INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MULTI-NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Securing high Performance through Cultural awareness and Dispute Avoidance

SHANGHAI, CHINA
November 21-23, 2008

A CULTURE-BASED APPROACH TO THE MANAGEMENT OF CONFLICT

ON MULTI-NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS: PARTICIPANTS
AND PERFORMANCE
Richard FELLOWS1 and Anita LIU2
1.
2.

Department of Real Estate and Construction, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam
Road Hong Kong SAR, PR CHINA.
Department of Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough,
Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, UK.

ABSTRACT
By definition, multi-national construction projects bring together organisations and individuals
from different countries and, therefore, almost inevitably, different cultures. As cultures
underpin behaviour, and behaviour has major impact on performance both what is desired
and what is realised issues of cultural compatibility between project participants are
important. A further aspect relates to attitudes to conflict and, thence, disputes, concerning
their likelihood, causes and consequences in essence, how they may be managed. This
paper comprises a critical review of theory and literature regarding cultures and their
categorisation with particular attention to selection of multi-national project participants,
management of conflict and resulting outcomes for project performance and participant
satisfaction. Of particular note are aspects of cultural compatibility / cultural distance for both
selection of project participants and resultant performance.
Keywords: culture, cultural distance, conflict management, participant characteristics project
performance, temporary multi-organisations
INTRODUCTION
Notoriously, the construction industry is perceived to have a culture of conflict. Disputes are
regarded as inevitable and performance is, consequently, reduced. Dissatisfaction ensues in
which all participants, except self, are blamed. Such a caricature portrait, as perceived both
within and outside the industry (notably, clients, government and the general public), is
exacerbated on multi-national projects. Over many years, a variety of initiatives have been
invoked in attempts to address the situation at best, they have enjoyed very limited success.
Increasing specialisation / division-of-labour, etc. not only indicates differing and expanding
areas of expertise but, also, strongly suggests diverging interests, values and objectives at
least, in a technical sense. If some form of pooling of such separate specialisms is necessary
for the realisation of construction projects, then coordination and cooperation is required
that involves communication, leadership, etc. (the essences of management!) given the likely
perceived conflict of interests between joint and individual costs and benefits. Essentially,

those are the fragmentation issues beloved of reports on the construction industry around the
world.
A central tenet of this paper is that such initiatives have addressed only the superficial
manifestations of the issues involved and, as such, have been doomed to failure by ignoring
fundamentals possibly due to lack of analyses, pressures of time and political manoeuvrings.
As for any economic activity, especially occurring in increasingly market capitalist contexts, it
is essential to address the business imperatives in conjunction with the technical
particularities relating to the activity under examination, recalling that outcomes can be
achieved only via people the active factor as managers and operatives. Both categories
occur within a context of social institutions which generate a formalised legal framework for
operating. Thus, the immediate and distant environmental constituents comprise both formal
and informal institutions, systems and frameworks which shape behaviour and performance.
However, depending on the level and unit of analysis, there is much in the literature to
indicate that conflict may, in fact, have significant positive effects. Those effects may concern
performance of tasks (via processes) but may concern the development of relationships also.
Thus, it may be that it is not so much the culture of conflict which is, necessarily, detrimental
to performance but the negatively-oriented escalation of conflicts beyond any productive
potential into the almost inevitably detrimental arena of disputes.
Further, the literature, notably in the field of psychology, employs the typology of personal /
organisational conflicts. That, implicitly, adopts the perspective of organisational identity and
behaviour, if not personality as well, separate from and beyond those facets of the individuals
comprising the organisation (i.e., its members rather than its stakeholders).
There is not a great array of literature either which examines conflict by addressing
differences between the natures of different societies i.e. their cultures. Although some
attention has been given to such differences impacts on the management and resolution of
conflict, causal aspects remain rather un(der)-investigated. This paper endeavours to take a
small step in that domain.
CONFLICT
Two individuals, an individual and a group, or two groups, are said to be in conflict when and
to the extent that at least one of the parties feels it is being obstructed or irritated by the other
van de Vliert (1998). More popularly, Deutsch (1973) defines conflict as incompatible
behaviour between parties whose interests differ. In a capitalist business context, such
differing of interests may arise through opportunistic endeavours to appropriate a greater
share of a finite total benefit for self, which Cox (1999) articulates as, Essentially, business is
about appropriating value for oneselfonly by having the ability to appropriate value from
relationships with otherscan business be sustained.mustbe conflicts of interest
between vertical participants in supply chains, just as there are between those competing
horizontally..
A common theme in the array of definitions of conflict is anticipated or actual frustration of one
actor perceived by that actor to be caused by the actions or inactions of another(s) which
impact on the formers potential outcomes often couched in terms of goal attainment (see,
e.g., McKenna, 2000: 407). Thus, the presence of conflict arises from negative feelings.
Thus, Amason, Hochwarter, Thompson and Harrison (2000), determine that, within
management teams, conflict may be classified as cognitive (regarding intellectual / technical
issues) or affective (concerning subjective / emotional aspects). Such typology is reflected in
much of the pragmatic conflict resolution literature (e.g. Fisher and Ury, 1991) which
advocates focus on cognitive issues to achieve resolution due to the
negative/blocking/destructive potential of the affective aspects.

