Collaboration Performance Improving Of Engineering Project In Mainland China

The construction industry is highly fragmented and the clients, contractors and other participators, who seem to have different interests, have composed the relationship that opposite to each other. Considering the facts, that the main collaboration mode of engineering project constructing is the traditional sponsorship and formal construction partnering has not been found in practice in mainland China, there are at lest two approaches in theory to achieve the collaboration improving. One is by improving the culture or\and management of collaboration under traditional organizing mode and the other is to practice construction partnering, which is target at improving project performance and relationship satisfaction.Researches on the collaborating of engineering project were collected and reviewed, including collaboration mode, collaborating contracts, collaborating performance, construction partnering and so on. Some face-to-face interviewing at related experts were carried on in Qingdao, Jinan and Shanghai to find out the practice of project collaborations in China mainland. Based on these a pilot questionnaire was made out including the questions on identity of collaborating performance, factors that might influence collaborating performance, empirical opinions on collaboration, characters of the project and characters of the interviewees. As the targets of this research is not only to explore factors influencing collaboration in traditional organizing mode but also to give a demand and adoptability analysis of construction partnering in China mainland, results and conclusions on construction partnering were referenced too in pilot questionnaire. A second face-to-face interviewing was executed to embody the pilot questionnaire, which have there editions, which different from each other only in appellations, separately for clients, contractors and project supervisorsIn June of 2005, 300 questionnaires and 100 each edition were sent out in Shanghai, Qingdao and Changsha and 273are qualified. There statuses of collaborating performance were identified, which are (1) successful collaboration:satisfied relationship with project targets achieved, (2) unstable collaboration: satisfied relationship with project targets abandoned, (3) unsuccessful collaboration: unsatisfied relationship with project targets abandoned. ANOVE analysis and cross-table tested the difference of the characters of project and interviewees among different performances statuses and no significant relations have been found. Factor analysis was conducted and 12 factors, which might influencing the success of traditional collaborating has been found among 48 variables, then discriminate analysis tested the differences of the factors among different status of collaborating performance. Among the 12 factors, factors of harmonious, risk, comprehending, trust, input, controlling and decision were found significant to different performance statuses. Frequency analysis was used last to compare and describe empirical opinions on collaboration.The results show that the understanding of collaborator's expectations and the activity of achieving the project with mutual trust differ the successful collaborations from the unsuccessful ones. And if there are enough resources supporting, clear and justice risk-benefit sharing , unambiguous decision resource and harmonious communication and conflict resolving, the satisfaction of relationship will not be affected even if the project targets had not been achieved.Then the influencing factors between traditional organizing mode and partnering mode were compared and the demand of construction partnering was analysis. Based on analysises of the Shanghai Expo engineering project, these conclusion were used to set up a quatitative index of collaboration management and a framework on construction partnering in China mainland, which give suggestions to the collabration practice of Shanghai Expo engineering project.The statistic method based on quantitative analysis was applied in the research of engineering project collaboration while the original related collaboration researchs in China mainland were mostly based on experiential conclusion. Therefor, more dependable results have been presented to the theory and practice of engineering project collaboration. Factorers influencing the collaborating performance has been tested to be the c ontrolling index of collaboratiing performance, which g ives more possibility to systematize the weak management of engineering project collaboration.Besides that, the demond and feasbility analysis as well as the suggestive guide of construction partnering, which based on the practice of present practice of engineering project collaboration, form the necessary knowledge of construction partnering actualization in China mainland.