Browsing by Author "Nyarko, Matthew"

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    Conflicts in Construction Projects in Ghana: Analysis of Causes and Management Approaches
    (2015-03-03) Nyarko, Matthew
    The main aim of every client in construction projects is to attain a successful project, a project that has been properly planned, designed and constructed in accordance with plans and specifications, and completed within initially anticipated cost and time. But the realization of a construction project depends on a number of variables. One of them is how conflicts are approached when it arises. This dissertation looks at the causes and management approaches of conflicts in construction projects in Ghana. The main objective of the study is to identify internal conflicts and their causes. That is, conflicts among the project participants within the project team. To achieve the above objective, the study established from literature and survey critical symptoms of conflicts, factors causing them and the approaches used in resolving the conflicts. The study found that factors causing conflicts are in several forms. There are those related to the nature of contracts, where the contracts are unclear and ambiguous they give room for contracting parties to develop unscrupulous behaviour when post adjustments are needed. There are those factors which are accounted for by the role functions when the parties fail to perform as expected. As such the study confirmed that contractual incompleteness and consequent post contract adjustments and opportunistic behaviour of some construction project participants are root causes of conflicts in Ghana. Nonetheless, the study recognized that there are sufficient mechanisms to deal with conflicts in the standard forms of construction contracts used and when the provisions are against the interests of the parties, the parties resort to amicable resolution approaches. Although the availability of mechanisms in the standard forms of contracts to deal with conflicts, the study proposes a strategy that could be used to reduce the occurrences of conflicts in construction projects.