Exploring the Influence of Contract Governance on Construction Dispute Negotiation
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 134, Issue 4
Abstract
The obligations and rights of the contracting parties are typically set out in the conditions of contract. The attempt to have a “water-proof” contract that caters to all eventualities has turned contracts into management manuals with detailed contractual procedures to deal with, inter alia, performance, changes, payment, approval, and dispute resolution. Contract disputes, therefore, have to be negotiated within the ambits of the contracts. This study revisits the assumption of free negotiation that underpins most conventional negotiation studies, i.e., negotiation is free with rational negotiators who can walk away from the negotiating table at will. Constraints imposed by a contract are collectively described as contract governance. With taxonomies developed through principal component factor analyses for contract governance (CG) and negotiating behaviors (NH), the influence of CG and NH is explored by a Pearson correlation analysis. In general, it was found that dominating and obliging behaviors are mostly influenced by CG while compromising behavior is the least influenced. It was further found that procedural requirements influence all types of negotiators under the Rahim organizational conflict inventory except integrators. This suggests that if negotiators are having concern for both themselves as well as their counterparts, amicable settlement is possible notwithstanding the complex procedural requirements.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the City University of Hong Kong (Project No. UNSPECIFIED7001597). The writers are thankful for the constructive comments of the reviewers.
References
Allred, K. (2000). “Distinguishing best and strategic practices: A framework for managing dilemma between creating and claiming value.” Negotiation J., 16(4), 387–397.
Blake, R. R., and Mouton, J. S. (1964). The managerial grid, Gulf, Houston.
Blake, R. R., and Mouton, J. S. (1970). “The fifth achievement.” J. Appl. Behav. Sci., 6, 413–436.
Chakrabarty, S., Brown, G., and Gilbert, A. H. J. (2002). “Evaluation of Rahim’s organizational conflict inventory—II. As a measure of conflict handling styles in a sample of Indian salespersons.” Psychol. Rep., 90, 549–567.
Cheeks, J. R. (2003). “Multistep dispute resolution in design and construction industry.” J. Profl. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 129(2), 84–91.
Cheung, S. O., and Yiu, T. W. (2006). “Are construction disputes inevitable?” IEEE Trans. Eng. Manage., 53(3), 456–470.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences, 2nd Ed., Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, N.J.
Elsayed-Ekhouly, S. M., and Buda, R. (1996). “Organizational conflict: A comparative analysis of conflict styles across cultures.” Int. J. Confl. Manage., 7(1), 71–81.
Evans, K. R., and Beltramini, R. F. (1987). “A theoretical model of consumer negotiated pricing: An orientation perspective.” J. Marketing, 51(2), 58–73.
Friedman, R. A., Currall, S. C., and Tsai, J. C. (2000). “What goes around comes around: The impact of personal conflict style on work conflict and stress.” Int. J. Confl. Manage., 11(1), 32–55.
Gross, M. A., and Guerrero, L. K. (2000). “Managing conflict appropriately and effectively: An application of the competence model to Rahim’s organizational conflict styles.” Int. J. Confl. Manage., 11(3), 200–226.
Hair, A., Tatham, R. L., and Black, W. C. (1995). Multivariate data analysis, 5th Ed., Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Hammock, G. S., Richardson, D. R., Pilkington, C. J., and Utley, M. (1990). “Measurement of conflict in social relationships.” Pers. Individ. Differ., 11(6), 577–583.
Holt, G. D. (1997). “Construction research questionnaire and attitude measurement: Relative index or mean.” J. Constr. Procure., 3(2), 88–94.
Huntsberger, D. V., and Billingsley, P. (1987). Elements of statistical influence, 6th Ed., Allyn and Bacon, Boston
Kilmann, R. H., and Thomas, K. W. (1977). “Developing a forced-choice measure of conflict-handling behavior: The ‘mode’ instrument.” Educ. Psychol. Meas., 37, 309–325.
Loosemore, M. (1999). “Bargaining tactics in construction disputes.” Constr. Manage. Econom., 17, 177–188.
Lytle, A., Brett, J., and Shapiro, D. (1999). “The strategic use of interests, rights, and power to resolve disputes.” Negotiation J., 15(1), 31–51.
Mintu-Wimsatt, A., and Calantone, R. J. (1996). “Exploring factors that affect negotiators' problem-solving orientation.” J. Bus. Ind. Mark., 11(6), 61–73.
Rahim, M. A. (1983). Rahim organizational conflict inventory—II, Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, Calif.
Rahim, M. A. (2002). “Toward a theory of managing organizational conflict.” Int. J. Confl. Manage., 13(3), 206–235.
Rahim, M. A., and Bonoma, T. V. (1979). “Managing organizational conflict: A model for diagnosis and intervention.” Psychol. Rep., 44, 1323–1344.
Rawling, B. E. (2001). “Conditions precedent.” HKIS newsletter, 10(6), ⟨http://www.hkis.org.hk/hkis/html_qsd/upload/PubConlaw/conlaw41_0.pdf⟩.
Ren, Z., Anumba, C. J., and Ugwu, O. O. (2002). “Negotiation in a multi-agent system for construction claims negotiation.” Artif. Intell., 16, 359–394.
Rosch, E. (1988). “Principles of categorization.” Readings in cognitive science: A perspective from psychology and artificial intelligence, A. Collins and E. Smiths, eds., Morgan Kaufmann, San Mateo, Calif.
Shell, G. R. (2001). “Bargaining styles and negotiation: The Thomas-Kilmann conflict mode instrument in negotiation training.” Negotiation J., 17(2), 155–174.
Thamhain, H. J., and Wilemon, D. L. (1975). “Conflict management in project life cycles.” Sloan Manage. Rev., 17(3), 31–50.
Thamhain, H. J., and Wilemon, D. L. (1987). “Building high performing engineering project teams.” IEEE Trans. Eng. Manage., EM-34, 130–137.
Womack, D. F. (1988). “A review of conflict instruments in organizational settings.” Management Commun. Quarterly, 1(3), 437–445.
Zack, J. G. (1994). “The negotiation of settlements—A team sport.” Cost Eng., 36(8), 24–30.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 134 • Issue 4 • October 2008
Pages: 391 - 398
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 15, 2007
Accepted: Oct 18, 2007
Published online: Oct 1, 2008
Published in print: Oct 2008
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.