https://doi.org/10.24928/2023/0208

Investigating Emergence of ‘New Tasks’ in Last Planner® System: Social Network Perspective of Planning Behaviours

Anukriti Gupta¹ & Ganesh Devkar²

Abstract

The Last Planner System (LPS) is a collaborative planning process aimed at ensuring the efficient and timely completion of construction tasks and fostering trust among project participants. Despite its widespread adoption, it has been observed that ‘New Tasks’ that deviate from the original plan often arise in construction projects. This paper investigates the planning behaviours behind the emergence of these New Tasks by examining the social interaction patterns within a construction project. Three different construction projects with varying degrees of LPS implementation were studied to identify the New Tasks that emerge during the execution process. To understand the planning behaviours related to the New Tasks, the interaction patterns of the individuals involved in the look-ahead planning and the weekly commitment planning were mapped using Social Network Analysis. The findings suggest that a tightly bound network exhibits more cohesiveness and can be associated with effective communication and streamlined information flow which leads to fewer New Tasks. While insufficient coordination and ineffective collaboration can be correlated to emergence of higher number of New Tasks. Look-ahead planning is key in this regard as it incorporates collaboration between all stakeholders into the pull-planning of the tasks.

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Gupta, A. & Devkar, G. 2023. Investigating Emergence of ‘New Tasks’ in Last Planner® System: Social Network Perspective of Planning Behaviours, Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC31) , 1314-1325. doi.org/10.24928/2023/0208

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