Further, conflict may be classified in terms of its effects either functional/constructive or

dysfunctional/destructive. Functional conflict, somewhat akin to competition (actors have a
common objective, even if the outcome is of win-lose form, as in construction bidding) is
believed to stimulate ideas, innovation etc, as it is regarded as a motivator. Dysfunctional
conflict, however, yields the well-known consequences which are detrimental to relationships
and technical performance.
There are three main perspectives on conflict. The traditional, functionalist perspective
regards conflict negatively as disruptive and so, harmful. Behaviourists are neutral,
regarding conflict between individuals and groups as inevitable and differences in the
consequences of conflict arise through differences between people perceptions,
personalities, interests/expertise, and goals. Interactionists view conflict as carrying out
useful functions to ensure social dynamism and to enhance decisions; however, the conflict
should be managed, including the amount of conflict.
Generally, sources of conflict tend to follow the classification developed by Robbins (1974) of
communication, structure and personal factors. In addition to the well-known communications
issues which may give rise to conflict semantic differences, difficulties, insufficient or excess
information, noise, and filtering of information (distortion, withholding, etc.) other aspects
including indexicality (see, e.g., Clegg, 1992), choice of channel(s), and the nature of the
language (high content high context) impact also. The structural factors comprise:
size and constituent members of the group the more diverse, the more scope for
conflict,
ambiguity correlated with conflict,
leadership participatory may encourage conflict,
rewards win/lose system is conducive to conflict,
interdependency emphasising common goals reduces conflict which, otherwise,
may arise through diversity of expertise and interests,
changes to structure and/or processes people tend to resist change, especially if
they view the consequences as detrimental.
Personal factors include personality characteristics (traits, etc.) and peoples value systems
(fundamentals of culture).
Various models of the conflict process have been advanced notably, the bargaining model,
the bureaucratic model and the systems model which Pondy (1967) examines to produce the
episodic model. Alternatively, van de Vliert (1998) examines the content and operation of the
escalation (and de-escalation) model. The models acknowledge that conflict incidents
(episodes) are not individual, isolated events but cycle iteratively, each episode having
antecedents and quite enduring consequences, the latter impacting on persons dispositions
and so, inputting to antecedents for future conflict episodes, the subject(s) of which may be
proximate or distant. The escalation / de-escalation perspective is determined by how an
episode is managed and so, yields the nature of an episodes consequences as future
antecedents.
Generally, five generic styles of conflict management (handling / coping) are considered
Avoiding (unassertive and uncooperative), Competing (assertive and uncooperative),
Collaborating (assertive and cooperative), Accommodating (unassertive and cooperative),
and Compromising (mid-assertive and mid-cooperative). Those styles fill the two dimensional
space of conflict management between axes of assertiveness and cooperativeness (Thomas,
1992).
Avoiding involves suppression of the conflict matter or/and withdrawal so that the conflict
matter is not addressed and may remain dormant or festering for others to resolve.
Competing takes the form of a zero-sum game in which own interests may be pursued
aggressively by use of authority, power, etc. Collaborating seeks to follow mutuality in
seeking a solution to yield a non-zero-sum game and to preserve or, even, enhance
relationships by striving together for a solution. Accommodating resembles appeasement by
subjugating own interests to those of the other(s) which tends to take the form of a zero-sum

