Catastrophic Transitions of Construction Contracting Behavior
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 134, Issue 12
Abstract
The ways to manage a construction project very much depend on the attitude of the people involved. Collectively this is identified as construction contracting behavior (CCB). The CCB of the construction industry is adversarial as pinpointed in many industry-wide reviews. A more cooperative project delivery approach has therefore been advocated. In fact, drive for efficiency provides the incentive for cooperation. Nevertheless, members of a project team, in representing their respective organizations, are often in conflict. The dichotomous pair of cooperation and aggression forces therefore coexist. It is not uncommon to note that CCB turns aggressive as the construction activities of a project intensify. This change is often sudden and thus matches well with the phenomenon of hysteresis described by the catastrophe theory (CT). It is hypothesized that the dynamics of CCB can be modeled by CT. The three-variable CT models include CCB (as dependent variable), cooperation forces (as normal factor) and aggression forces (as splitting factor). With data collected from a survey fitted by the Cuspfit program, it was found that trust intensity is an effective normal factor. Contract incompleteness and competitive inertia are splitting factors that trigger aggression.
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 Research Grant Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. CityU 111905).
References
Axelrod, R. (1984). The Evolution of Cooperation, Basic Books, New York.
Bacck, D., and Cullen, J. B. (1992). “A catastrophe theory model of technological and structural change.” J. High Tech. Manage. Res., 3(1), 125–145.
Bayliss, R. (2002). “Project partnering—A case study on MTRC’s Tseung Kwan, O. Extension.” Hong Kong Inst. Eng. Trans., 9(1), 1–6.
Bayliss, R., Cheung, S. O., Suen, C. H., and Wong, S. P. (2004). “Effective partnering tools in construction: A case study on MTRC TKE Contract 604 in Hong Kong.” Int. J. Proj. Manage., 22(3), 253–263.
Black, C., Akintoye, A., and Fitegerald, E. (2000). “An analysis of success factors and benefits of partnering in construction.” Int. J. Proj. Manage., 18(6), 423–434.
Bhattacharya, R., Devinney, T. M., and Pillutla, M. M. (1998). “A formal model of trust based on outcomes.” Academy of Management Review, 23(3), 459–472.
Buckley, P., and Casson, M. (1988). Cooperative strategies in international business, F. J. Contractor and P. Lorange eds., Lexington Books, Lexington, Mass., 31–34.
Cheung, S. O. (1993). “A study of the application of ADR in the construction industry in Hong Kong.” Research Rep., Dept. of Building and Construction, City Polytechnic of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Cheung, S. O. (2001). “Relationalism: Construction contracting under the PRC Contract Law.” Cost Eng., 43(11), 38–44.
Cheung, S. O. (2002). “Mapping dispute resolution mechanism with contract types.” Cost Eng., 44(8), 21–29.
Cheung, S. O. (2007). Trust in co-operative contracting in construction, City University of Hong Kong Press, Hong Kong.
Cheung, S. O., Ng, S. T., Wong, S. P., and Suen, C. H. (2003a). “Behavioral aspects of construction partnering.” Int. J. Proj. Manage., 21(5), 333–343.
Cheung, S. O., and Suen, C. H. (2002). “A multi-attribute utility model for dispute resolution strategy selection.” Constr. Manage. Econom., 20(8), 557–568.
Cheung, S. O., Suen, C. H., and Bayliss, R. (2002). “The partnering experience of MTRC Tseung Kwan O Contract 604.” Int. Constr. Law Rev., 19(4), 510–520.
Cheung, S. O., Suen, C. H., and Cheung, K. W. (2003b). “An automated partnering monitoring system—Partnering temperature index.” Autom. Constr., 12(3), 331–345.
Cheung, S. O., Suen, C. H., and Cheung, K. W. (2004). “PPMS: A web-based construction project performance monitoring system.” Autom. Constr., 13(3), 361–376.
Chua, D. K. H., Kog, Y. C., and Loh, P. K. (1999). “Critical success factors for different project objectives.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 125(3), 142–150.
