Attitude-Based Strategic Negotiation for Conflict Management in Construction Projects

Abstract

An innovative negotiation methodology for managing conflicts in construction projects is presented in this article where multiple decision makers are involved. The proposed negotiation methodology has a unique ability to consider the attitudes of the decision makers, which is an important psychological factor in the negotiations that take place in various stages of a construction project. The methodology is developed at the strategic level of decision making in which the graph model for conflict resolution (GMCR) is employed in assisting decision makers, such as project managers, to achieve the best strategic decision, given the competing interests and attitudes of the decision makers. A real-life case study is used to illustrate how the proposed methodology can be conveniently applied in practice and to demonstrate the importance and the benefits of incorporating the attitudes of multiple decision makers into the negotiation process in order to better identify the most feasible resolutions. The proposed negotiation methodology has been implemented in a negotiation decision support system that assists project managers in tackling real-world controversies, particularly in complex disputes that occur in construction projects.