game. Compromising, again, seems to be a zero-sum game of give and take to yield a
solution of balanced gains and losses for each.
Conflict behaviour, then, is a persons outward reaction to the conflict which is felt/perceived
so, the components of such behaviour are interrelated. Interpersonal conflicts really are
complex situations in which different motives and concerns about own goals, the reaction with
the other, others goals, as well as short and long-term objectives, direct behaviour
(Euwema and van Emmerik, 2007).
Sherif (1967) found that indentifying and pursuing a superordinate goal(s) is effective in
resolving inter-group conflict the groups identify a common problem which dominates and,
to resolve which, cooperation between them is required. However, significant disparity in the
distribution of power between the groups may preclude such resolution.
Conflicts arise between and are resolved by people. Given the likely performance depleting
effects of affective conflict but the potential performance enhancement through good
management of cognitive conflict, managers should endeavour to prevent affective conflict,
whilst recognising the great potential for the conflict types to become mixed in practice. For
such management of people to be possible, comprehension of their cultures, which lead to
the behaviour and communications giving rise to conflict, is essential.
CULTURE
Simplistically, culture is how we do things around here (Schneider, 2000). However, culture
is not merely how things are done, the scope is much more extensive to include what is
done, why things are done, when, by whom.... Thus, Hofstede (1994a) defines culture as,
the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes one category of people from
another. Hofstede (1980, 2001) applies the definition to the two primary levels of culture
analyses the nation and the organisation. Although the dimensions employed for assessing
culture differ between the two categories, because the superficial manifestations must be
addressed for such assessments, the fundamental underpinnings in beliefs and values apply
to both. Further, organisational culture is embedded in the national culture of the
organisations domestic location an increasingly fuzzy perspective with internationalisation
and globalisation as well as being impacted by the institutional environments in which it has
operated (Oliver, 1997).
Alongside the many definitions of culture, there exists an array of sets of dimensions which
are variously employed to measure culture (national / organisational); many of the metrics are
intended to yield relative measures on the dimensions. Given the content of the enduring
significant debate, it seems appropriate to regard the resulting measurements as indicators,
rather than absolute, accurate quantifications. That perspective is extended by the
recognition that within group variances frequently exceed between group variances a vital
consideration in comparative analyses (Au, 2000).
Cultures comprise beliefs, values and norms which are shared by members of a community
and adopted by them through their socialisation and education. Models of culture often depict
physiological instincts and beliefs at the core (survival imperatives; religion, morality etc.),
values as the intermediate layer (the hierarchical ordering of aspects of beliefs, perhaps with
visions of trade-offs) and behaviour at the outer layer of culture manifestations (as in
language, symbols, heroes, practices, artefacts, etc.).
The beliefs are statements about reality that individuals accept as true, values are
generalised principles of behavior to which people feel strong positive or negative emotional
commitment, and norms are shared rules of standards regarding the extent to which specific
behaviors are to be considered socially acceptable Wagner and Moch (1986). Given the
nature of the major components of culture typology, it is clear that variability within determined
cultural boundaries (geographical, etc.) may be large, especially at the surface of
manifestations (behaviour, norms, etc.).

Hofstede (1980) determined four dimensions for national cultures: Power Distance,
Individualism/Collectivism, Masculinity/Femininity, and Uncertainty Avoidance.
A fifth
dimension of Long-Termism / Short-Termism was added later (Hofstede, 1994b) following
studies in Asia which found important impacts of Confucian Dynamism (The Chinese Culture
Connection, 1987).
Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997) advance five value-oriented dimensions of culture
which, they suggest, greatly influence our ways of doing business and managing as well
as our responses in the face of oral dilemmas. Those dimensions are: Universalism
Particularism (rules-relationships), Collectivism Individualism (groupindividual), Neutral
Emotional (feelings expressed), Diffuse Specific (degree of involvement), and Achievement
Ascription (method of giving status).
Hofstede (1994b) proposes six dimensions for analysis of organisational cultures:
Process Results Orientation (technical and bureaucratic routines {can be diverse}
outcomes {tend to be homogeneous})
Job Employee Orientation (derives from societal culture as well as influences of
founders, managers)
Professional Parochial (more highly educated personnel identify with profession(s)
people identify with employing organisation)
Open Closed System (ease of admitting new people, styles of internal and external
communications)
Tight Loose Control (degrees of formality, punctuality etc., may depend on
technology and rate of change)
Pragmatic Normative (how to relate to the environment, n.b. customers; pragmatism
encourages flexibility).
Cameron and Quinn (1999) employ a competing values model in which flexibility and
discretion are juxtaposed to stability and control on one dimension; the other dimension
juxtaposes internal focus and integration and external focus and differentiation. The resultant
model yields four quadrants, each denoting a type of organisational culture: Clan, Adhocracy,
Market, Hierarchy.
Scrutiny of the various dimensions used to analyse both national and organisational cultures
indicates considerable conceptual commonality. Additionally, Hofstedes dimensions of
organisational culture align with the human relations task schools of management thought
(e.g., Herzberg, Mausner and Bloch Snyderman, 1967 theory X and theory Y). Notably,
organisational cultures are embedded within the national culture of the home country, hence,
the manifestations along dimensions of organisational culture are underpinned by, and
embedded in, those pertaining to national culture.
As societies are increasingly dynamic, so are cultures. Thus, especially when employing
cross-sectional data or findings, the potential impacts on the culture due to forces of change
must be acknowledged. The dynamism arises from the continual construction and
reconstruction of culture as the context for setting goals, taking action, making meaning,
constructing images and forming identities (akin to structuration, Giddens, 1984), which
operates in an iterative, interdependent way.
Cultures evolve in path-dependent directions, occasionally punctuated by periods of stability
and by rapid, step-type changes, The evolution of culture is shaped by agency and power,
but cannot be created by fiat (Weeks and Gulunic, 2003). However, despite agreement
that cultural evolution occurs, espoused approaches to culture interventions are more
commonly revolutionary in nature (Harris and Ogbonna, 2002). When faced with change,
most people exhibit strong preference for the familiar and so, tend to resist; if change does
occur, there is a strong tendency to revert to prior norms.
Cameron and Quinn (1999) consider that organisations may not exhibit a single, unitary
culture and that measures used for strengths of cultures are subject to significant question.

