Improved Collaboration between Contractor and Engineering Agency to Realize an Integral Design
Year: 2021
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This research aims to identify what is most important to focus on to improve the collaboration between contractors and engineering agencies. Research is done on different collaborative relationships, but the contractor and engineering agency collaboration is relatively new, as it did not exist before the major contractual change from traditional contracts to integrated contracts. The most commonly used integrated contract is the design and construct contract, which therefore is the contract focused on in this research. As project managers are the ones who facilitate collaboration, the main research question is defined as: ‘How can project managers improve the collaboration between contractors and engineering agencies in a design and construct contract in order to realize a better integral design?’ The collaborative process between the two organizations is identified, which in the Netherlands is contractually based upon The New Rules (DNR 2011). The iterative process to realize an integral project design is carried out by a project team, which is supported by the usage of digital systems and managed focusing on the project design and outcome. This collaborative process can be facilitated by several collaboration conditions, of which the most and least important ones to improve the collaboration are identified. This means that the research is focused on what is most important to improve the collaboration, and not what is most important within the collaboration. The collaboration conditions ranked highest are the basis of the three views that are most important to improve the collaboration: project driven members, similar project focus and integral overview. These views are the starting point of six managerial implications that a project manager should implement in the collaborative design process to improve the collaboration between contractors and engineering agencies. Although applying these managerial implications into the process do not guarantee an improved collaborative relationship, they can be seen as the most important aspects to focus on.
Author: William L. Benard
Language: English
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Technische Universiteit Delft
OpenAlex ID: W3203902151