The objective of the proposed CAREER program is to develop a negotiation methodology and tool for large-scale collaborative infrastructure projects. The proposed methodology and tool will help: 1) organize negotiation knowledge into a structure that enables systematic and scientific exploration; 2) formally model the structural and substantive issues of negotiations in large-scale infrastructure projects; and 3) understand and model how communication technologies influence the pattern of such negotiations. In addition, the proposed methodology and practical tool will help engineers and designers establish negotiation strategies for mitigating and resolving engineering conflicts in large-scale infrastructure projects. Such a comprehensive negotiation methodology and tool is expected to provide benefits for the entire life cycle of the project by reducing costs, avoiding delays, eliminating counterproductive negotiation plans, and improving negotiation skills among engineers working on large-scale infrastructure projects.
In addition, the project will develop an integrated research laboratory and classroom alliance aimed at improving the understanding of negotiation and collaboration in the domain of large-scale engineering systems. This effort will place tomorrow's communication and collaboration technologies along with the understanding of how to use it most effectively, into the hands of the next generation of professionals. This will be accomplished through a unique research-industry-education-research feedback loop created by the participation of five universities, two corporate entities, and one public agency. The core of the research will be achieved through a formal analysis cycle starting with information acquisition, formalization, systematization, testing, refinement, and ending with information dissemination. In this program, practice, research and education are expected to work in an integrated fashion to understand and master negotiation strategies in large-scale infrastructure projects requiring collaboration between global teams.
The proposed program provides excellent benefits both, from the research and educational perspectives in analyzing systematic negotiation strategies for large-scale infrastructure projects. From the research perspective, the key intellectual contribution of this work is the acquisition, formalization, systematization, testing and dissemination of a partially formalized structure of the existing negotiation knowledge, where the fundamental questions about collaboration and negotiation could start to be answered. From the educational perspective, the proposed class will provide a forum in which the impact of a negotiation methodology addressing the issues of time and distance on project life cycle will be explored. Finally, the class will include the participation and guidance of seasoned industry professionals in a controlled environment with real-world data.
