Stakeholders' preference towards the use of conflict management styles in dual concern theory in post contract stage

Abstract

The tendency of having conflicts is extremely high in construction industry due to the complexity in relations, lengthy process and multidisciplinary involvement. It can be seen that conflicts in post contract stage have more tendency to increase due to number of reasons. Even though the industry uses conflict management styles, still there is no sign of decreasing conflicts which are subsequently converting into disputes. Therefore, the requirement of conflict management should receive a prior consideration. Construction professionals commonly use dual concern theory as their conflict management style. However, they are incapable of using this management style effectively according to the conflict situation so that the amount of conflicts is rising. This creates a current issue of minimizing conflicts by effective management because it directly affects the project success. Since conflicts disturb the proper coordination and corporation of human resource and cause project delays, effective conflict management in construction projects leads the project towards the sustainable construction practice by creating a proper coordination between all relevant parties and eliminate unnecessary project delays caused by conflict environment. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to identify the stakeholder preference towards the conflict management styles in Dual Concern Theory in post contract stage. A comprehensive literature review and an interview from selected case studies were conducted to collect data. The findings of this study prove that having a proper conflict management can achieve sustainable construction practices such as using human resource efficiently, willingness to work and effective time management.