Cultural basic assumptions of consultants and contractors during negotiations

Abstract

Negotiations are required in every stage of a construction project. The process of negotiation involves being able to understand the position and emotions of the other side of the negotiation. A reliable means for understanding cultural basic assumptions on negotiation tactics assist in better predicting how individuals may act in a negotiation. This research aims to analyse the effect of basic assumptions of consultants and contractors on negotiations in the South Australian construction industry. This was approached through a case study research strategy, utilising semi-structured interviews with two contractors and two consultants each from three large South Australian Road projects followed by a Content Analysis. Findings reveal that both the contractors and consultants believe the nature of human relationships as collaborative and therefore view negotiations as a mean of strengthening the partnership. They negotiate openly to reach win-win outcomes. They view the nature of human nature to be good, therefore more trust and more openness to creative new ideas in negotiation planning. Respondents mostly believe the nature of the human activity to be harmonizing and are more likely to use trade-offs in reaching mutually beneficial negotiation outcomes. The knowledge created in this research will be useful for anyone preparing to negotiate within the South Australian construction industry or similar cultural setups to understand and predict how contractors and consultants would react to different situations and issues within negotiation processes and to achieve effective outcomes. Further research can study the basic assumptions of sub-contractors about negotiations.