An investigation into the merits of encouraging conflict in the construction industry

Considerable energy is being directed towards an indiscriminate policy of conflict reduction in the construction industry but the problem of construction conflict may be in its management rather than in its incidence. Conflict reduction is a response to the industry's inability to manage conflict constructively, and it may be more productive to focus upon building skills in this area as a basis for encouraging conflict. This paper explores the merits of this idea. It does so by discussing the results of a survey which used two psychometric tests to investigate whether the industry has an attitudinal and socio-structural base which is receptive to such efforts.