Partnering

The West’s response to Japan’s greater efficiency in major manufacturing industries Japan’s approach is based on cooperative, long term relationships Partnering in construction concentrates on establishing effective relationships It achieves high efficiency by everyone cooperating to achieve agreed objectives

Partnering Provides sets of actions which help construction project organizations adopt cooperative ways of working which deliver improved efficiency As initial actions are effective, further sets of actions build ever greater cooperation and efficiency

Project Partnering The most basic form of partnering Provides a set of actions designed to be applied to an individual project Suitable for people new to partnering

First Partnering Workshop Agrees mutual objectives Agrees decision making system Agrees a specific, measurable performance improvement

Decision Making System

First Partnering Workshop

Partnering Workshops At key stages in project Review progress Ensure mutual objectives and performance improvement are achieved Consider adopting more challenging objectives and improvements Solve all persistent problems

Development of Effective Teams

Strategic Partnering A group of companies partnering on a series of projects To achieve greater benefits than those delivered by project partnering

Seven Pillars of Partnering

Strategy The kind of buildings or infrastructure to be constructed The standard of their products and the technologies to be used Services to be provided for customers Plans for performance improvements Clear and fair financial plans Flexibility to cope with change

Membership Evaluate companies technological skills Check business characteristics include cooperative attitudes Aim for strengths which compliment rather than duplicate each other Potential for performance improvements Potential to develop new ideas

Equity Financial arrangements encourage long-term developments aimed at improved joint performance Fair distribution of costs and profits Reliable sources of finance Problems seen as opportunities Decisions based on long-term interests of all the companies

Integration Agree how the companies will work together Strategic team provides leadership and makes strategic decisions Aim to act as a single organization Well integrated information and communication systems Well organized meetings Interface teams for key activities

Project Processes Projects supported by standardised actions, processes and technologies Project organizations assembled quickly Construction teams work virtually automatically Relentless search for best practice based on feedback Flexible enough to deal with difficult problems

Performance Improvement Continuous measurable improvements in performance Benchmarks based on industry norms for all key aspects of performance Major steps forward driven by task forces

Feedback Strategic feedback Individual company feedback Project organization feedback Construction team feedback Formal systems to collect and act on feedback

Internal Partnering Companies change internal organization to support partnering Led by internal partnering team of senior managers Encourage the use of partnering on new projects Support construction teams in using cooperative behaviour

Strategic Collaborative Working A group of companies cooperate to develop a long-term business Formal agreement to develop a product and supporting services Led by strategic team of senior managers from all the companies Set and meet tough targets

Strategic Collaborative Working Working Organization

Partnering Performance

Efficient Partnering acts on the following propositions Reduce the number of teams involved Improve the quality of relationships Reduce performance variability Reduce external interference

Efficient Partnering acts on the following propositions Select teams competent in the technologies required by the project Ensure teams accept the agreed objectives Ensure teams are motivated to achieve agreed objectives Foster accurate communications between teams Minimise the effort needed to achieve accurate communications between teams

Efficient Partnering acts on the following propositions Minimise the length and intensity of negotiations over the transactions which bring teams into the project organization Ensure teams regard the transactions as advantageous to themselves Minimise the resources teams devote to improving the terms of the transactions which brought them into the project organization

Project using Partnering The project is to construct a new hotel on a virgin site. The hotel has 300 guest rooms and the other spaces expected in a 5* hotel The building is 10 stories high with a steel structural frame, concrete beam floors and roofs, and high quality, pre-fabricated external cladding.

TeamsTeam-days Brief180 Design14460 Plan 2100 Procurement9270 Manufacturing10200 Production Commissioning4140 TOTALS803500

For a project with 80 teams (N=80) Possible relationships = 80 x 79/2 = of these do not occur Actual relationships = 1122

Largest number of teams in one time interval is 23 in 21 st time interval They are constructing the service cores, risers and main plant, the main entrance and vertical circulation The work is supervised by design and construction management teams 34 x 33/2 = 253 possible relationships

During the 21 st time interval the following teams work simultaneously 2 out of 4 plan and control teams 3 out of 4 service core teams 4 out of 4 risers and main plant teams 6 out of 8 entrance and vertical circulation teams 1 out of 1 contracts and payment systems teams 2 out of 2 designer and construction manager’s supervision teams This gives a total of 18 teams with 153 relationships

Established Relationships Every team on a project has established relationships with at least one but often several other teams giving a total of 1023 established relationships Established Relationships Indicator E R =1023/1122=0.91

The relationship fluctuation indicator F E = 0.86 This reflects a strong influence of established relationships throughout the project because both E R and F E are comparatively high Partnering aims to build on and further enhance established relationships between project partners

Relationship Quality Indicator for established relationships ranges from 0.70 to 0.98 Total Relationship Quality Indicator 958/1122=0.85 The high number of established relationships together with the number of high values for individual Relationship Quality Indicators means the total Relationship Quality Indicator is good because there are only 99 boundary relationships in this project out of possible 1122

The project organisation is not overly complex There are 31 time intervals out of a potential maximum of 159 The intervals are relatively short in comparison to total project duration (prevent escalation of problems when teams interact for a prolonged period) Relationships configuration complexity indicator = 0.85

The past performance of the 80 teams over their previous 10 projects provides team Performance Variability Indicators which range from 0.65 to 1.0 Performance Variability Indicator Rp=0.89

Historical records for projects using Partnering gives External Interference Indicator = 0.74

Established Relationships E R =0.91 Relationship Fluctuation F E =0.86 Relationship Quality Q R =0.85 Relationship Configuration C R =0.85 Performance Variability R p =0.89 External Interference I=0.74 Project using Partnering