Corruption in Public projects and Megaprojects: There is an elephant in the room!

Despite the relevance of corruption in project selection, planning and delivery, the project management literature pays little attention to this crucial phenomenon. This paper sets the background to foster the discussion concerning how to select, plan and deliver infrastructure in corrupt project contexts. It presents the different types of corruptions and the characteristics of projects that are more likely to suffer from it. Corruption is particularly relevant for large and uncommon projects where the public sector acts as client/owner or even as the main contractor. Megaprojects are “large unique projects” where public actors play a key role and are very likely to be affected by corruption. Corruption worsens both cost and time performance, and the benefits delivered. This paper leverages the institutional theory to introduce the concept of “corrupt project context” and, using the case study of the Italian high-speed railways, shows the impact of a corrupt context on megaprojects

Construction Management Students' Perceptions of Ethics in Tendering

This paper presents the results of an empirical investigation into the attitudes of final year construction management students to moral issues in tendering. A survey elicited the students’ attitudes towards participating in various forms of collusive tendering and cartel arrangements. Their responses are summarised and presented alongside the decision making factors that influence their choices. The results indicate a tendency towards, or, at best, a high tolerance of morally deviant behaviour. The paper concludes that the students’ understanding of, and respect for, the law, the professional codes of practice and their aims appear to be insufficient

A Classification of Factors Influencing Participation in Collusive Tendering Agreements

The morality of marketing practices in the construction industry is an issue of economic and social significance which attracts public and legislative concern. Criticisms, as well as negative publicity, are mostly concentrated around collusive tendering: illegal agreements between tenderers that result in seemingly, but not really, competitive bids, price fixing or market distribution schemes that circumvent the spirit of free competition and defraud clients. Even though collusive tendering has been identified as an endemic malaise of building, its behavioural and moral dimensions have not been systematically studied before. These are the focus of this paper which presents a literature review that was carried out in order to identify the variables influencing behavioural intent towards collusive tendering agreements and means of reaching them. The paper describes part of an exploratory empirical investigation involving a random sample of estimators in the largest construction organisations in Australia. First, the respondents’ perceived impact of the list of variables on their expressed behavioural intent are presented. Then, their preferred ethical frameworks are presented and discussed. Finally factor analysis is used to classify the decision making variables. The results indicate a strong teleological orientation of the respondents

Ethics in Tendering: A Survey of Australian Opinion and Practice

This research was aimed at examining the role of ethics in tendering. To do this is was first necessary to define what is meant by ethics and in the context of tendering and how this relates to the various codes of tendering practice. The next step was to conduct a questionnaire survey to ascertain the extent to which ethical behaviour in tendering is supported and practised in Australia. This showed that most companies support the use codes of tendering, defend the right of withdrawal of tenders, disapprove of bid shopping, cover pricing and union involvement in the tendering process, support the principals' right to know what is included in a tender and the self-regulation of the tendering codes. In addition, most companies have developed, and follow, idiosyncratic ethical guidelines that are independent of, and often contrary to, the nationally prescribed codes. The major conclusion is that a more empirical approach to the development of future ethical prescriptions in the field is needed

Tendering ethics : a study of collusive tendering from a marketing perspective

This thesis provides a behavioural perspective to the problem of collusive tendering in the construction market by examining the decision making factors of individuals potentially involved in such agreements using marketing ethics theory and techniques. The findings of a cross disciplinary literature review were synthesised into a model of factors theoretically expected to determine the individual's behavioural intent towards a set of collusive tendering agreements and the means of reaching them. The factors were grouped as internal cognitive (the individuals' value systems) and affective (demographic and psychographic characteristics) as well as external environmental (legal, industrial and organisational codes and norms) and situational (company, market and economic conditions). The model was tested using empirical data collected through a questionnaire survey of estimators employed in the largest Australian construction firms. All forms of explicit collusive tendering agreements were considered as having a prohibitive moral content by the majority of respondents who also clearly differentiated between agreements and discussions of contract terms (which they found to be a moral concern but not prohibitive) or of prices. The comparisons between those of the respondents that would never participate in a collusive agreement and the potential offenders clearly showed two distinctly different groups. The law abiding estimators are less reliant on situational factors, happier and more comfortable in their work environments and they live according to personal value and belief systems. The potential offenders on the other hand are mistrustful of colleagues, feel their values are not respected, put company priorities above principles and none of them is religious or a member of a professional body. The research results indicate that Australian estimators are, overall law abiding and principled and accept the existing codification of collusion as morally defensible and binding. Professional bodies' and organisational codes of conduct as well as personal value and belief systems that guide one's own conduct appear to be deterrents to collusive tendering intent and so are moral comfort and work satisfaction. These observations are potential indicators of areas where intervention and behaviour modification can increase individuals' resistance to collusion

Research and development in the Japanese construction industry

Griffith Business School, Dept of Employment Relations and Human ResourcesNo Full Tex