Relationship management in the Australian construction industry: a catalyst for cultural change

Numerous studies have been undertaken in the area of construction procurement methods. Recent evidence shows that the construction industry requires cultural change in order to move away from traditional adversarial relationships into cooperative and collaborative relationships. There is also increasing concern and discussion on alternative procurement methods, drifting away from traditional procurement systems to those which are relationship-based. Relational contracting approaches have become more popular in recent years, and have appeared in common forms such as partnering, alliancing and relationship management contracts. This paper reports on a study of relationship management approaches in two public sector organisations in Queensland, Australia. The paper also presents the findings of a survey undertaken with a private organisation based on a no-dispute alliance contract which identifies the critical factors that influence the success of the alliance project.