Sorting out the essence of owner–contractor collaboration in capital project delivery (original) (raw)
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Recent research has identified a number of critical success factors to owner-contractor collaborative working relationships in delivering successful capital projects. This stream of research provides important insights to practitioners, however, we still lack of mid-range theory explaining how different success factors inter-relate to each other and in turn affect project performance. This study seeks to conceptualize and empirically test a model of owner-contractor working relationship in capital projects. Specifically, it aims to examine teamworking quality as a mechanism that mediates the effects of relational attitudes, collaborative practices, and project capability on project performance. Empirical data was obtained from 113 project managers and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results support that teamworking quality mediates the positive effects of relational attitudes, collaborative practices, and joint owner-contractor capab...
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A great deal of literature has pointed to the importance of trust as a facilitator of positive relationships among project stakeholders. Trust is argued to enhance a variety of intra-organizational relationships, including project team dynamics, top management support, and coordination across functional departments. Likewise, trust is argued to improve the inter-organizational relationships among principal actors in project development, such as contractors, owners, and suppliers. This paper reports on the results of an empirical study that investigated the impact of trust between project owners and contractors in a number of large construction projects in Canada. We operationalized trust along the Hartman [Hartman FT. The role of trust in project management. In: Slevin DP, Cleland DI, Pinto JK, editors. The frontiers of project management research. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute; 2002, p. 225-35] dimensions as incorporating both competence and integrity and compared the perspectives of project contractors and owners. Using regression and path analysis, we analyzed the differential effects of competence and integrity trust on enhanced owner/contractor relationships and project success. Our findings indicate that trust has different meanings for contractors and owners, as its impact on satisfaction with the relationship and positive project outcomes varies depending upon which group is surveyed.
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This research examines the relationships between the tripartite of Client, Consultant Engineer, and the Contractor during construction project implementation. It examines contract behaviour and how collaborative practices build inter-organisation Trust in construction contracts. Five projects were selected for the study. Three were trust-based Public Private Partnership contracts, while two were Traditional standard contracts. The initial research question was: How do inter-organisational Trust relationships affect construction project management with respect to Cost, Time and Quality? This qualitative research identified the threefold nature of Trust as Contractual Trust, Competence Trust, and Goodwill Trust. By analysing and clustering of respondent themes, two overarching concept themes emerged on how to build Trust between the Client, the Consultant, and the Contractor. The first theme was on financial matters, which included Working Capital Advance payment and Materials pre-purchase schemes. Addressing this theme created inter-party collaboration and Trust which positively affected project Cost, Program and Quality. The second theme was on creation of tripartite Trust by aligning Contractor and Consultant skills, capacity, and experience.
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The construction industry in Hong Kong has adopted relational contracting (RC) as a way forward to address frequent conflicts in construction projects and to promote sustainable development. Despite this effort, adversarial behavior of project team members is still prevalent, stemming from conflicting agendas, which hinders the successful implementation of RC. There is a need to improve collaborative attitudes and behavior among project team members in RC projects, but there is still a lack of understanding of factors that can promote this inter-organizational collaboration. Therefore, using the theory of planned behavior, this research investigates factors that form relational attitudes, collaborative intentions, and collaborative behavior, and their relationships in RC projects in Hong Kong. Quantitative data were collected from experienced practitioners in RC projects and were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results reveal that senior management commitment and relational norms are needed to nurture relational attitudes, which in turn influence the development of collaborative intentions. These intentions can eventually promote collaborative behavior, which is expressed by teamwork, affective trust, and extra-role behavior (striving beyond roles to maintain collaboration). The findings advance knowledge and contribute to practice by providing a structured process to nurture collaboration in RC projects for sustainable development.
