The Challenge of Partnering in the Middle East
Dispute Resolution Journal › Vol. 59 Nbr. 4, November 2004
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Summary
Partnering workshops in the Middle East are both challenging and interesting. In the midst of great turmoil and escalating conflict, governmental owners, design professionals, and contractors and subcontractors are searching for stable relationships within which they can execute their work. Their ultimate need is to minimize risk. One of the central themes of partnering, shared risk, takes on a very new meaning in the Middle East. Commercial negotiations in the Middle East usually involve a carefully choreographed series of offers and counter-offers, punctuated with periods of business discussions, as well as dining and socializing. In the Middle East, the art of conversation is a necessary part of dealing with each other. Lessons that the author learned from partnering in the Middle East include: 1. Emphasize the project context and value. 2. Identify and quantify external risks. 3. Make partnering principles a part of the contract. 4. Make regional history and culture a part of the workshop.
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Extract
The Challenge of Partnering in the Middle East
Partnering is a valuable conflict management strategy for reconciling diverse objectives and meshing multi-party organizational cultures in complex public works projects in the United States. Abroad-especially in the volatile Middle East-there are even greater challenges as owners, contractors, local governmental authorities and other stakeholders are faced with cultural differences, escalating conflict and extraordinary risks. In the midst of the turmoil, however, there are reassuring examples of how multinational project management teams, committed to partnering, have used the partnering process to overcome obstacles and deliver successful projects.
Public works projects invariably involve numerous stakeholders, among them the governmental owner, the project manager, the general contractor, the design consultants, numerous subcontractors, oversight government agencies, end users and interested community groups. In order to complete a successful project, all of th...See the full content of this document
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