Relevance of Partnering as an Alternative Approach to Management of Construction Projects in Ghana

Abstract

Understandably, clients in both the public and the private sectors in Ghanaian construction industry have become increasingly dissatisfied.  What they see is unpredictability and under-performance. What they receive is too often of poor quality, late and over-priced. More often contractors enter the construction project focusing on achieving their objectives and maximising their profit margins, with no regard for the impacts on others. This mind set leads to conflict, litigation and often a disastrous project. In the pursuit of performance excellence, there is a need for partnering. This paper therefore, attempts to explain the need for partnering as an alternative approach to construction project delivery. The paper presents a review of partnering projects in general. Through a postal and e-mailed questionnaire survey, opinions of various parties in Ghanaian construction industry – clients, sub-contractors and contactors were sought regarding construction project delivery and the level of use of partnering. This paper also explains the importance and benefits arising from partnering implementation as reviewed by the other researchers and concluded that, partnering is one of the most innovative developments in delivering a project efficiently and reducing disputes. It provides a sound basis for a ‘win – win’ climate and synergistic teamwork. By changing to a ’win – win’ style the parties can reap benefits of cost saving, profit sharing, quality enhancement and time management.

Keywords: Clients; Construction industry; Under-performance; Partnering; Win-win.