Causes of Conflict in the South African Construction Industry

Abstract: The objective of this research was to determine the causes dispute and conflict within the South African construction industry. The research begins at looking at the reviewed literature. The data was collected through a questionnaire which was distributed to construction professionals based in South Africa. Ninety-one (91) questionnaires were received from one hundred and twenty (120) sent out, 76 per cent response rate.Mean item score was used to rank the findings. Based on the score ranking from the causes of conflict in the south African construction industry. Design errors as a cause revealed that cheap design team hired instead of quality design team was ranked 3,79, followed by inadequate briefing of the design team which was ranked 3,67, ranked last was inept design team with a rank of 3,47. This study revealed that contract variations are the number one causes of conflict; this is a known fact as the South African construction industry is known to have a problem with budget overrun. It is recommended that clients must ensure that their demand for design changes during the construction period should have no adverse effects on the critical activities so as to avoid causing delays

Keywords: Conflict, conflict management, South Africa, construction

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1002227

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