Evaluating the preventability of conflicts arising from change occurrence in construction projects

Purpose Although several studies have evaluated effective factors for conflict occurrence, researchers have developed few methods of determining preventive capacities and determining preventive measures on the basis of an analysis of chain of risks that cause conflict. The purpose of this paper is to devise a mechanism for conflict prevention by evaluating chain of risks that cause conflict and different conflict types. Design/methodology/approach Efforts centered on facilitating the prevention conflicts through analyzing the effects of chain of risks on change causes, decomposing the mixture of conflict types in each conflict and determining the contribution of each conflict type to conflict creation. Findings The paper expands the existing body of knowledge on conflict management through the determination of complex relationships, namely, the relationship between conflict causes and project parties and the coherence between project parties and conflict types. Originality/value A practical example is analyzed to demonstrate the proposed approach capabilities. The results showed that using the developed approach to determine conflict type can serve as a means of control in projects and the developed approach can be incorporated into construction contracts as a conflict resolution mechanism. This paper presents an understanding of complex relationships among the chain of risks which cause conflict, the important players in conflict management process and different conflict types. It also provides a basis to select an effective management method for each conflict.