Abstract:
Construction industry is sensitive to conflicts which deter the development of the
industry. The effects of conflicts in construction include abandoning and failure of
finishing of private and public construction projects which later on require huge
amount of money and time to be revived. Above other participants of building
projects, clients and contractors have been subjected to frequently eruption of
conflicts among themselves, hence devoted measures of resolving conflicts are
needed for the wellbeing of the industry. Therefore, the primary focus of this study
istoexamine causes of conflicts that occur between public clients and contractors in
building projects with three research objectives which are to identify factors that lead
to conflicts between public clients and contractors in building projects in Tanzania,
to determine strategies used to resolve conflicts between public clients and
contractors in building projects in Tanzania and to recommend how conflicts issues
between public clients and contractors in building projects can be prevented and
reduced in Tanzania. In order to attain its main objective, the study is organised into
two main parts. The first part is empirical investigation that involved literature
review, questionnaires and interviews and the second part is bystudying real contexts
of building projects that involved studying of three case studies. It is found in
questionnaires thatconflicts between public clients and contractors occur frequently
due to improper planning and schedulingthan other factors. Likewise, conflicts in
selected case studies building projects were caused byimproper planning and
scheduling which led to delay in payment. In resolving conflict, it is found that most
contractors and public clients use integrating and compromising approaches. It is
recommended that public clients and contractors must have clear early
negotiationsand should carry out accurate planning before embarking on actual
construction activities.
