IMPLEMENTATION OF NEURO-LINGUISTIC PROGRAMME AS A NEW TRAINING INITIATIVE FOR PROJECT MANAGERS TO BETTER MANAGE CONSTRUCTION RELATED-DISPUTES DURING PROJECTS

Abstract

The ever-changing nature of the construction industry makes it a challenging feat to build sustainable relationships among the different stakeholders. The difficulty in building concrete relationships is further aggravated in adversarial settings found in site meetings, a noisy site and diverse organisations that compete against each other in the industry. The aforementioned factors thus highlight the existence of a complex communication network that is hard to navigate. Furthermore, when things go wrong on site, tension will arise among various parties - people start losing their temper and engage in defensive communication, leading to the start of the blaming game (Stephen Emmitt, Christopher A. Gorse, 2009). Subsequently, stress levels tend to accumulate and accelerate near the completion stage where the highest form of pressure is experienced. There is a possibility of incurring liabilities in terms of monetary losses due to failure in meeting the contracted completion date. In such a situation, parties involved may be overwhelmed with frustration, which exacerbates the issue of trust and diversity of interests, inevitably resulting in major disputes at the later stage (Stephen Emmitt, Christopher A. Gorse, 2009). Hence, the aim of this research is to highlight the issues faced within the multi-layered nature of the construction industry, specifically disputes that usually arise from poor communication. More importantly, the author hopes to identify the pros and cons of the various existing Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms used by the management level to resolve contractual issues. The author proposes an approach where Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) can be introduced as a complementary solution to help manage daily conflict or disputes on site. This may also strengthen the dispute management skills and communication skills of the site personnel. Hence, NLP’s feasibility as a new training initiative for the current and future project manager will be analysed in this dissertation. A qualitative research method has been chosen; mainly in the form of in-depth interviews with samples chosen based on the relevant occupations such as certified NLP practitioners, experienced industry leaders and young professionals of the construction industry.