A critique of integrated working and partnering

A critique of integrated working and partnering

Gruneberg, S.
Murdoch, I.

2011-06-20

Many authorities have supported the concept of integrated working or partnering. They claim a number of advantages of partnering such as greater co-operation, cost savings, timely completion of projects and improved quality but there remain a number of difficulties both at a theoretical and practical level. These difficulties manifest themselves in the views expressed by some specialist contractors, whose voice is all too often overlooked. A number of issues can be seen in the responses of specialist contractors to questions put to them in the quarterly survey of the National Specialist Contractors Council. These include measures of interim payment periods, tender prices, suppliers’ prices, profit margins, contractual behaviour, methods of appointing specialist contractors and the time allowed to price a proposal. These measures can be compared to the state of specialist contractors’ markets to reveal the underlying causes of main contractor behaviour and treatment of their subcontractors. For example, market constraints in times of economic difficulties may indeed directly affect such behaviour. If the gains and benefits of partnering were truly shared between all parties, then it is significant to note the views of specialist contractors and the fact that the difficulties they face in dealing with main contractors have not diminished over time.

specialist contractors
supply chain management
integrated project teams and partnering

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:f5810a71-36b6-4012-ab0d-932a4448ebd0

Conference proceedings

conference paper

(c) 2011 Gruneberg, S.; Murdoch, I.