A Practical Guide to Successful Construction Projects (Practical Construction Guides) by Arent van Wassenaer

Author:Arent van Wassenaer [van Wassenaer, Arent]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781138204140
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2017-04-21T04:00:00+00:00

5.15 Dispute avoidance #3 – partnering and project start-ups

The single most important set of processes that is meant to create joint and aligned objectives, that helps setting up efficient lines of communication, that builds trust, that creates issue-resolution ladders and that stimulates the parties to be motivated and to avoid dispute, is partnering.

‘Clearly, the best dispute resolution is dispute prevention. Acting to prevent disputes before they occur is key to building new co-operative relationships. By taking the tie at the start of a project to identify common goals, common interests, lines of communication, and a commitment to co-operative problem solving, we encourage the will to resolve disputes and achieve project goals.’ These were the words of the Chief of Engineers, LTG Henry J. Hatch, the Commander of the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1988 and 1992, in Policy Memorandum 11 of 7 August 1990.37

Former contractor Don Mathewson agrees: ‘I always intended to establish a working relation with whomever the decision makers were.’

It is not for nothing that the first chapter of Sue Dyer’s book on partnering is called: ‘Stay out of Court’.

What is partnering in the sense of this book? Well, it is not any form of partnership such as public–private partnerships or a joint venture. Nor is it the creation of partnerships between various stakeholders to support common objectives.

Partnering within the meaning of this book is about jointly developing processes to work together well on concrete projects. Partnering is a set of ‘robust and fully integrated techniques for bringing together the project team’.38

Or, as Doug Jones describes it: 39 ‘a situation whereby the parties to a traditional ‘hard-dollar’ contract attempt to soften its adversarial nature by establishing relationship guidelines through a non-binding partnering charter. This charter will emphasise the parties’ commitment to adopting values such as trust, fair dealing, good faith and co-operation throughout the duration of their contractual relationship.’

In the definition of Caltrans (the California Department of Transport): ‘Partnering is simply a way of conducting business in which two or more organizations make long-term commitments to achieve mutual goals. This requires changing traditional adversarial relationships into team-based relationships. Partnering promotes open communication among participants, trust, understanding, and teamwork.’ 40

The US Army Corps of Engineers has defined partnering as follows: ‘Partnering is a process designed to create a positive and co-operative relationship during the contract performance or at any other time when working with others. Partnering facilitates the parties’ ability to define common goals, improve communication, and create a collaborative attitude throughout contract performance.’ 41

The International Partnering Institute, 42 a US not-for-profit organisation founded in 2009, defines partnering (or ‘collaborative partnering’ as it is called in their idiom) as follows: ‘Structured Collaborative Partnering (“Partnering”) is a structured process that brings a design and construction team together in face-to-face meetings throughout the life of a project. These Partnering Sessions improve communication, trust, strategy, and issue resolution. By following the Collaborative Partnering Process, fragmented teams transform into unified ones with a shared objective: to ensure the success of the project.’

Partnering can be established by means of a contract specially tailored towards the concept, such as PPC2000.

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