However, Schneider (2000) does assert that every successful organisation has a core culture
(control; collaboration; competence; cultivation) which is central to its functioning echoing
the findings of Peters and Waterman (1982) whose findings have proved somewhat
questionable.
Perspectives on changes in cultures span two extremes. Functionalists believe that
organisational culture can be controlled by management directly and so, are instrumental in
promoting the cultural basis for determining organisational performance. The alternative
perspective regards culture as a context within which action must be taken and so,
necessitates compatibility of action with the cultural environment. However, a third category
is the perspective that culture is malleable and so, may be adapted albeit that adaptations
are likely to be difficult, replete with ethical problems, and require effort over long periods.
Importation of alien methods etc., commonly generates rapid rejection whether overt (such
as refusal to comply) or implicit (such as in low levels of performance). However, even the
most carefully devised and conducted change initiatives are likely to have unanticipated
consequences including ritualisation of change, cultural erosion, hijacking of the process,
and uncontrolled and uncoordinated effects (Harris and Ogbonna, 2002).
Thus, cultural sensitivity towards the people affected and the processes and norms of their
behaviour and operations is required in order that initiatives which are intended to aid the
situation through enhancing relationships and performance are not, of themselves, significant
contributors to detrimental outcomes.
PROJECT PERFORMANCE
In construction, a vital consideration is the impact of culture on what performance is achieved
and measured against pre-determined, culturally-bound, targets.
Those targets are
determined by project participants and depend upon their values within the project realisation
as undertaken by a temporary multi organisation (TMO) which operates with significantly
transient membership of both individuals and organisations whose influence waxes and
wanes according to the realisation process and its stages as well as the fluid power
structuring of the TMO.
Traditionally, issues regarding the workings of a TMO (Tavistock, 1966) stem from its nature
(temporariness and diverse membership) and its context (operating in a capitalist market
environment). The context promotes opportunistic, self-interest oriented behaviour, whilst
also imposing parameters and constraints which are largely institution-determined law,
codes of conduct, behavioural norms, etc. The nature of the TMO is manifested in its
structure, both formal and informal, dispositions, experiences and, hence, expectations of its
members which evolve as the project is realised and the nature of the TMO changes
commensurately. Thus, given the membership of the TMO, its nature is of an alliance form,
wherein relationships impact on performance and are determined by objectives (n.b.
congruence), risk, trust, culture, etc.
Formally, the structure and activities of the TMO and its individual members is determined by
the procurement approach adopted (see, e.g., Masterman, 2002); although structures and
membership varies, data/information requirements, interactions and requisite processing and
outputs are common. In any event, it is acknowledged that, although formal systems specify
and provide the structural framework, most performance is achieved through the informal
system (Tavistock, 1966), through the generic functional perspective depicted in figure1. The
temporariness suggests that it is common for the members not only to be in transient
relationships in the particular TMO but for such contact between them to be unique they
have not worked together before and are unlikely to do so again that fosters self-oriented,
opportunistic behaviour.
Performance of construction projects falls into two categories project performance (the
functioning of the completed project in occupation and use) and project management

performance (relating to the realisation process, usually using time, cost, quality metrics).
Performance in both categories is determined by design of the project how the building
functions in use; constructability, etc. Focussing on the realisation process, the hard, often
quantified, measurements are both impacted and supplemented by soft, subjective
measurements.
It is helpful to note that many of the hard, apparently objective,
quantifications (n.b. time, cost) result from negotiations between actors and so, are not
objective in a positivistic sense.

