The development of a partnering assessment tool for projects

Many firms in the construction industry claim to be working in a ‘partnering’ or even in an ‘integrated’ way. It is, however, very difficult to verify these claims with the tools currently available. The purpose of this study was to collect and refine existing work on integrative and collaborative working, so as to develop a quick and simple tool that measures the degree of integration with which firms are working. First, the concepts of ‘Partnering’ and ‘Integrated Working’ are discussed and, for the purposes of the work a major supposition is adopted: that the difference between these concepts is that companies that are partnering only share project-related information, while companies working in an integrated way share much more of their available information, knowledge and experience. Secondly, the development of the Partnering Assessment Tool is explained and its application to four cases is recounted. The companies’ overall scores are presented and discussed as to whether these scores might reflect their actual levels of integration and cooperative working. These scores are presented on a scale that contains the categories ‘Cooperative Working’, ‘Partnering’ and ‘Integrated Working’. It is concluded that the application of the tool can provide a useful insight in the nature of the relationships between companies that work together in construction projects. Finally, it is recommended that the tool be tested in more cases and companies, and in a variety of different contractual contexts

Adoption of alternative transport technologies in the construction industry

This research examines how the construction industry adopts alternative transport technologies. This paper presents the general characteristics of the adopter and what his perceptions are towards innovative transport technologies. The study focused on four rates of innovation, related tot alternative transport technologies. The results show that 83% of the respondents choose innovation over no innovation; more than half of the respondents choose an innovation that can be characterized as “architectural”. Further, the perceived benefits of the innovation characteristics for an incremental innovation are higher then the perceived benefits for an architectural or radical innovation. Finally, from the ventures that chose to innovate, smaller companies prefer an architectural - more challenging - innovation rather then an incremental innovation

Advantages and disadvantages of BIM use:Differences between experiences of its users and expectations of its non-users

This large-scale study focuses on experienced and expected advantages and disadvantages of building information modelling (BIM) use in the Dutch construction industry, and its subsectors. In total 725 respondents participated in this interview-based study, 235 of them actually used BIM (the BIM users) and 342 knew about BIM but did not use it (the BIM non-users). The remaining 148 did not know about BIM and therefore were not able to answer the questions related to BIM and BIM-use. BIM-users were asked about experienced advantages and disadvantages, while BIM non-users were asked about expected advantages and disadvantages of BIM. Advantages and disadvantages mentioned are related to the influential unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) on the adoption and use of information and communication technology (ICT). The largest differences between expected and experienced advantages were found with the architects and contractors, while the largest differences between expected and experienced disadvantages were found with the mechanical engineers and suppliers

Supplier-contractor collaboration in the construction industry:A taxonomic approach to the literature of the 2000-2009 decade

Purpose – Recent developments in the construction industry resulted in an increased importance of collaboration with and managing of suppliers by prime contractors. The focus of this study is on getting insights into existing knowledge on this topic and the gaps in this knowledge base. The goals of this study are threefold: to verify the current state of, to gain insights into, and to provide suggestions for supplier-contractor research. Design/methodology/approach – The current state of supplier-contractor research in the construction industry is verified through a taxonomic approach to the literature on buyer-supplier research over the last decade (2000-2009). The method followed consists of the following three steps: journal selection, initial article selection and final article selection. Findings – Supplier-contractor research in the construction industry is still a relatively under-researched phenomenon. The major topics discussed in the identified articles are aspects of partnering (conditions, characteristics and barriers/obstacles) and (sub)contracting/procurement issues (practices, selection criteria, performance and characteristics). Research limitations/implications – This study concludes that future research should focus on longitudinal studies, testing organisational barriers to partnering, the benefits of partnering in practice, conditions under which the formation of collaborative relationships between suppliers and contractors takes place, and experiences with this formation process. Practical implications – In practice, contractors do see a need to develop closer and more collaborative relationships with their suppliers. This study highlights the topics that need to be addressed to achieve these goals. Originality/value – This study is a literature overview of relatively scarce research on collaborative relationships between suppliers and contractors in the construction industry

Formal and informal contracting processes in the competitive dialogue procedure:A multiple case-study

The competitive dialogue (CD) procedure aims to align the complex demands of principals with possible solutions that contractors have to offer. It is, however, unclear how formal and informal structures and processes in the CD are interrelated and how they determine its effectiveness. The major question in this study is how informal and formal contracting processes differ between projects procured through the CD and comparable projects that are traditionally procured. In a theoretical framework, it is shown that both the negotiations and the commitment stages consist of a formal part (formal bargaining/formal legal contract) and an informal part (informal sense-making/informal psychological contract), and that these dynamically interact as problems of understanding are identified and resolved. These elements and their interactions are studied in four comparable construction projects. The results of this multiple-case study show that commitments and negotiations can substitute for one another, whereas the formal and informal processes within these stages are complementary. Problems of understanding are key in the development of both formal and informal contract