Construction is the oldest and one of the largest industry in the world with its market size of about ten trillion US dollars. The capital investment in construction represents about 40% to 60% of gross plan outlay and between 4% to 12% of Gross National Product (GNP). In India, it employed about 3.5 million workers directly on construction in 1981, about 8 million in 199 1 and about 15 million by 2001. In terms of total worker man-hours, it accounts for nearly 27% as against 29% of all other manufacturing and production
industries. Further, these figures will greatly increase if allied industries of construction sector are also taken into account.
On export front, construction has been a major source of hard currency generation, only over-shadowed by software industry only recently. Its share in world construction market was about 2% in 1981 which unfortunately is reduced to less than 1 % now. It is estimated that if India is able to increase its share to about 5% of world construction market, the entire foreign debt accumulated till today can be wiped out. A target of 5% is a fairly obtainable and achievable target with better organisation, management and national will. South Korea starting from practically scratch is able to capture more than 10% share in less than a decade and a half. India with much larger human, material and technological resource base, can definitely make its presence felt at international level with'sincere and dedicated efforts of all of us who are involved in the construction, e.g. policy makers, government bureaucrats, entrepreneurs, construction managers, trainers, and teachers and researchers in universities.
Construction has been basically a labor intensive industry in India, while in international market, it has now" become a high tech, mechanized and complex industry. If we want to become competitive in the world market, a radical change is required in the basic thinking process and attitudes at all the involved levels.
Twenty first century will be the century of liberal economy and global marketing. The quest of better quality#of life for its every citizen will necessitate a quantum technological push. The local constru ion industry is poised to face vary stiff competitive challenges from current market Lea ers and multinational concerns. It has to strive for better quality, higher productivity, maximum efficiency and competitiveness not only to progress and expand but even to maintain its present state and survive. The key words for progress and even for existence will be "QUALITY" and "EXCELLENCE". With knowledge explosion, the technology is changing at a phenomenal rate and new technologies are emerging at even faster rates with greatly reducing productive life spans. The technologies and skills of human resources are becoming obsolete rapidly. It is now essential that even the professionals in the field must continuously upgrade and update their knowledge base and managerial skills. The focus on twenty first century will be on learning organisations.
Construction projects require huge investment of resources. The productive and effective management require a very innovative, creative and efficient organisational structure to manage the financial, technological and human resources within the constraints of time, cost, quality and availability. The construction industry have certain specific characteristics, vastly different from other industries. These must be studied and analysed before any attempt is made to develop the organisational model for it.
In this unit, a broad overview of construction industry has been presented along with its characteristics and other functional aspects.
Objectives
After studying this unit, you should be able to
- describe the salient characteristics of construction industry with its size and importance,
- appreciate complexities and uniqueness of construction industry as compared to other industries,
- explain the mobility of facilities and implicit of different agencies at construction project site,
- understand the requirements of organisation structuring and finances, and
- familiarize yourself with the availability of labor, its seasonality and safety hazards of construction industry.
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