Identification of Conflicts
Conflicts are born when in an industry, competition is the primary focus. This competitive mindset and several strategic planning make interests collide to mark the source of conflicts. Construction industry requires dealing with various people effectively to devise cooperation (Dearlove and Saleeb 2016). Production is the ultimate goal of the industries and if it is in a critical state then the safety of the staff is questionable. Initially people who want a safe environment for themselves usually collide with the interests of those who want to take risks in order to safeguard the production (Fulford and Standing 2014). This will eventually lead to positive and negative outcomes. Therefore, in an industry, it is suggested that understanding an employee’s needs and position handling capabilities are very much important to address, avoid and resolve conflicts.
The working principle of the construction industry is quite complicated. There are needs of creative ideas in designing and implementation process, which are bound to create conflict issues. There are combinations of disciplinary management in construction industry which results in major conflicts among the clients and other parties. Projects that have uncertain properties are inevitable to give birth to conflicts (Ishkov and Miloradova 2017).
Parties that are involved in a project can be victim of internal conflicts damaging the professional relationships. It hampers work and production quality which leads to degradation of the projects. There various factors that cause conflicts in the construction industry such as Contractual problems, problems in management and also the behavioral aspects (Rathore, Radwan and Elwakil 2015). In the report, proper causes and effects of conflicts will be portrayed along with the correlation between them.
Identification of Conflicts:
Conflict is based on the competitive questioning, misinterpretation of ideas, unsuitable behaviour and disputes. Conflict mainly arises due to involvement of two parties in a certain situations where the proposal of a party is rejected by the other (Panahi et al. 2015). This results in disputes and arguments, which harm the working atmosphere of an industry.
If there is a debate regarding the implementation of a project then dispute is inevitable as difference in opinions among two parties is very natural. However, the inability to accept views presented by others is a serious issue that should be addressed by means of training and development programs (Xu, Feng and Li 2014). The understanding mentality of the employees should be encouraged as conflicts are primarily caused by the incompatibility in the relationships at workplaces.
Williamson reported that there are various types of conflicts and many reasons for their creation. Scarcity of resources can cause conflicts when there is interdependence among the employees. A competitive blocking behaviour causes conflicts such as when one party is trying to achieve a goal and some other party is blocking that process due to their own interest. In a construction company, there are various sources of conflicts. Characteristics of a particular project can raise conflicts of varying intensity; a project demanding a creative team approach can raise huge amount of conflicts in the form of disputes due to lack of acceptability and understanding. Restriction in accessing the resources, the changing scopes can create disputes.
The Analytical Point of View
Kumaraswamy reported that in a construction project, the technology involved along with the length of the project, quality control, rules and regulations, economic barriers are the general factors of conflicts. Having multicultural teams with lack of effective communication leads to inefficient production (Skaik 2016). Deficiency in management can lead to poor supervision causing inadequate effort at project completion. Disputes actually damage team spirit, which is the main factor in project failure. Problems with unavailable information, unclear client requirements cause disputes that result in long-term conflicts in a certain project.
Shin has stated that disputes can also be evident by means of stakeholders who are the engineers, architects and all the professionals involved in construction projects (Marathe 2017). However, misinterpretation, poor communications are the primary factors that contribute in raising conflicts within an industry. Lack of coordination is a threat to every industrial operation as it not only results in degraded productivity but also it badly influences the work culture.
It can be said that improper project scheduling can cause disputes. When the projects are divided in modules, different scheduling is provided (Abdi and Aulakh 2017). The problem occurs when they are merged together and inefficient schedules cause nuisance among the employees, as stated by Chua and Song. Every activity in a project is interdependent and poor communication can affect the progress of the project in a way that it becomes difficult to establish an effective outcome.
Edwin and Henry identified that it is important to state that factors such as payment, working hours, quality, risks, unfamiliarity with legal aspects of a project, complicated contractual terms are the sources of conflicts. Sudden changes made in the contractual terms and specifications can contribute to disputes (Borrego, Foster and Froyd 2014). The factors mentioned above need to be addressed carefully in order to resolve and prevent conflicts in an industry. Cheung and Yiu stated that there are contract negotiations, which may lack experience, or there can be umpteen issues stated that are difficult to manage.
