6
AssignmentMultiple Choice

Contractors, Managers, and Foremen: Coordinating a Building Project

Question 6 • SVHS Building Construction ##FA

The following excerpt is from a report for the Israel Institute of Technology by Ari Teger on high-rise construction. There are many aspects involved in scheduling a construction project. Even a priori scheduling requires dealing with many interdependent tasks and resources, and once the project starts the task is even more complex. Although the schedule can be created using calculations like the one described earlier, construction doesn’t actually proceed with such precision. Instead, it’s best to either rely on assumptions or calculations but then with the results adjusted according to experience and common sense. For instance, if a calculation results in a task taking 0.9 of a workday, it isn’t reasonable to assume that another task will be performed that day. There is a good chance that it will take slightly longer than calculated, and once it’s completed, workers will be ready to go home and won’t be willing to start a percentage of a task in the part of the workday that is remaining. Why would a construction manager not try to increase efficiency by maximizing the amount of tasks on any given workday?

Answer
A
Workers are most efficient when they have fewer tasks to handle.
B
Construction managers shouldn’t be involved in maximizing task efficiency; that’s the foreman’s job.
C
The schedule he or she creates will not be realistic.
D
Workers are incapable of truly working a full day.
Previous
Next