On enhancing joint risk management throughout a project's lifecycle : Empirical studies of Swedish construction projects

Sammanfattning: Due to their complexity, construction projects involve significant risks thatmust be managed in order to meet the main project objectives in terms of cost,time and quality. While some risks can be foreseen at the beginning of aproject and allocated among the project actors, other risks are difficult topredict. Moreover, even identified risks may change in scope and requiredifferent types of response. In order to manage such risks successfully,collaborative efforts among project actors are needed. This thesis focuses oncollaborative management of risks in construction projects – joint riskmanagement (JRM) – which is claimed to provide several advantages incomparison to separate risk management by each project actor. An overall aimis to increase the understanding of how JRM can be enhanced throughout aproject’s lifecycle.The underlying studies this thesis is based upon constitute a multiple case studyof nine construction projects, a questionnaire survey and a longitudinal casestudy of three construction projects. Empirical data were collected throughinterviews, observations of JRM workshops and document studies. Theempirical findings show that cooperative procurement procedures, organicmanagement systems and appropriate strategies for addressing agency-relatedproblems enhance JRM in construction projects. Thus they require thoroughconsideration when organizations intend to implement JRM.This thesis provides several contributions to risk management theory. Firstly,the author extends the definition of JRM by including its core componentstogether with associated activities and underlying factors. The extendeddefinition better reflects, and increases understanding of, the nature of JRM.Secondly, the research contributes to discussion of serious drawbacks related to traditional procurement practices by identifying and studying procurementvariables (project delivery method, form of payment and use of collaborationor partnering arrangements) that have a major influence on risk management.In addition, the results of questionnaire survey suggest that cooperativeprocurement procedures in general and collaborative activities in particular arepositively related to the use of JRM. Finally, by framing the empirical resultsin an organizational theory context this research identifies two sets of factorsthat strongly influence the implementation and effectiveness of JRM, related tomanagement system (organic vs. mechanistic), and strategy for responding toagency-related problems. By applying theory on mechanistic and organicorganization to RM, the study pinpoints the importance of managing tensionsbetween control and flexibility when implementing JRM. The author suggeststhat JRM requires a combination of formal tools (aimed at controllingidentified risks) and flexible strategies (aimed at responding to unforeseenevents). By investigating how strategies to handle agency-related problems canfoster collaborative relationships and JRM, this research contributes to RMliterature where few studies have discussed JRM from the perspective of theprincipal – agent relationships.