Sometimes, the parties involved in the negotiation may not want to comply with the regulation and demands of the negotiation process, they can have their own interests which neither of them can withdraw (Razak et al. 2013). This causes settlement issues, which are reasons behind extreme disputes. Inept leadership with unrealistic goals can cause to cast an uncomfortable work atmosphere, which will make the employees reluctant in communicating their ideas.
The Analytical Point of View:
The supply chain of a construction industry is very complicated as the process involves a large number of parties contributing. Generally, a construction company deals with an architect to devise the overall process of construction and the owner who runs the company, a contractor who supervises the dealings and a manager. These entities are dependent on each other and the communication flow is bi-directional.
These people might not be in direct contact with each other but due to the business relationship, they do work together to serve the unified goal of a project. This introduces challenges in terms of dealing with the project. Projects have a time limit within which employees are bound to finish their tasks. These time limits are decided based on the educated predictions of the managers who are experienced in analyzing a task process. There are huge number of people working on a construction project and these people have different opinions regarding goals. Inclusion of large group of people increases misunderstanding and conflict.
Causes of Conflict in the Construction Industry
The Emotional Influence:
In terms of conflicts at workplaces, people tend to be affected emotionally more than anything else and hence emotion creates the biggest barrier against looking for a solution to the conflicts (Femi 2014). The conflict resolution faces difficulties due to the emotions of the staff and therefore, for effective resolution, the emotional aspects of the employees surrounding the conflicts need to be taken into account. The situation of conflicts has to be understood well to figure out the underlying causes which are the emotional issues. It should be analyzed whether the parties subject to conflict are facing critical issues and whether they are getting emotionally affected intensely.
Influence of Languages:
The words used in addressing conflict should be complying with the situations that the parties are facing; it should not be insensible (Porwal and Hewage 2013). Properly chosen words can approach the conflict well and helps in expecting effective outcomes.
Conflict As War:
When two parties are involved in a conflict then it is a “Win-Lose” situation for both the parties. This indicates that one party has the perception that the other party has to be wrong and unreasonable. However, in some cases this behaviour is rewarded for considering it as a healthy competitive behaviour (Cheung and Kwong 2017). It is believed that this behavioral pattern damages the workplace relationships causing to develop an unhealthy environment.
Conflict in the Form of Opportunity:
The intensity of the situation of conflict and the way it is perceived define how conflict is accepted at a workplace. For minimum, harmless conflicts within a workplace, it can be seen as a competitive advantage among the employees. The negative side of the conflict is turned into positive as it is believed that the conflict is encouraging creativity in the employees (Post et al. 2016). If such a situation is thought of as an opportunity then the view of conflict becomes rather positive that can be utilized by the industry for effective production. It can even develop a “Win-Win” situation.
The Causes of Conflicts:
Conflict is the main factor that can lead to dysfunction mechanism at workplaces. Unmanaged conflict can lead to detrimental work environment that will make little problems look critical. There are various reasons that develop conflicts at workplaces:
- One of the major causes of conflicts is a poorly established communication. It generally results in misunderstandings and unprofessional disputes in construction projects. Having inadequate information can lead to conflicts regarding the projects and raises problems in meeting expectations of the clients.
- Individuals at offices mainly collide due to differences in interests. Primarily, individuals have separate views on the ways of achieving goals and sometimes, the goal is disputable for them.
- Conflicts also arise due to limitation on the resource availability. Conflicts rise due to limitation over the utilization of manpower, materials and equipments. These conflicts should be addressed and managed immediately. The process of resource allocation should be informed to the employees for fairness issues. It creates a fair understanding and helps in making better decisions regarding projects.
