Conciliation: A Founding Element in Claims Management

Claims management in the Construction Extension to the Project Management Body of Knowledge supports the prevention and handling of claims in the construction industry. The competitive and fast track nature of the construction industry lends itself to the increased risk of dispute in the development phase of a project life cycle. Professionals in the industry who are often required to manage a project are faced with the task of procurement of contracts and dealing with disputes which may arise. The question raised is, are the professionals’ conciliation skills sufficient to address these tasks effectively?The purpose of the paper is to identify the skills required by professionals to effectively apply conciliation in their daily tasks and to determine whether a basic understanding of conciliation would improve the overall application of claims management.MethodologyA literature review was conducted to identify the requirements for effective conciliation practice whereupon a mixed methods approach was used to gather data. A questionnaire based on the literature review was distributed to determine the level of knowledge and skills of the professionals in regard to conciliation. In support of the quantitative data, interviews were conducted with professionals in the industry to gain their opinion regarding the value of conciliation as a claims management tool.ValueA good understanding of the theoretical skills required for effective conciliation may add value to claims management process.