The Roles of Negotiation in Construction Essay -- Construction Industr

The Roles of Negotiation in Construction Negotiation is a form of the decision-making process where two or more parties jointly search a space of possible solutions with the goal of reaching a consensus. In the construction industry, collaboration is an essential key for the success of projects. Since different participants from different organizations try to work together in projects, competitive stresses exist in their relationships and as a result, disputes or conflicts may inevitably occur; negotiation is preferred by project participants for the settlement of claims. Negotiation plays an important role in resolving claims, preventing disputes, and keeping a harmonious relationship between project participants. However, claims negotiations are commonly inefficient due to the diversity of intellectual background, many variables involved, complex interactions, and inadequate negotiation knowledge of project participants. Most project managers consider negotiation as the most time- and energy-consuming activity in claims management. Negotiation theories and principles To address the complex technical and human issues in negotiation, several important negotiation theories and principles have been developed, which mainly include game theory, economic theory, behavior theory, and negotiation theory. Game theory seeks to get at the essentials of decision making and the associated strategies in situations where two or more parties are interdependent, and where, therefore, the outcome of their conflict and competition must be the product of their joint requirements and the interaction of their separate choices (Bacharach ... ...on Collaborative Negotiatons for Large-Scale Infrastructure Projects- (J. of Management in Engineering/ April 2001/ 121) Pe -Mora, F., and Wang, C-Y. (1998)-Computer-supported collaborative negotiation methodology ( J. Comp. in Civ. Engrg., ASCE,12(2)) Gulliver, P. H. (1979)- Disputes and negotiation: A cross-culture perspective, (Academic, San Diego) Bacharach, S. B., and Lawler, E. J. (1981). Bargaining: Power, tactics and outcomes (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco) Young, O. R., (1975) Bargaining: Formal theories of negotiation (University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Ill) Zartman, I. W., (1977) The negotiation process: Theories and applications (Sage,London) Z. Ren, C. J. Anumba, and O. O. Ugwu. (2003)-Multiagent System for Construction Claims Negotiation ( J. Comp. in Civ. Engrg., ASCE,7(2003))