A Study Of Decision-making Model For Construction Dispute Resolution

In China, practitioners in the construction industry possess a poor awareness in disputes prevention and construction disputes are popular. What is more, they lack such a systematic decision-making approach in dispute resolution. The adverse consequence of construction dispute has already been common knowledge. Namely, it not only costs the disputants plenty of time and money in dispute resolution, but also the amicable cooperation relationship and the project's continuous execution will be impacted as a result of the dispute's escalation.In the current context of international financial crisis, the State Council put forward the $4000 Billion's Stimulus Package. Thus the coming of a new round of construction projects climax can be anticipated, accompanying with which is the increasing construction disputes. In order to reasonably resolve dispute and reduce unnecessary transactional costs in the construction process, and create as more construction investment's economic and social benefit as possible, it is necessary to research the factors influencing disputants'Decisions in Dispute Resolution (DDR) based on the practice in Chinese construction industry and work out the relevant decision-making model and helpful suggestions, which constitute the objectives of this dissertation.In view of the objectives, this dissertation summarized 25 factors influencing DDR by literature review and considering the situation in Chinese domestic construction industry. Afterward, 200 construction experts from owner, general contractor, subcontractor and consulting entities were invited to rate the degree of each factor's importance on a Likert scale. Then perform factor analysis to the experts'rating result and by virtue of factor analysis's functions of variables screening and clarification, 2 kinds of factors were deleted and the remaining 23 factors were grouped into 8 common factors, including benefit, justice environment, project background, business background, macro economy and culture, proof, experiences and precedents, and disputant. Later, the dissertation calculated every factor and common factor's score rated by different types of respondents, based on which the factors and common factors were sorted. By comparing the sequences, different types of respondents'characteristics in decision-making were analyzed and the critical factors and common factors influencing their DDR were identified.At the ending, the model for decision-making in dispute resolution was developed on the basis of the above findings. Following the general procedure from construction dispute's occurrence to resolution, this model analyzed the explicit contents of decisions and the relevant critical common factors in each course and the decision-making principles for each course were summarized as well. The model could facilitate the disputants to systematically analyze the construction dispute problem from many angles and all-round directions and help them grasp the crucial aspects and make the right DDR.