided for fixing the minimum
rate of wages of labour.
The main provisions of Minimum wages Act are:
1. The setting of advisory committees to collect information on which the minimum wages are based.
2. The wages of a worker in any scheduled employment shall be paid on a working day by:
(i)The 7th day after the last day of the wage period if the establishment has less than 1,000 employees.
(ii) The 10th day after the last day of the wage period if establishment has more than 1,000 employees.
3. The wages of an employee should be paid without any deductions except those items given below.
(i) Fines in respect of acts of omission.
(ii) Absence from duty.
(iii) Loss of goods directly attributed to the neglect of the employee.
(iv) House accommodation provided by the employer.
(v) Amenities and services provided by the employer.
(vi) Income tax etc.,.
Workmen Compensation Act, 1923

The Workmen Compensation Act passed to protect the victims of accidents and their families from hardships
out of and in the course of employment.The Act provides for payment of compensation in case of accidents
on work sites. The compensation, however, is not payable for injuries due to
(i) Disobedience or negligence,
(ii) Non observance of safety measures
(iii) consumption of liquor
(iv) diseases which are not contracted as a result of the occupation.

In the case of the death of a worker, compensation is paid under all circumstances.
Accidents are due to
(i)Human causes such as poor eye sight, negligence, effect of intoxicants,
(ii) Mechanical causes such as inadequate safety devices, live electrical equipment, unreliable scaffolding etc.
(iii) Environmental causes. Such as poor lighting, heat, noise etc.

The result of an accident may be:

1. Temporary disablement, which may be total or partial.
2. Permanent total disablement.
3. Permanent partial disablement.
4. Death.

The Compensation to be paid is depends on the result of the accident. The Act provides for the appointment
of commissioner for the quick disposal of claims for compensation.

Contract labour act, 1970

The Act is of importance to the construction industry where works are executed through contractors or by
contract labour. It aalso provides for improving the service conditions of contract labour.The Act applies to
every establishment and contractor employing twenty or more workmen. The Act does not apply to
establishments in which only work of an intermittent or casual nature is performed.

The main provisions of the Act are:

1) Registration of Establishments: Every principal employer of an establishment to which the act applies is
required to make an application to the registering officer on the prescribed form for the registration of the
establishement.

2) Licensing of Contractors:Every contractor executing any work through contract labour is required to
obtain a license.
3) Welfare and Health of Contract Labour: Under the Act, the following facilities are required to be
provided for the welfare ans health of the contract labour:
i)For works likely to continue for more than three months , where labour is required to halt at night in
connection with the working of the establishment, the contractor should provide rest rooms. Separate room
should be provided for women.
ii)for works likely to continue for more than six months and employing more than 100 or more labour an
adequate canteen should be provided.
iii)Latrines and urinals must br maintained in clean and sanitary conditions.
4) Payment of wages: Responsibility for the payment of wages rests upon the contractors.

LABOUR PRODUCTION RATE OR PRODUCTIVITY

Productivity in construction is broadly defined as output per labour hour. Since labour constitutes a large part
of the construction cost and the quantity of labour hours in performing a task in construction is more easily
influenced to the management than materials or capital, this productivity measure is often referred to as
labour productivity. For example, by investing in a piece of new equipment to perform certain tasks in
construction, output may be increased for the same number of labour hours, thus resulting in higher labour
productivity.

Productivity at the Job Site

Contractors and owners are often concerned with the labour activity at job sites. Hence for this purpose, it is
convenient to express labour productivity as functional units per labour hour for each type of construction
task. However, even for such specific purposes, different levels of measure may be used.Lower level
measures are more useful for monitoring individual activities, while higher level measures may be more
convenient for developing industry wide standards of performance.

While each contractor or owner is free to use its own system to measure labour productivity at a site, it is a
good practice to set up a system which can be used to track productivity trends over time and in varied
locations.

Productivity in the Construction Industry

For this general type of productivity measure, it is more convenient to express labour productivity as constant
dollars per labour hours since dollar values are more easily aggregated from a large amount of data collected
from different sources.

The use of constant dollars allows meaningful approximations of the changes in construction output from one
year to another when price deflators are applied to current dollars to obtain the corresponding values in

constant dollars.

Factors Affecting Productivity

Productivity is influenced by many factor which can be characterized either as labour characteristics,project
work conditions or as non- productive activities. The labour characteristics include:
• age, skill and experience of workforce
• leadership and motivation of workforce
The project work conditions include other factors:
• Local climate
• Local cultural characteristics, particularly in foreign operations
• Contractual agreements
• Equipment utilisation
• Labour availability
• Job size and complexity
• Job site accessibilty
The non productivity activities associated with a project may or may not be paid by the owner, but inspite of
that they take up potential labour resources which can otherwise be directed to the project.
The non productive activities include other factors:
‘
• Strikes.
• Rework for correcting unsatisfactory workforce.
• Non working holidays.
• Time off for union activities.
• Absentee time, including late start and early quits.
• Temporary work stopapage due to inclement weather or material shortage.
• Indirect labour required to maintain the progress of the project.