Formulating a framework for relationally integrated construction supply chains

Divergent goals, short-term objectives and fragmented approaches have weakened construction supply chains and thereby adversely affected their outputs and performance levels. Furthermore, relationships and satisfaction levels have also deteriorated due to these "disjointed' groupings and segregated functions. Construction clients and their contractors often appear to be polarized in some form of "opportunism" driven "adversarial" relationships, while other supply chain members seem to be "pulling" in different directions as well. In order to overcome these problems, a series of synergistic findings from research initiatives and knowledge "mining" in related topics are consolidated in this paper, so as to identify approaches for re-integrating construction supply chains. An analogy of achieving an appropriate "operational" equilibrium in construction supply chains is formulated, based on a careful identification of various sets of generic impacting "forces." This is linked to an amalgamation of identified best practices, an appreciation of "cultural" influences, and emerging relational contracting approaches. Distilling and synergizing useful relevant "knowledge" on the above from recent research exercises and related literature, a framework for relational integration of construction supply chains is conceptualized and presented in this paper.