Defining relational contracting from the Wittgenstein family-resemblance philosophy

Abstract

There has been an increasing interest in the concept of relational contracting (RC) in construction starting from the late 1990s. RC embraces and underpins different forms of collaborative approaches, including partnering, alliancing, joint venture and other collaborative working arrangements and better risk sharing mechanisms. By applying Nyström's and Yeung et al.'s similar approaches to define construction partnering and construction alliancing respectively, this paper focuses on RC and family-resemblance. A significant contribution to new knowledge is believed to have been made in providing a concise and comprehensive approach in defining the similar and yet different key components of RC by using a Sunflower Model. The development of this innovative Model is based on the German philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein's family-resemblance philosophy. His idea is that a complex concept can be understood as a network of overlapping similarities. Based on the reported literature, it is concluded that there are always five core elements included in construction RC. They are "commitment", "trust", "cooperation and communication", "common goals and objective", and "win-win philosophy". In addition to these core elements, a number of different non-core elements, or called petals, can be added to constitute a specific variant of RC in construction. The contribution can be of paramount importance to both the research community and the construction industry. By using this innovative theoretical framework to define construction RC, industrial practitioners may find the Sunflower Model useful in the procurement of a construction RC project. The Sunflower Model can be applied to explain the underlying concepts and as a common starting point for discussions between a client and a contractor on how to procure a RC project, thus avoiding any misinterpretations of what a RC project is.

Systematic Representation of Relationship Quality in Conflict and Dispute: for Construction Projects

“…The challenge is to overcome the project focused perception in the industry and advocate a more valuable relationship-based model (Love et al, 2002). There is a need for change, as mentioned in many construction industry reports (Egan, 1998;Wolstenholme, 2009). There is a consensus that the current code of conduct and traditional procurement strategies in the construction industry are to a large extent responsible for the existing fragmentation and deficiencies (Love et al, 2002).…”

“…It is believed that the traditional procurement systems and implementation methods associated with construction projects are inadequate and inefficient (Egan, 1998;Latham, 1994;Wolstenholme, 2009). Collaboration has been emphasised and the focus is mainly on relational contracting, partnering and alliancing (Bygballe, Jahre and Swärd, 2010;Cox and Thompson, 1997).…”

“…Supply chain management, within the domain of industrial management and business mainly focused on direct relationships (Gualandris and Kalchschmidt, 2014), whereas construction generally looked at contracting methodologies (Alderman and Ivory, 2007;Eriksson, Atkinson and Nilsson, 2009;Jelodar and Yiu, 2012a). Wolstenholme (2009) believed that most client business models in construction are focused on short-term gains; for instance suppliers who can deliver long-term sustainable solutions are not rewarded. Adding to this the high risks involved in construction and unequal risk allocations triggers a dominant blame culture among industry practitioners (CIRC, 2001;Egan, 1998).…”

Are Relational Contracting Approaches Applicable to Public Projects in China?

“…The term "RC" in this paper refers to the definition by Yeung et al (2012) that it is a set of principles and philosophy of contracting based on relationships, with five core elements including "commitment", "trust", "cooperation and communication", "common goals and objective", and "win-win philosophy". In other words, RC is based on recognition of mutual benefits and win-win scenarios through more cooperative relationships between contracting parties (Rahman & Kumaraswamy, 2004).…”

Gestão das Relações Interorganizacionais na Cadeia de Suprimentos Convencional da Construção Civil: Uma revisão sistemática

“…Para uma efetiva gestão de relacionamentos, faz-se necessária a coordenação dos processos das construtoras e os dos seus principais fornecedores (BEACH et alAKINTOYE;MAIN, 2007;PINTO et al, 2009). Wang et al (2017) identificaram como críticas na relação construtora e fornecedores as seguintes questões: tempo de entrega variáveis, nível de estoque de segurança inconsistente, e processo de seleção e de avaliação de fornecedores inexistentes ou pouco desenvolvidos PINTO et al, 2009;BYGBALLE et al, 2010;MENG, 2012;YEUNG et al, 2012)…”