Journal Article

·2025 OPEN ACCESS

Life Cycle Risk Management for Improving Labor Productivity in Construction Projects in Türkiye

Idil Calik YTU , Kerim Koç YTU , Onur Şahin YTU

Buildings

Abstract

The construction industry, being labor-intensive, prioritizes productivity to boost project performance, yet struggles to achieve expected levels despite increased focus by scholars and practitioners. This lagging causes significant losses in time, cost, and quality performance of construction projects but also broader implications for resource efficiency and environmental impacts. As a remedy to the multifaceted issue, this study aims to identify and evaluate life cycle risks of productivity management in construction projects in Türkiye. A comprehensive literature review identified risk factors affecting labor productivity, followed by a discussion session to finalize the decision framework, including life cycle phases of productivity management and risk factors in each phase. Then, the fuzzy analytical hierarchy (AHP) process revealed the most critical risk factors in each phase, followed by semi-structured interviews to reveal measures for addressing the most significant risks. The findings show that productivity management in construction projects contains nine phases. In addition, the most important factors were chiefly related to collaboration, information sharing, lack of supervision, work interruptions, and changes. Findings from semi-structured interviews emphasize regular employee training and open communication to enhance project outcomes, optimize workflows, and promote sustainability. The study’s key contribution is introducing a life cycle approach to construction productivity management, a previously unexplored perspective. This provides an effective framework that can be implemented in construction projects to manage and improve labor productivity as a whole-life cycle approach.

Keywords

Productivity Engineering Business Operations management Economics Economic growth

Subject Areas

Construction Project Management and Performance ·Management Science and Operations Research ·Social Sciences
Occupational Health and Safety Research ·Radiological and Ultrasound Technology ·Health Sciences
BIM and Construction Integration ·Building and Construction ·Physical Sciences

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