Few would dispute that the construction business is more connected than ever before. Modern mobile devices offer the opportunity to capture an incredible amount and variety of information. Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, recently made the claim that globally we now generate more data in a two-day period than we did from the dawn of civilization until 2003. He attributed much of this data influx to content generated by mobile users. Even with work performed in remote locations and across great distances, mobile devices now allow contractors to track field operations and measure metrics on an increasingly detailed and real-time basis.
Many would argue, however, that mobile technology has not yet reached its full potential. In the half century since Peter Drucker coined the truism “you can’t manage what you can’t measure,” the ability to measure has made tremendous progress, but effective management requires that companies utilize this influx of data to derive and implement lessons that make their businesses better. The ability of a construction company to learn and adapt is especially vital in the field among the employees performing or directly overseeing most of the work.
Those who have attempted to make lasting and positive changes to employee behavior know this objective is difficult to achieve. Companies must overcome the inherent challenges of time and distance so they can better observe worker activity and influence how those activities are carried out. No tool is better for reaching these goals than the one that can be found in nearly every worker’s pocket and can be used to not only generate but also consume information.
Exploring how workers interact with mobile technology offers insights into how these tools can help modify worker behavior. Computing has historically been intrusive in day-to-day routines, particularly among workers engaged in hands-on trades. Mobile computing is the first step toward a far less intrusive model, one that makes computing both more accessible and more easily integrated into rugged environments or routines. The ubiquitous presence of mobile technology alone has already proven to be a powerful influence on habits. Having witnessed this change, companies are now focused on the opportunity to consciously choose which habits are reinforced by their mobile strategy and which should be discouraged.
For any company intent on using mobile applications to shape worker habits, an effective mobile strategy should incorporate three basic human response mechanisms: sensitivity to peer pressure, the inclination toward the path of least resistance and the innate pride in performing work. Managers should be familiar with the psychology of each response, so they can observe the effects on their jobsites.
Competition
Few human instincts are more fundamental to productivity than competition. Workers—even those who seem indifferent to management preferences—are acutely aware of how their peers perceive them. Mobile applications allow metrics to be “socialized” insomuch as performance of each individual or team can be made visible to the entire organization. A foreman or superintendent who knows his productivity will be compared to others’ will be more likely to account for every minute his team uses and to track progress throughout the day. To prevent the friendly competition from unduly increasing risks, companies should require workers to complete safety checklists on their phone or tablet prior to the daily report out.
The Path of Least Resistance
Workers perform an unconscious prioritization of tasks based on how easy or difficult tasks are to accomplish. The easier it is to accomplish a task, the more likely workers are to finish it early and the less vulnerable they are to procrastination. The reverse principle is also useful. By making one task or outcome contingent on another, companies can force employees to accomplish prerequisite tasks first. Requiring detailed job-costing information to be added before the foreman can see productivity output motivates the employee to complete the task every day.
Pride
Pride in a job well done provides many employees with the intrinsic motivation to perform. Workers often measure and evaluate their own productivity even more than their managers do and at a far more nuanced level. Providing workers with the tools to track and analyze their own performance at a granular level is one of the most straightforward ways to stimulate conscientious productivity improvement.
Automation
Mobile applications can be used to exert peer pressure, enable the drive for efficiency and provide intrinsic rewards across a range of processes. Managing change requests and defects, completing checklists, noting site visitors and completing daily logs are just a few examples. Some bad habits, however, can be broken without modifying worker behavior directly, but rather by bypassing the behavior entirely.
The increasingly connected nature of common tools, part of the so-called “Internet-of-things,” enables companies to entirely automate the routines that make up a process. Some construction companies have used this approach to prevent project managers from cost shifting heavy equipment between jobs. Taking advantage of the fact that most original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) now offer on-board telematics that wirelessly track location and motor metrics, businesses can use rules to extrapolate costing transactions from the resulting data. An example of such a rule is as follows: If a machine ran for more than 30 minutes during the day and its location matches a job location, charge it to that job even if it is flagged as available. By removing discretion and subjectivity from the process, a company can get a much clearer picture of activities on the jobsite.
During the next decade, the continued evolution of mobile technology will offer companies even more opportunities. Computing will become less intrusive and more available within broader activity contexts. Wearable technologies like Google Glass and the Pebble smartwatch are pioneering “hands-free” mobile technology, revolutionizing the way users consume, create and share information.
In the coming decade, more information will be generated not through deliberate workflows, but simply as a byproduct of day-to-day activities. As this begins to take shape, the most innovative companies will use the resulting insights of this information to drive more productive and safer work habits in the field.