Cobb, L. (1978). “Stochastic catastrophe models and multimodal distributions.” Behav. Sci., 23(2), 360–74.
Cobb, L. (1980). “Estimation theory parameter estimation for the cusp catastrophe model.” Proc., Section on Survey Research Methods, American Statistical Association, Washington, D.C., 772–776.
Cobb, L. (1981). “Parameter estimation for the cusp catastrophe model.” Behav. Sci., 26(1), 75–78.
Cobb, L., Koppstein, P., and Chen, N. H. (1983). “Estimation and moment recursion relations for multimodal distributions of the exponential family.” J. Am. Stat. Assoc., 78(381), 124–130.
Cobb, L., and Watson, B. (1980). “Statistical catastrophe theory: An overview.” Math. Modell., 1(1), 311–317.
Colledge, B. (2000). “Obligations of good faith in partnering of U.K.: Construction contracts.” Int. Constr. Law Rev., 17(1), 174–201.
Construction Industry Review Committee (CIRC). (2001). “Tang’s report on the Hong Kong construction industry reform.” HKSAR.
Crane, T. G., Felder, J. P., Thompson, P. J., Thompson, M. G., and Sanders, S. R. (1999). “Partnering parameters.” J. Manage. Eng., 15(2), 37–42.
Das, T. K., and Teng, B. S. (2004) “The risk-based view of trust: A conceptual framework.” J. Bus. Psychol., 19(1), 85–116.
Doz, Y. L. (1996). “The evolution of cooperation in strategic alliances: Initial conditions or learning processes?” Strategic Manage. J., 17(96), 55–83.
Egan, J. (1998). Rethinking construction, Dept. of the Environment, Transport and the Region, HMSO, London.
Fenn, P., Lowe, D., and Speck, C. (1997). “Conflict and dispute in construction.” Constr. Manage. Econom., 15(6), 513–518.
Goldberg, V. P. (1992). “The past is the past—Or is it? The use of retrospective accounts as indicators of past strategy.” Acad. Manage J., 35, 848–860.
Gresov, C., Haveman, H., and Oliva, T. (1993). “Organizational design inertia and the dynamics of competitive response.” Org. Sci., 4(2), 181–208.
Guastello, S. J. (1987). “A butterfly catastrophe model of motivation in organizations: Academic performance.” J. Appl. Psychol., 72(1), 165–182.
Harmon, K. M. (2003). “Conflicts between owner and contractors: Proposed intervention process.” J. Manage. Eng., 19(3), 121–125.
Hartelman, P. A. I. (1997). Stochastic catastrophe theory, Faculteit der Psychologies, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Hartman, F. T. (1993). “Construction dispute resolution through an improved contracting process in the Canadian context.” Ph.D. thesis, Loughborough Univ. of Technology, Loughborough, U.K.
Herbig, P. A. (1991). “A cusp catastrophe model of the adoption of an industrial innovation.” J. Prod Innovation Manage., 8(2), 127–137.
Hill, C. A. (2001). “A comment on language and norms in complex business contracting.” Chicago-Kent Law Rev., 77(29), 29–57.
Holyst, J. A., Kacperski, K., and Schweitzer, F. (2000). “Phase transitions in social impact models of opinion formation.” Physica A, 285, (1–2), 199–210.
Latham, M. (1994). “Constructing the team.” Final Rep. by Sir Michael Latham, Joint Review of Procurement and Contractual Arrangements in the United Kingdom Construction Industry, HMSO, London.
Liu, M. M., and Fellows, R. (2001). “An eastern perspective on partnering.” Eng., Constr., Archit. Manage., 8(1), 9–19.
Luo, Y. (2002). “Contract, cooperation and performance in international joint ventures.” Strategic Manage. J., 23(10), 903–919.
Lyons, B., and Mehta, J. (1997). “Contracts, opportunism and trust: Self-interest and orientation.” Cambridge J. Econ., 21(2), 239–257.
