Information Flow Matters: Improving Productivity Performance in Engineering and Construction

Abstract

This research explores the problem of the relatively poor productivity performance of the engineering and construction sector in new Zealand. The objective is to gain an understanding of the linkages between information flow and productivity and thereby to identify future directions for improving productivity performance. A mixed methods research approach is used, comprising of semi-structured interviews, surveys, observations and analyses of statistical performance data. A new information flow productivity causality model is proposed which links information flow as an input to productivity outcomes via a number of intermediate stages with productivity identified as a function of efficiency and effectiveness. A quantitative finding is that information flows are of statistical significance for organisational performance with knowledge-based information products giving significant potential for improvement. A comparison is also made between information search strategies undertaken by engineers for decision-making nowadays and those undertaken in the early 1980s, finding some dramatic changes in information flow patterns. However a preference for face to face communications has remained unchanged, with such information flows being important for the understanding and solution processes. Further analyses of information flows in meetings on a major project are also given, leading to numerous findings linking the quality of information to performance outcomes. In a philosophical discussion a new definition of the semantic value of information is offered. This leads to a fresh understanding of the fundamental nature of informational value and allows for the incorporation of information into multifactor productivity. Performance of the sector is also addressed at an aggregate level leading to new findings that performance of the wider supply chain in construction is better than previously indicated in other studies. Furthermore the causality of the construction sector productivity performance is identified as being the high volatility of the output demand and low investment rates in capital inputs. As a contribution to knowledge evidence is presented that information flow matters, that it is a vitally important component to productivity performance. In conclusion fourteen key recommendations are made for productivity performance improvement.