Naismith, N; Price, A D F; Dainty, A R J; Bryman, A; Greasley, K and Soetanto, R (2005) Engendering trust in the construction supply chain. Journal of Construction Procurement, 11(2),
Abstract
Project success is dependent upon the effective management of people and at the heart of this process is trust. It is often claimed that the construction industry has low levels of trust and numerous reports globally have challenged the industry to address its poor performance on people management and cultural issues. The industry has a long-standing reputation for being adversarial, demonstrated by poor relationships between the client, main contractor and subcontractors, which in turn leads to numerous problems including poor project performance, cost control and poor long-term relationships between the parties involved. These problems are attributed primarily to a lack of harmonisation between contracting parties. This paper investigates the perceptions of trust within the supply chains of partnering projects. It explores the contextual issues surrounding the projects, focusing on the relationship between the partnering method of procurement and the levels of trust that exist within supply chains. This qualitative case study based research provides insights into the multifaceted nature of trust, the difficulty of defining the concept and its evolution through the duration of the project. The paper concludes that trust is an essential element for effective supply chain relationships and can be engendered through teamwork, leadership and the ultimate empowerment of the supply chain. It would appear on the basis of this research that trust can be realised within construction supply chains where partnering principles are a priority.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | supply chain relationships, trust, partnering, case studies |
| Index terms: | subcontractor, cost control, evolution, empowerment, construction industry, heart, duration, construction supply chain, project performance, contracting party, low level, teamwork, project success, case study, main contractor, partnering |
| Subjects: | financial and cost management, construction logistics, data collection methods, industry analysis, measurement and scaling, project controls, partnership management, project management theory and practice, management, environmental science, practitioner, medical science and clinical practice |
| Topics: | Roles and Professions, Stakeholder Management, Research Practice, Cost Management, Organizational Design, Time Control, Human Resources, Sustainability, Project Management, Health and Safety, Supply Chain Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here