An analysis of success factors and bene®ts of partnering in construction Carolynn Black a , Akintola Akintoye b, *, Eamon Fitzgerald b a West of Scotland Water, 419 Balmore Road, Glasgow G22 6NU, UK b Department of Building and Surveying, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK Received 1 December 1998; received in revised form 11 May 1999; accepted 23 June 1999 Abstract Partnering is increasingly being used on construction projects. Partnering involves the parties to a construction project working together in an environment of trust and openness to realise the project eciently and without con¯ict. Using a UK- wide postal questionnaire survey, the opinions of dierent types of organisation Ð consultants, contractors, and clients were assessed in relation to the success factors and bene®ts of partnering. The study shows that UK contractors and clients are more positive about partnering than consultants. The research also indicates that certain requirements must be met if partnering is to succeed. In particular, trust, communication, commitment, a clear understanding of roles, consistency and a ¯exible attitude are necessary. It is recognised that nothing will change without considerable eort from all parties. Respondents believe that partnering can bring signi®cant bene®ts, including fewer adversarial relationships and increased end-customer satisfaction, to the construction industry if all parties involved in a project strive for its success. 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved. Keywords: Partnering; Con¯ict; Contractors; Clients; Consultants; Procurement 1. Introduction Few industries suer more from con¯ict than con- struction and consequently, the industry is expected to gain from a partnering approach to procurement. Part- nering is an arrangement between two parties (e.g. cli- ent and contractor or contractor and sub-contractor) which can be either open-ended, for a speci®ed term or for a single project [1]. The partnering procurement method aims to eliminate adversarial relationships between client and contractor by encouraging the par- ties to work together towards shared objectives and achieve a win/win outcome [2±4]. Partnering seeks to develop closer relationships between parties to a pro- ject. Successful partnering requires many factors, in particular a high level of commitment to shared goals, preferably including those of the client [5]. Chadwick and Rajagopal [6] identify four key dier- ences between the traditional adversarial approach to procurement and the more recent trend towards part- nering, namely: (1) an emphasis on cost rather than price, (2) a long-term rather than a short-term focus, (3) defect prevention in place of quality checks, and (4) single, rather than multiple, sourcing. Saunders [7] provides a model for partnership that is characterised by; (1) frequent communication, both formally and informally, (2) co-operative attitudes, (3) trust between the parties, (4) a win±win approach to negotiation, and (5) open sharing of information and (6) multi-disciplinary involvement. Fellows [5] argues that partnering embraces the con- tinuous improvement philosophy, which originated in Japan, and must be backed by senior management if it is to succeed. It is further recognised that Europe has International Journal of Project Management 18 (2000) 423±434 0263-7863/00/$20.00 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd and IPMA. All rights reserved. PII: S0263-7863(99)00046-0 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijproman * Corresponding author. Tel.: +44-141-331-3626; fax: +44-141- 331-3696. E-mail address: akin@gcal.ac.uk (A. Akintoye).