Experiences of trust in construction project management: the influence of procurement mechanisms

Trust is a key element in the project manager's toolkit, and fostering trust in a project team is often critical to the project's outcome. Literature suggests that relational procurement mechanisms underpinned by "pain-share/gain-share" principles ought to increase levels of trust between project participants as compared to traditionally procured projects, yet little related research exists. Using "trust as a phenomenon" as the philosophical point of departure the intricacies of trust formation and maintenance are explored in these contexts. A framework of trust-related personal attributes, attitudes and behaviours is used to analyse a series of 15 detailed interviews with multiple representatives from construction and client organisations. Preliminary findings identify: participants' desire for trust in projects; widespread absence of strategies for trust building, maintenance and repair; adversarial dispute resolution as the default; poor project team member selection. Widely valued traits in trading partners include open and honest communication; technical competence; fairness; integrity; honesty, and; benevolence. Where disputation has occurred trust repair skills appear to be rare. Positive pre-existing relationships are reported as the antidote for many project ills. Differences in the perception of trust variables associated with procurement context are identified: superficially surprising and counter-intuitive, they reveal pan-procurement principles for trust-based project success.