doi:10.3850/978-981-08-7920-4_S1-P02-cd
Relational Contracting and Its Efficacy of Project Outcomes in the Australian Construction Industry
Melissa Chan, Vaughan Coffey and Bambang Trigunarsyah
School of Urban Development, Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia.
ABSTRACT
The Australian construction industry is characterized as being a competitive and risky business
environment due to lack of cooperation, insufficient trust, ineffective communication and adversarial
relationships which are likely lead to poor project performance. Relational contracting
(RC) is advocated by literature as an innovative approach to improve the procurement process
in the construction industry. Various studies have collectively added to the current knowledge
of known RC norms, but there seem to be little effort on investigating the determinants of
RC and its efficacy on project outcomes. In such circumstances, there is lack of evidence and
explanation on the manner on how these issues lead to different performance. Simultaneously,
the New Engineering Contract (NEC) that embraced the concept of RC is seen as a modern
way of contracting and also considered as one of the best approaches to the perennial problem
of improving adversarial relationships within the industry. The reality of practice of RC in
Australia is investigated through the lens of the NEC. A synthesis of literature views on the
concept, processes andtools of RC is first conducted to develop the framework of RC. A case
study approach is proposed for an in-depth analysis to explore the critical issues addressed by
RC in relation to project outcomes. Understanding the realities of RC will assist stakeholders in
the construction industry with their investment in RC.
Keywords: Relational Contracting (RC), New Engineering Contract (NEC), Project outcomes, Australia.
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