Introduction to techniques for resolving project performance contradictions

Improving project performance has always been emphasized in construction projects. When project objectives contradict, the project manager must apply mitigating or conflict resolution strategies to remove or minimize the level of contradiction in order to enhance project performance. A typical example is conflict between cost and schedule, where cost tends to increase when the schedule is crashed (sped up). Although some of the current project control systems attempt to diagnose the root cause of performance deviations and suggest corrective action, none is designed to resolve conflicts in a systematic and innovative manner to improve the project performance. The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic and structured approach to guide project managers to propose corrective action plans that lead to minimal conflict and ultimately to better project performance. Resolving contradictions can generate effective corrective action plans that would enhance project performance. Conflicts among competing project performance indices such as cost, schedule, safety, and quality are obvious in any project. This innovative approach uses the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) to develop a framework for a conflict resolution strategy called techniques for resolving project performance contradictions (TRAC), or the techniques for resolving performance contradictions. TRAC provides an algorithmic approach for solving performance contradictions in order to optimize the overall project performance. TRAC is a user-oriented methodology and presents a new model for performance problem solving to assist project managers in their corrective action exercise. TRAC methodology is demonstrated in two case studies that indicate the workability of this model and its usefulness in resolving performance contradictions in contraction projects.