Analysis of the Relationships between Value Management Techniques, Conflict Management, and Workshop Satisfaction of Construction Participants

The benefits of value management (VM) are becoming more prominent in the contemporary construction industry. VM techniques aim to identify project goals and achieve participant satisfaction. However, because of incompatible objectives, values, and goals among participants involved in construction projects, conflicts will inevitably arise during the workshop process, which directly affects workshop satisfaction. Most research studies have focused on the known impact of VM techniques (i.e., hard VM) on workshop satisfaction, ignoring the moderating effects of conflict management (i.e., soft VM) on this relationship. Hence, this study aimed to fill this knowledge gap by using a questionnaire survey to investigate the complicated relationships between VM techniques, conflict, and satisfaction. The findings indicate that (1) pre-workshop, function analysis, and evaluation techniques relate to workshop satisfaction via conflict management in the workshop; (2) both function analysis and creativity techniques can directly affect workshop satisfaction; and (3) team conflict has an inverted U-shaped impact on workshop satisfaction. To enhance workshop satisfaction and obtain win-win outcomes among workshop participants, conflict should be maintained at an optimum level. Various practical recommendations are provided to equip VM facilitators with both technical knowledge of VM and conflict management skills throughout the workshop process. © 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.