REGULATION:

CLIENT
FUNCTIONS

Law
BRIEF

DESIGN
FUNCTIONS

Town Planning
Building Control

DESIGN
Health & Safety

CONSTRUCTION
FUNCTIONS

Environmental

PERFORMANCE
(FEEDBACK)

Figure 1: The Project Realisation Process

Note: (1)

Performance leads to satisfaction of participants and, hence, (perspectives of)

project success.

(2)

Performance-Satisfaction-Success also produces feedforward in the cycling of

project data and information to aid realisations of future projects through
participants perception-memory-recall filtering (experiences).

Much in the construction literature, reinforced by anecdotal evidence, asserts the importance
of satisfying the client. That raises a number of questions, including:
Who is the client? normally, the commissioning client.
What does the client want? should be identified in the brief; but may not be known
and quite likely to change.
What is the hierarchy of wants? should be identified in the brief.
What are the parameters? determined by analysis of the environment and
limitations noted in the brief (e.g. fianance).
What about the desires/needs/business imperatives of other project participants?
usually ignored.
What flexibilities exist? usually ignored.
Ireland (2004) notes that clientsdo not always fully understand their demand
profile..construction companies are effectively the integrator for a myriad of construction
supply chains[and]Adversarialism and opportunism are rife at all stages.
Often, performance is reported as falling significantly below expectations. Reasons proffered
include inadequate briefing, poor design, lack of productivity in the construction process, lack
of constructability, poor coordination, lack of skill, institutional/regulatory framework, claims
(see, e.g., Green and Siminster, 1999; Rooke, Seymour and Fellows, 2003). Although value
management and value engineering have been employed on some projects, their specialist
application, beyond cost planning by quantity surveyors, has not been extensive. When
value-oriented analytic methods have been applied, they tend to adopt a single participant

perspective, usually relating to the commissioning client, and to freeze the value hierarchy at
the time of executing the study at a particular stage in project realisation often, later in the
design phase than desirable (see, e.g., Green and Popper, 1990; Kelly, Male and Graham,
2004).
However, even if value structures are accurately determined for briefing (nb, values of the
commissioning client), the likelihood of powerful others (somewhat) imposing their own value
structures on the project during realisation is likely to yield outcomes different from those
determined initially. A consequence is that cognitive dissonance (Festinger, 1957) is likely to
occur and constitute an element of the value perceived (for both the suppliers and the
consumers). Such comparisons and their consequences for value perceptions constitute a
significant area of risk for project participants and, due to the differing interests/objectives, are
likely to promote conflict.
SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS
By far the most common basis on which project participants are finally selected by the
commissioning client and close advisors, irrespective of the procurement approach
remains lowest bid price under (selective) competition. For large projects, single or multistage selective tendering is employed; open tendering is very uncommon. Often, similar
methods are used to select design consultants although the appropriateness of such is highly
questionable given that those consultants are engaged for their design skills; their fees, as a
component of total cost to the commissioning client, are small and so, differences between
bids are negligible.
In the pre-selecting of participants for the realisation of construction projects prior to price
competitive bidding, the criteria remain firmly founded in the perceived technical
expertise/capability of the organisations; the ability of the organisations to integrate and
cooperate to work together to deliver the project effectively and efficiently remains, almost
invariably, ignored (Baiden, Price and Dainty, 2006). Nicolini (2002) notes five categorical
factors which are critical to success and superior performance of cross-functional teams
task design, group composition, organisational context, internal processes, and group
psychosocial traits. Those factors are important contributors to project chemistry, which is a
range of antecedent variables necessary for project management success. Dainty, Bryman,
Price, Greasley, Soetanto and King (2005) assert that project affinity, emotional attachments
to the project intended outcome (objectives/purpose), enhances how people work, especially
their organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB), thereby fostering performance. Both
constructs are culturally-bound and, to their degrees of presence, enhance performance via
team formation and commitment of personnel.
Within price bidding by pre-selected contractors, it is common for opportunistic approaches to
be adopted in attempting to submit the lowest acceptable bid but incorporating potential for
future price and profit enhancement due to anticipated occurrences during the construction
phase (Rooke et al. 2003; 2004). Such opportunism includes variation spotting, claims
potential and bid loading (usually, front-end) (Fellows, Langford, Newcombe and Urry, 2002).
Further manipulations to improve cash flows include endeavours to over-value interim
payments. In respect of cost reducing means of enhancing profit, contractors have employed
pay-when-paid provisions, late payments (unilateral extensions of credit), deducting
discounts illegitimately, and Dutch auctioning / bid shopping with subcontractors and
suppliers. All such business ploys are likely to invoke conflict in the longer term, if not on
the instant project (depending on evolution of economic conditions) and, once discovered,
impact on the attraction of trading with that organisation in the future.
Increasingly, multi-national projects are undertaken through formal alliances between the
primary participants. However, even if no formal alliance is executed, the interdependence
between the activities of the participants requires informal alliancing. Given the high
incidence of failures amongst formal alliances, identification and avoidance of reasons for

