Interpretation of Interview Results

The chief data source, interview of 31 participants conducted from individual construction professionals and participants of three construction project case studies. The conducted interviews have been analysed through the formulation of 13 themes spread across 20-minute interview sessions.

6.3.1.1. Theme 1: On site operational governance

The first theme focused on the out workings of the operations on the respective construction project sites. The familiarity of team leaders was stated as an aid to effective alliance and established performance standards of quality. Existing relationships resulted in well- coordinated work while new alliances suffered from inconsistencies and hostile working environment. The duration of participants’ site occupation provided basis of evaluating relationship dynamics between representatives of both the main contractor and subcontractors. Mode of communication adopted by participants and frequency thereof showed commonalities in participant preferences and determined various levels of transparencies in terms of information sharing and confidence in successful execution and subsequent addition of job responsibilities.

6.3.1.2. Theme 2: Impediments to site practice and operational structures

The challenges experienced by representatives of both the main contractor and subcontractor stemmed from issues surrounding authority and reporting structures adopted by the various organisations on site. These issues involved insubordination of some local SMMEs, predestined culture of easily interchangeable nature of subcontractors and the main contractor’s insistence on leading the site organisation structure in an authoritative manner as opposed to a mutual partnership. Both parties justified this approach to lack of trust and honesty, unavailability of funding and resources as well as lack of trade skills of the appointed subcontractors on site.

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6.3.1.3. Theme 3: Enabling practices for supply chain contributors

Motivating and subsequent enabling factors for parties on the construction team revolved around the betterment of business, administrative and technical skills. Security; risk sharing from the main contractor’s perspective and repetitive work from the subcontractor’s perspective encouraged a culture of knowledge sharing, subsidising of financial and material resources and team work.

6.3.1.4. Theme 4: Nature of operational structure

A series of commonalities in operational structures was identified. The majority of participants pointed to an adversarial relationship among construction teams but were quick to dismiss it as a weakness of most construction projects. As a result, participants were tasked with ensuring a more cooperative, all-inclusive structure to enable the independent organisations to develop a culture of mutual dependency to ward off any adversarial practices.

6.3.1.5. Theme 5: Integration strategies adopted for supply chain contributors

Closed tender processes and competitive quotation negotiations dominated the appointment of SC contributors. Project-tailored responsibilities, such as designated supervisory roles for participants with sufficient trade skills changed the working environment into a concerted team effort where thriving participant were tasked with additional jobs on site.

6.3.1.6. Theme 6: Effective building blocks to relational coordination

Construction teams introduced various programmes to coordinate the relationship between members of the production teams. Some construction projects introduced incentive programmes others opted for training and induction programmes to empower the local SMMEs participants and others provided financial and administrative aids to enable efficacy in team spirit. These were not mandated but deemed to enhance site practice and people coordination beyond legal obligations.

6.3.1.7. Theme 7: Legal compliance vs partnership obligations

The majority of construction relationships (new or existing) were governed by either the JBCC series 2000 or the NEC3 family of contracts. These adopted contract suites were not without its challenges. Some participants expressed reservation about obligatory contract clauses that favoured one party over the other and were somewhat unclear or unrealistic to existing production teams. Some opted to include industry guidelines as legal requirements for the partnership between main contractor and subcontractor.

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6.3.1.8. Theme 8: Functional composition of supply chain contributors

Main contractor representatives at production level were assigned managerial positions along to their technical responsibilities on site. The prevailing culture of subcontracting work enabled the main contractor team to play the role of trade facilitators and subcontractors production leaders. Across the pool of interviewees, most popular subcontracted work included labour only wet trade subcontractor and supply/install subcontractors.

6.3.1.9. Theme 9: Impact of project scope on operation governance structures

The outlined scope and objective of the project scope impacted the adopted operational structures in a number of ways. The project sum and size called for a strict adherence to legal obligations as opposed to autonomous nature of working. Project specific needs and status encouraged inter-dependency arrangements among construction teams. However, project variations created an adversarial working environment.

6.3.1.10. Theme 10: Perceived effects of recruitment strategy

The result of the recruitment strategies adopted and accepted by SC contributors steered the nature of the relationship among members of the construction SC. Widely accepted unconventional recruitment strategies included perceived interest on project prior to appointment, promotion from man contractor representative to newly converted independent subcontractor, involvement of subcontractors in tender bid of the main contractor to secure appointment upon tender award.

6.3.1.11. Theme 11: Impact of project client legislation on supply chain structure Additional imposed clauses on main contractor directly impact the relationship between main contractor and subcontractors. The client insistence of no extension of time implied an authoritative approach to operational governance while inclusion of local SMMEs and subsequent penalties imposed on main contractor resulted in varied approaches to relationship dynamics.

6.3.1.12. Theme 12: Construction industry regulation and their impact on social and production practices

The construction industry major influence on site practice is the foundation of the prevailing conditions on construction sites. The guidelines issued by regulatory bodies impress on project participants a measure of responsibility which may or may not be all-inclusive or cooperative. Professional team’s association with the main contractor further places strain on

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the subsequent relationship with the subcontractor but at times enable an effective production practice that is needed to execute work and complete the project.

6.3.1.13. Theme 13: Remedial measures to enable successful supply chain integration Interviewees proposed various remedial action to the betterment of the SC integration. Some called for government intervention in main and subcontractor relationship by redefining the existing partnership while others proposed better regulatory aids in forms of revised contract suites, standardisation, professional involvement and facilitation. Soft skills development was championed as a major contributor to enable successful SC integration.