Partnering requires considerable time, effort, and
commitment at all stages of a project. The use of a partnering strategy is the voluntary decision to which all team members agreed at the beginning of the project. Implementation steps for partnering could proceed in the following manner:
1. All parties should express their desire to perform the project
under a partnering agreement at the beginning of the project. The owner's intention of utilizing the concept should be mentioned in the bid solicitation and specifications. Any prebid conference should include a presentation on partnering. PARTNERING
2. There should be a meeting of top management of all
firms involved in the project in the early design stage. However, the executives at the CEO level should meet to discuss the partnering approach to managing the project. A commitment from the top of each organization is essential for partnering to work. PARTNERING
3. A partnering workshop/team building session should be
held in the very early stages of the project. Each member team should designate a partnering leader who would intend to participate in the workshop. All of the participants of the partnering workshop would develop and agree to a partnering charter which is a written list of the goals and objectives for the project. The charter is a physical symbol of the project team members' commitment to partnering. It is considered to be a road map for regular evaluation of the project process. Specific benchmarking measurement PARTNERING goals as well as general goals can be part of the partnering charter. The charter does not change the terms of the project participants' contracts and is not a contract in itself. The charter is a guide for cooperation. Each party to the project should sign the charter to show their commitment to the partnering process.
For periodic evaluation, a formal, regular
evaluation of the progress of the project should occur normally as a formal monthly or bimonthly meeting. At this review meeting, there should be an open dialogue on any problem areas with the goal of maintaining all parties' commitment to the partnering process and to make sure that an adversarial relationship has not started to build. PARTNERING
4. The partnering charter should
commit all of the team members to dispute resolution without claims or litigation. The goal is that any disagreement is resolved at the project level and that if a dispute is unable to be resolved at the project level, it should quickly move up to the next level of management for resolution. Resolutions should be sought in a win-win atmosphere of open communication and trust. The goal is to avoid claims and any involvement by outside lawyers that could result in litigation PARTNERING
Alternate dispute resolution (ADR)
techniques can be an important part of the partnering process. If any dispute is unable to be resolved at the lower level, the parties should agree to mediation or some similar low cost dispute resolution dispute resolution technique. The goal is to avoid the time and expense of claims and litigation. Alternate dispute resolution techniques can help maintain team spirit and friendly working relationships at the project. PARTNERING
We have all seen construction projects
where adversarial, confrontational attitudes have resulted in misdirected energies and high cost of claims and litigation. The partnering process changes mindsets. Partnering can help all of us in the design and construction process redirect our energies and focus on the real issues associated with achieving optimum project goals.