Effective Communication as a Strategic Element for Dispute Avoidance in Gulf Cooperation Council Construction Projects
Keywords:
communication management, countdown clock artefact, design science research, dispute avoidance/claim avoidance committee, dispute avoidance, early-warning systems, escalation mechanism, Gulf Cooperation Council construction projects, key result indicators, proactive communication, proactive contracting, structured communicationAbstract
Effective communication is the first line of defence against Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) construction disputes, where escalating compressed programmes and multicultural teams risk misunderstandings. The current study elaborates on four communication-centric artefacts—dispute avoidance/claim avoidance committee (DACA), countdown clock, aligning project managers’ key result indicators (KRIs), and escalation mechanism—to improve communication in this field. This GCC construction field study is based on the five-stage design science research cycle comprising exploration, development, implementation, evaluation, and conclusion. The executive-level DACA meets routinely or ad hoc when a formally escalated issue demands chief executive officer-level attention. A project-wide countdown clock mirrored to cloud dashboards and daily briefings keeps on-site and remote actors aware of milestone pressures. Alignment of project managers’ KRIs redirects attention from historical cost–time metrics to forward-looking communication health, whereas a tiered escalation mechanism provides a transparent, time-bound pathway for matters exceeding the DACA’s remit. Qualitative evidence shows that integrated use of these artefacts shortens issue-resolution lead times and curtails the escalation of incipient claims. These tools can convert latent dispute triggers into managed risks by feeding their outputs directly into the project risk register. This study fills GCC?specific evidence gaps on proactive, communication?driven dispute avoidance tools.
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