failures are important together with pursuit of potential for success, notably, selection of
partners.
Trust is always an element in the decision to engage in a (business) relationship, whether the
source(s) of trust be founded in legal/contractual mechanisms, in institutions (Hagen and
Choe, 1998; Bachmann, 2001), or in individuals singly or in combination. Buckley and
Casson (1995: 127) define cooperation as, coordination effected through mutual
forbearance. Here, forbearance is refraining from cheating, both weak cheating and strong
cheating. Cheating, then, may be considered as encompassing the risks involved in business
activities. Hence, trust may be considered to be adequate confidence on the part of the
subject actor/participant that the other participant(s) will not cheat, that is distinct from
assurance which is provided through constraints imposed by the formal framework (e.g.,
contract provisions).
Uncertainty and trust are the two primary constructs which affect formal alliance relationships
and their institutional arrangements (Sheth and Parvatiyar, 1992). Bachmann (2001)
examines trust and power as means for social control within business relationships.
Bachmann notes that today, trust based on individual actors integrity can only fulfil a
supplementary function, compared with trust produced by institutional arrangements. Strong
institutional arrangements are demonstrated to foster the development of trust, whilst,
otherwise, business actors resort to power to safeguard their interests through actual or
perceived, potential conflict and outcomes thereof.
DISCUSSION
As in many areas of management, the majority of research on conflict, culture and
performance has been embedded in Western perspectives researchers, context(s) or both;
only recently have studies addressed the issues from other perspectives and in other contexts.
Culture research strongly acknowledges the importance of context, methods, etc. in
considering the transferability of findings that caveat is vital in the context of this paper.
It is acknowledged widely that, once conflict is aroused (the episode becomes manifest), it is
difficult to control. Such difficulties are likely to expand geometrically in multi-cultural settings
according to cultural distance perspectives and where the stakes are high, as on large, multinational construction projects, especially those with high political profiles. Appreciation of the
cultural contexts is essential to prevent felt / latent conflicts from festering such that they
become manifest only when they have, effectively, reached the stage of dispute and so, are
likely to have destructive effects. Such situations are more likely to arise in cases where
actors from cultures where preserving (overt) harmonious relationships are important the
more collectivist and higher power distance cultures.
Although research has portrayed Eastern cultures as collectivist, high power distance, they do
seem subject to quite rapid change in certain behaviour. Thus, conflict management styles
of Chinese managers or executives have switched from the adoption of the compromising or
withdrawal approach to the confrontation approacheffective in handling conflict, especially
the intergroup conflict and the outcome is usually constructive to an organisation Cheung and
Chuah (1999). That contrasts with the findings of Tang and Kirkbride (1986) who found that
Chinese executives preferred to use the compromising and withdrawal approaches. Of
course, (some of) the change could be attributable to methods of research or/and temporal
proximity of the reversion of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China. However, Cheung and
Chuah note that many firms remain owned by the same families or clans in which
autocracy in decision making and conflict resolution is still very much the norm.
Mwaura, Sutton, and Roberts (1998), from studying staff at a major hotel in Beijing, found that
both Chinese managers and operative staff did not want to accept responsibility, even if they
had appropriate authority, but preferred to pass the responsibility to expatriate managers.
That finding raises questions over the effectiveness of empowerment in culturally-ordered
hierarchies, especially where persons from individualistic cultures head the structure (as in a

