Partnering in the construction industry: Win‐win strategic management in action

Abstract

Abstract When two organizations have contractual difficulties, only the lawyers make money. This describes the adversarial situation prevalent in the construction industry, particularly in the public sector, where owner and contractor often spend more time in legal maneuvers after completion of the project than was spent in the actual construction. Partnering, a management process for productivity improvement through changes in organizational procedures and interorganizattonal relationships, was first applied in the private sector. In the public sector, managers in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recognized partnering as a tool to help them operate more effectively in their changing, more competitive environment. In this article, the authors describe how partnering was applied for the first time by the Corps of Engineers. Partnering did not solve all the problems that surfaced in the project. It did, however, provide an effective alternative to the strictly adversarial mode of operations previously found on such projects and was effective in addressing some problems that previously might have resulted in litigation.