The Behavioral Impact:
There are several factors that form the behavioral aspects of an individual. These factors are ways people interact with each other, the personality, the cultures they are from and many others. There are more mental factors that can indirectly influence one’s behaviour such as the ambition, the issues that make an individual dissatisfied, one’s potential growth, ability to communicate with people and how one views the loyalty issues (Weible and Heikkila 2017). Many have stated that construction cannot be considered as science only; it is a form of art that utilizes the creative potentials of people. In an industry, every employee demands approval and opportunity to receive acceptance.
When an individual works in a team, his mind automatically functions in a way to blend or to stand out in the team by means of outstanding, creative performance. This sort of behaviour can enhance one’s ability or it can create arrogance that will eventually lead to conflicts in a group (Sousa, Almeida and Dias 2014). The hunger for recognition is devised by the desire to be different and to be different; every individual wants to accept their ideas towards completing a goal because it gives an individual the creative and competitive advantage over others.
Effects of Conflict in the Construction Industry
Thus, a healthy relationship in a team fades and gives birth to conflicts. The greater the demands of an individual, the more strain one faces. Becoming strained is a negative influence on the performance and that can raise conflicts stating the inefficiency of an employee. Conflicts can take a big step where team communication is poor and goal identification is inefficient. Disputes in the construction companies are majorly caused by the people involved and they are the only way to solve the disputes.
Issues with Contracts:
When a project is handed to a construction company, it is certain to have more than parties to be involved. The involvement of various parties are employed by means of a contract. This contract contains some regulation that can guide the operations of the project and determine the exchange of money and the materials required. Contract is usually a set of terms to govern the operation of project and the upon breach of contract, legal action are taken against the individuals held accountable for. Disputes regarding the contracts can occur due to inefficient identification of the project and ineffective interpretation.
A contract specifies a lot of factors like the work hours required in the project, payment, the technology required etc. and these things raise one of the most critical conflicts. A contract needs to be standard for a standard performance of a project (Mitku and Mitkus 2014). A standard contract specifies firmly and accurately the instructions to properly guide the functionality of the project. Complexity of a project calls for more ramification of changes and also the tight time limit imposed on a project leads to greater number of addenda which also increases the probability of errors. It is impossible for a man to go through all the specific details in a contract and thus errors in the contract go unnoticed (Cakmak and Cakmak 2014).
Technical Side of the Conflict:
The technicality has a big role to play in conflicts. Uncertainty regarding the technical specifications causes disputes, which is extremely common. The technical aspect in a project is crucial as it defines the core of any operation and errors in identification of that requirement is a troubling mistake (Porwal and Hewage 2013). Information requirement is judged based on the project complexity and to determine the project complexity, there are several factors that have to be taken into account such as the time allotted and the budget available. The unclear information regarding the technicality of the project can create conflict issues. This includes wrong examination of soil, faulty designs and incomplete technical information.
Conclusion:
This report provides a detailed view of the sources that cause conflicts in the construction industry. It has given a clear idea regarding the work process of the projects and the workplace relationship requirements. The working principles of construction industry have been introduced in this report as a brief overview. Understanding the working aspects of construction industry leads to effective analysis of the conflicts experienced in the industry. The report has focused on retrieving literature reviews on the conflicts of construction. Analyzing views of people on the conflicts helps in having a very clear idea regarding how it actually affects the environment of the industry.
Recommendations to Improve Performance
From the information of the literature review, data have been extracted focusing on the factors that cause conflict. Various vital sources of conflicts have been discussed in the report including the behavioral and emotional factors, contractual factors, technical factors. Problems in payment, project data specification and faulty contracts lead to severe conflicts in the construction industry. In some cases, conflicts have been considered as a positive factor which enhances employees competitive nature.
Nevertheless, conflicts at workplaces can lead to various critical situations hampering the productivity of the industry. Therefore, earnest management steps should be taken to dilute such conflicts as it destroys the flexible workplace relationships. There should be effective strategies to peacefully resolve the conflict issues achieving a “Win-Win” advantage. The report implies the basic needs of healthy competitive practices that should not disrespect any aspect of an individual’s views.
Reference:
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