multi-national hotel chain, and on many major, multi-national construction projects) that
concerns both design of the management structure for effectiveness and efficiency and the
potential for role conflict through persons failing to exercise appropriate positional power
(French and Raven, 1959).
On construction projects, it is common for there to be two, quite enduring, causes of conflict.
Due to the nature of TMOs, akin to matrix organisations, the potential for role conflicts are
very high any person is likely to be subject to incompatible role demands, or perceived
expectations, from others on the project and from stakeholders beyond the immediate
boundary of the project. The other common issue is competition for resources (aggregate
demand for resources on the project exceeds current supply); although competition is, itself,
different from conflict, such immediate scarcities yield conflicts amongst interest groups
commonly addressed by a bargaining approach which, of course, may include a significant
element of power invocation to achieve the resolution of the conflict episode.
Clearly, many of the typologies of conflict denote categories which, in practice, are likely to
become interactive in a conflict episode. An important component of endeavouring to
manage conflict is the recognition of the categories and to manipulate the progression of the
episode such that category types which are likely to have destructive effects are avoided,
minimised or terminated early and quickly so that the focus is the potentially productive
effects. Following the analysis of Amason et al. (1995), that involves minimising affective
conflict (which would result in reduced progress, poorer decisions, reduced commitment,
decreased cohesiveness and decreased empathy) and so, keeping the conflicts which do
arise (inevitably?) as cognitive conflicts (resulting in better decisions, increased commitment,
increased cohesiveness, increased empathy and understanding). That requires managers to
ensure that (subordinate) groups remain focussed on core issues and, through concentration
on cognitive aspects and minimisation of affective aspects, the problems and be identified
and addressed quickly to arrive at good solutions. Reactive/proactive management is
necessary to achieve such outcomes.
Within the domain of culture research, the analysis of individualism collectivism into vertical
and horizontal components is germane. Individualism-collectivism (IC) is often adopted as a
primary measure to distinguish the characteristic behaviours of people (e.g. see Triandis,
1995; Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 1997). IC is a bi-polar construct where an
individualist considers his/her personal interests more important than the interests of a group.
On the other hand, a collectivist values membership of a group and looks for the benefits to
the group even at the expense of his/her own personal interests (see, e.g., Hofstede, 1980,
1994b). Collectivists are members of very few in-groups and are highly loyal and positively
disposed to other members; individualists may have loose membership of many in-groups but
are tied much less to each one.
Gomez, Kirkman and Shapiro (2000) explain that people in collectivist cultures favour ingroup members but discriminate against out-group members. Individualism is characterised
as low concern for collectivity coupled with low concern for in-group others. Both
individualism and collectivism may be differentiated into vertical and horizontal components;
horizontal components emphasise equality whilst vertical components emphasise hierarchy
(Triandis and Gelfand, 1998). They note that vertical individualists stress competition and
hedonism, horizontal individualists stress self reliance; vertical collectivists tend to be
authoritarian and traditional, horizontal collectivists stress sociability and interdependence.
Chen, Meindl and Hunt, 1997 assert that Because the vertical scale items refer to work
situations and the horizontal scale items primarily refer to non-work situations, one may
speculate that the Chinese are becoming organizational individualists even though they are
still cultural collectivists in other domains. That finding, which may be extended to the
Asian Tiger economies, could be consequential upon their rapidly rising levels of
industrialisation and wealth (e.g. Triandis, 1990; Hofstede, 1983, 1994b:75). Hofstede (1983)
notes the correlation between wealth and individualism in various countries and continues
that Collectivist countries always show large Power Distances but Individualist countries do
not always show small Power Distance.

10

Sama and Papamarcos (2000) conduct a meta-analysis on the predictive power of IC on

