Gunarathna, C; Yang, R J and Fernando, N (2018) Conflicts and management styles in the Sri Lankan commercial building sector. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 25(2), pp. 178-201. ISSN 0969-9988
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand the prevailing conflict management styles in Sri Lankan commercial building industry from the main stakeholders' perspective. The dual concern theory is applied to this study as a theory foundation. Design/methodology/approach: The Sri Lankan commercial building industry is currently experiencing a construction boom after 30 years of civil war. Creating a dispute free environment through well conflict management is one of the main ways to keep the continuous demand and development of construction. However, the Sri Lankan construction sector is arranged in such a way that they directly approach the dispute resolution rather than avoiding the dispute initially through proper conflict management. Four cases are selected for this study with the intention of conducting meetings with three main stakeholders of each case who represented client, consultants and contractors, respectively. Findings: The research findings reveal that compromising is the most common conflict management style used by the industry. Forcing style obtained the second place in the ranking whereas obliging and avoiding received third and fourth places. Originality/value: This study is conducted to provide a full picture of conflicts faced by the Sri Lankan commercial building industry and their proper management so that the future projects will use this information to diminish the destructive effects of conflict situations and provide a real value for money.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | case study; construction; management |
| Index terms: | conflict management, methodology, commercial building, value-for-money, construction sector, case study, management style, dispute, war, resolution |
| Subjects: | research methods, management, evaluation, conflict and crisis studies, conflict resolution, industry analysis, data collection methods, construction type, dispute resolution |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Construction Technology, Stakeholder Management, Value Management, Human Resources, Legal Issues |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
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