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Project Partnering in the Construction Industry: Theory vs. Practice
Clarification of what partnering is and its practical implications may help the construction industry to achieve the full benefits of this concept. The purpose of this study is to shed more light on how the partnering concept as practiced in real-life projects compares with the way partnering is described in the literature by exploring the hard (formal/contractual) elements of this concept. By this, we aim to identify discrepancies between theory and practice and help clear up the confusion that results from conflicting definitions of partnering. This investigation is based on a literature study and 39 interviews with respondents from 44 construction projects classified as partnering projects. Findings reveal that the discrepancies between theory and practice are remarkable: either the practitioners have misunderstood what partnering entails or the minimum requirements are too stringent and do not reflect the real-life use of the concept. Observation from case projects shows that no partnering hard element is applied in all studied projects. Partnering projects may share the partnering label, but use different sets of hard elements. Partnering can be identified as being present through a range of features, characteristics and interaction behaviors. This concept should be studied as an enacting strategy that can be adopted by various contract models rather than simply as an alternative contract form.
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Subjective performance measurements have been developed on construction projects of various key stakeholders such as contractors, designers and consultants. These approaches are usually related to owner satisfaction, customer satisfaction, occupant satisfaction but very rarely consider contractor satisfaction. The performance of the contractor and owner are interdependent, and their interactions fundamentally determine the overall project performance. This research aims to analyze the level of contractor satisfaction with the team owner’s performance which in the end to improve the improvement (Continuous Improvement) where there are indicators of team’ owner performance that needs attention to be improved and improved and those that need to be maintained. Owner performance indicators include the owner’s understanding of project needs, finances, decision-making, management, adequate support for contractors, client attitudes, clarity of client/owner commitment goals, and the working ...
Engineering Project Organization Journal, 2012
Large, global, cross-sectoral, multi-phased civil infrastructure projects tend to be one-off projects for which transactions have no strong 'shadow of the future', but where elements of relational contracting are still ubiquitous. Such projects evolve through discrete phases-financial and technical feasibility, conceptual design, detailed design, construction, operations and renovation/replacement-each phase of which can be viewed as a discrete transaction during which key participants and stakeholders rotate in and out of the project. This discontinuity of participation across phases in the project's lifecycle creates a heretofore neglected contractual hazard of 'displaced agency'. Similar governance challenges arising from displaced agency are found in longlived aerospace and defence programmes, large-scale software initiatives and other sectors. We review, integrate, extend and apply economic, legal, sociological and psychological governance perspectives on relational contracts to address the extreme governance challenges of civil infrastructure projects. The transaction cost economics literature has pointed out that such projects require relational governance, but has not spelled out strategies to attain and sustain such structures. We set out a framework based on institutional concepts that integrates a range of strategies designed to enhance the efficacy of relational contracts, drawing not only on 'regulative' institutional supports (e.g. laws, regulations, contracts and their enforcement through mediation, arbitration or litigation), but also institutional supports that are 'normative' (e.g. socially shared expectations of appropriate behaviour and social exchange processes) and 'cognitive' (e.g. creating shared identities, scripts or conceptual frameworks to bridge differences in values or interests). We present a set of propositions as a first cut at a contingent, integrated framework to guide future research on governance of engineering projects, and ultimately to help managers select and deploy the appropriate mix of regulative, normative and cognitive governance mechanisms for each project.
Effect of Relationship Management on Construction Project Success Delivery
Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 2023
The dynamic, challenging, and complex nature of the construction projects environment often cause adversarial culture, disputed claims, and deteriorating relationships between project participants. This paper aims to study the correlation between Relationship Management (RM) and construction project success and to develop a framework that includes practical actions, tools, and strategies for managing relationships in construction projects. Literature review and interviews were used to explore and validate the RM's relevant associated traits. Subsequently, a piloted questionnaire was used to collect the data from 264 construction experts and assess the effect of RM on the overall project success. The data were analyzed using Partial-Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), where the structural and measurement models of the higher and lower order constructed were assessed. The study findings categorized the RM-associated traits into three main pillars: Contractual Measures, Team Interactions, and Top Management Actions. The findings also confirmed that RM has a significant positive effect on the overall success of construction projects. In addition, this paper proposed an integrated framework for managing relationships in construction projects, allowing construction firms to monitor the relationships in their projects and identify key areas for strengthening the relationships throughout their projects to foster their projects' success rates.