allocative behaviours and call for an understanding of how to design management systems
that are most effective, given any particular cultural setting. From the perspective of conflict
management, people from individualistic cultures prefer dominating or obliging styles while
those from collectivistic cultures adopt avoiding or integrating styles (Kaushal and Kwantes,
2006). However, traditional Chinese organisations are hierarchical, large power distance with
centralised, autocratic decision making and so, internally at least, promote more assertive and
less accommodative styles of dealing with conflict; externally, the cultural and institutional
factors (including face and guanxi) dominate (see, e.g., Earley, 1997). Thus, overtly,
people from collectivistic cultures..[are]..more likely to utilize the avoidance conflict
management strategy with the goal of maintaining a positive relationshipcollectivistic
cultures tend to emphasize harmony (high power distance) (Kaushal and Kwantes, 2006).
Thus, in selection of persons and organisations with whom to conduct transactions, there is
much evidence indicating that compatibility is essential. That concerns both the selection
processes and the execution of the transaction(s) and is particularly important where
transactions are enduring. One element is minimisation of cultural distance (see, e.g.,
Fellows and Liu, 2006) which, for multi-national construction projects, may not be feasible; the
other is to secure iterculturally competent partners who have the ability to think and to act in
ways which are appropriate to the cultures involved, individually and in combination.
Such intercultural competence is more likely amongst actors who are adventurist to desire
and explore new situations which are, then, considered to be challenging (thus, postitivised)
rather than threatening (emphasising negative possibilities). Thus, adventurism is conducive
to Cultural empathythe ability to empathize with the feelings, thoughts and behaviors of
members of different cultural groups.related with extraversion, agreeableness and
intellectual autonomy. Agreeableness is also a key component of cooperative behaviors..,
and intellectual autonomy with creative problem solving. Expect that this cultural empathy is
associated with cooperative approaches in conflict management. (Euwema and van Emmerik,
2007).
CONCLUSIONS
The nature of construction TMOs transience of membership etc. and the behavioural
consequences seems to be mitigated by evolving industry structure larger and multidisciplinary organisations such that it is increasingly common for members of a TMO to
have had previous working contacts and expect more in the future thereby fostering a more
interdependent perspective to impact on behaviour. Thus, the less isolated / independent the
individual/organisation perceives themselves to be, the more attention and consideration
which is likely to be given to the welfare of others in determining behaviour towards them
exacerbated by institutional factors (as discussed by, e.g., Bachmann, 2001).
It seems helpful to consider any (array of) conflict episode(s) in terms of sources (persons),
causes (reasons), mechanisms (processes), and effects (outcomes/consequences). The
persons are those individuals, whether as themselves or as agents of organisations, and, if so,
the organisations too, who are involved in the conflict episode. The reasons may be
classified as personal (which give rise to affective conflict) or technical (which yield cognitive
conflict); now, given the almost universal environment of market capitalism, the technical
causes may be classified as business (generic objectives and activities in the market
capitalist environment) or technological (the particular activities of the (sub-)industry). The
mechanism concerns how the episode arises, progresses and terminates and the effects are
what remains after termination of the episode regarding people, organisations, business and
technology.
In selecting others to engage in the realisation of construction projects, the criteria, quite
appropriately, are founded in technical abilities. However, such abilities comprise two
elements abilities in the particular, technological discipline (architecture, engineering, etc.
design; construction) and business abilities (as manifested in submitting low(est) bid) the

11

former are employed in pre-selection whilst the latter are used to determine which preselected contender is employed. The former abilities are specialisms and so, are
complimentary and must be integrated whist the latter are competitive / conflictual and so,
must be managed / reconciled to yield acceptability amongst all participants.
Further, in selecting those others with whom to embark on multi-national projects, two related
personality factors seem important adventurism and cultural empathy. Adventurist persons
regard differences as challenges (and so, likely to be motivational), rather than threats,
therefore fostering the positive potential of competition and conflict. Cultural empathy,
invokes sensitivity to others and preparedness and ability to operate in differing environments,
accepting and responding positively, but not unquestioningly, to secure reasoned and
appropriate changes to processes etc. to enhance performance in a situational / contingent
way. Combination of those two traits should yield significant, positive outcomes on multinational projects through building on motivations, trust and preparedness to cooperate.
The essence transpires to be selecting appropriate participants who are prepared to be
sensitive, flexible and adventurous and with cultural empathy to accepts different value
structures and procedural systems to realise projects in which the project functional
performance requirements may be significantly different from participants domestic norms.
Further, that their behaviour will adhere to pursuit of the value structure established for the
project and its realisation with changes that occur only through informed, reasoned and
accepted dynamism, from a collaborative perspective rather than the usual self-oriented and
opportunistic exercising of power. That should, also, lead to proactive approaches to conflict
to secure any envisaged positive consequences but avoiding negative ones notably, by
maintaining attention on the cognitive issues and preventing affective aspects from taking
hold; that includes incorporating foresight towards potential disputes and so, resolve such
issues before a dispute can take hold.
Thus, successful management of conflict must be sensitive to the objectives of the
participants, their behavioural characteristics and preferences/norms (derived from culture)
and, in so doing, overtly acknowledge the existence of conflicts as early as possible so that
management of conflict is both active and appropriate.
PROSPECTIVE RESEARCH AGENDA
The analysis and conclusions of this paper indicate that a number of important gaps exist
which suggest a research agenda as follows:
Identification and appropriate quantifications of the sources, causes and effects of
conflict episodes, acknowledging that these may be culturally-specific and so,
studies may relate to particular cultural contexts, potentially with subsequent metaanalysis.
Research into relationships between cultural distances between participants and the
incidences, natures, and effects of conflicts/disputes; preferably, the examinations
of cultural distances would use individual dimensions rather than an aggregate
index. That study could be extended to address measures of performance and
stakeholder satisfaction.
Measurement of compatibility amongst project participants, potentially as an index, with
respect to participant selection to minimise negative conflict.
Research into the hierarchy of performance criteria, categorised as business,
technology, and relational, in various cultures with attention to the values espoused
by the participants.
Investigation of the evolution (changes) in performance criteria for projects during the
project realisation processes and of the consequences of such changes for the
stakeholders.

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