Driving Change in the Global Construction Industry

The construction industry is one of the biggest employers of workers in the United States and around the world. But the rate of modernization has been much slower than comparative industries, and this is an opportunity for managers to use new forms of communication to share knowledge and drive change. Newly standardized technologies like Building Information Modelling (BIM) have opened the door for clearer communication formats like Augmented Reality (AR) and machine-assisted labor. But for these innovations to impact development, changes to the construction company’s structures, human resource management styles, political systems, and even their use of symbolic elements must take place to promote growth.

Currently, most of the industry’s companies around the world are small to medium size, and they are typically structured with a lot of inexperienced people doing most of the work. Most companies cannot afford to invest in research and development (R&D). In a report by CBInsights, the difference between investment in R&D as a percentage of total construction value was stated as 0.5% for the building industry, as compared to 3.7% for the car industry. But a few companies like Prescient and Katerra have been created to revolutionize the building industry, and to structure their company to enhance efficiency and build at much lower costs. These two companies work directly with owners, which is very different from the normal relationship of a manufacturer. They serve in many roles, including manufacturer, architect, and contractor. Prescient is primarily a software company that has developed a way to build 12 story apartment structures completely out of pre-manufactured steel components, plus some concrete elements for flooring. The software was developed in the Netherlands and uses BIM to do most of the mental work that is traditionally done by laborers in the field, so the buildings get built extremely quickly and are competitive with wood building costs. Katerra covers an even broader spectrum of pre-manufactured components, as their factories can assemble wood and steel structural elements with their own doors and windows to make a wide array of buildings. They have accomplished this by investing heavily in R&D, and have offices worldwide to take advantage of labor advantages in India and manufacturing abilities in China.

Training and development of the construction workforce is a major challenge in implementing new technology. Companies have found that it is cheaper to hire workers with barely any education, and to use them to do repetitive tasks. But with the adoption of new technologies, the existing workforce will need much more skill and knowledge then they currently have. The current method of managing these human resources needs to prepare for these new challenges. Troubleshooting irregularities in a digital database of premanufactured structural components is much different then hammering endless amounts of nails on a roof, and the workforce of the future will need to be empowered to meet the needs of the next generation of builders. Managers around the world need to find ways to develop their people to be able to learn and communicate with new technology.

In most of the developed world, and in developing countries like the UAE, immigrants make up a large part of the construction labor force. Peter Philips, in a lecture for the Center for Construction Research and Training, stated that with free trade comes the flow of immigrants looking for jobs, but often these laborers are taken advantage of due to biases and language barriers. Dallas is one example of this, as most of the labor force has come here from Mexico in search of opportunities. Some laborers have been able to form coalitions and help each other learn about new opportunities, but management needs to continue to operate justly and seek the safety and well-being of its workers. Ideally the adoption of new technology will facilitate these goals; instead of trying to merely describe where a component goes, or point to a set of 2D drawings, a worker can put on an AR hard hat and see where it should fit on the structure. Most workers in America probably own a smartphone, which can do much of the augmented reality work already. In addition, the growing ease of communication between workers enables them to find out which companies treat their workers fairly and which ones continue to abuse those without advocates. These ideas are foundational principles to those who read and live by the Bible, but many Christian business leaders forget that we are supposed to be pilgrims wandering through this land, and that God’s kingdom is our ultimate home.

The typical image of a construction worker that comes to my mind is a man who doesn’t speak the language of the country he’s working in, but moved here to find work and is trying to get through the hard working conditions to support his family. Those in management tend to maintain this image, but promoting education and providing positive examples for these laborers will greatly help. Technology can help bridge the gap, as often the computing power is in the pockets of those doing the work. The tech revolution can not only increase communication between owners, designers, and builders, but become a tool that all parties can use to increase value and success. Like the Apostle Paul says in 1st Corinthians, we are all one body, doing different parts, and each has value. It will require restructuring companies, new ways to manage workers, a better system for keeping workers safe, and a new identity for the construction industry, but these changes are worth it because it will be an investment into our collective future!

Note: This was written on 7/10/2019 as a research paper for MANA-6311

References

Meža, S., Turk, Ž, & Dolenc, M. (2015). Measuring the potential of augmented reality in civil engineering. Advances in Engineering Software, 90, 1-10. doi:10.1016/j.advengsoft.2015.06.005

Philips, P. (n.d.). Immigrants in the Construction Industry [PPT]. Silver Spring: Center for Construction Research and Training.

C. (Ed.). (2018, June 14). The Future Of Housing: From Home Building To City Planning, Tech Giants & Startups Are Reimagining Where & How We Live. Retrieved July 10, 2019, from https://www.cbinsights.com/research/future-of-housing/