Macaulay, S. (1985). “An empirical view of contract.” Wisconsin Law Review, 465–482.
Macneil, I. R. (1980). The new social contract: An inquiry into modern contractual relations, New Haven, Conn.
Macneil, I. R. (1981). “Economic analysis of contractual relations: Its shortfalls and the need for a rich classificatory apparatus.” Northwest. Univ. Law Rev., 75(6), 1018–1063.
McKim, R. A. (1992). “Risk behavior of contractors: A Canadian study.” Proj. Manage. J., 23(3), 51–55.
Newman, P. (2000). “Partnering, with particular reference to construction.” Arbitration J., 66(1), 39–45.
Oliva, T. A., Day, D., and MacMillan, T. (1988). “A generic model of competitive dynamics.” Acad. Manage. Rev., 13(3), 374–89.
Oliva, T. A., Oliva, R. L., and MacMillan, I. C. (1992). “A catastrophe model for developing service satisfaction strategies.” J. Marketing, 56(3), 83–95.
Piper, B. J. (2001). “Partnering: A dream?” News of the Hong Kong Inst. of Surveyors, 8(10), 22–23.
Ploeger, A., Van der Maas, H. L. J., and Hartelman, P. A. (2002). “Stochastic catastrophe analysis of switches in the perception of apparent motion.” Psychon. Bull. Rev., 9(1), 26–42.
Qin, S. Q., Jiao, J. J., and Wang, S. T. (2001). “A cusp catastrophe model of slip-buckling slope.” Rock Mech. Rock Eng., 34(2), 119–134.
Raftery, A. E. (1995). “Bayesian model selection in social research.” Sociol. Methodol., 25(1), 111–163.
Schwarz, G. (1978). “Estimating the dimension of a model.” Ann. Stat., 6(2), 461–464.
Stewart, I. N., and Peregoy, P. L. (1983). “Catastrophe theory modeling in psychology.” Psychol. Bull., 94(2), 336–362.
Swedberg, R. (1987). “Economic sociology: Past and present.” Curr. Strat., 5(1), 1–221.
Tallman, S., and Shenkar, O. (1994). “A managerial decision model of international cooperative venture formation.” J. Int. Business Stud., 25(1), 91–114.
Tamaki, T., Torii, T., and Meada, K. (2003). “Stability analysis of black holes via a catastrophe theory and black hole thermodynamics in generalized theories of gravity.” Phys. Rev. D, 68(2), 024028.
Thom, R. (1975). Structural stability and morphogenesis, Addison–Wesley, Benjamin, Reading, Mass.
Thorburn, W. M. (1915). “Occam’s razor.” Mind, 24(94), 287–288.
Van der Maas, H. L. J., Kolstein, R., and Van der Pligt, J. (2003). “Sudden transitions in attitudes.” Sociolog. Methods Res., 32(2), 125–152.
Wagenmakers, E. J., Van der Mass, H. L. J., and Molenaar, P. C. M. (2004). “Fitting the cusp catastrophe model.” ⟨http://www.psycg.nwu.edu/~ej/Encyclopediacarastrophe.pdf⟩.
Wong, P. S. P., Cheung, S. O., and Ho, K. M. (2005). “Contractor as trust initiator in construction partnering–A prisoner’s dilemma perspective.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 131(10), 1045–1053.
Wright, D. J. (1983). “Catastrophe theory in management forecasting and decision making.” J. Oper. Res. Soc., 34(10), 935–942.
Yiu, T. W., and Cheung, S. O. (2006). “A catastrophe model of construction conflict behavior.” Build. Environ., 40(1), 438–447.
Zeeman, E. C. (1976). “Catastrophe theory.” Sci. Am., 234(1), 65–83.
Zeeman, E. C. (1977). Catastrophe theory: Selected papers 1972–1977, Addison–Wesley, Reading, Mass.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 20, 2007
Accepted: Jun 20, 2008
Published online: Dec 1, 2008
Published in print: Dec 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.