Bob Scott
Thomas Telford Ltd
£45
Pages: 137
This is a practical guide for creating and implementing project-specific alliances, primarily for the private-sector clients. However, client organisations such as the Ministry of Defence, National Health Service and public/private partnerships generally will find this handbook very useful in their procurement strategies.
The book deals with an extremely important subject area for the future efficiency of the European construction industry. Examples are drawn from actual alliances to illustrate many of the key points and principles. Easy to read and digest, it explains the complex issues involved in forming project-specific alliances.
The handbook is divided into two. Part One covers the process of understanding the concept of partnering/alliancing; Part Two contains a very useful implementation tool kit that can be used on any project that intends to adopt a formal collaborative approach to project management. The brief guide to the implementation process is well cross-referenced to other sections in the text. The book also contains bibliography, glossary of terms and further practical information in the appendices.
One of the key concepts in the strategy developed by Bob Scott and his team is that alignment between the parties is crucial when considering alliancing. The text identifies key concepts and factors that will be required to achieve alignment. For example, a formal mechanism to obtain this crucial alignment is the use of a financial incentive scheme. The construction of an example scheme is explained concisely. There is also a warning that without owner and contractor alignment an alliance will fail, and that if there is no alignment of objectives then there is no point in continuing.
Subjects: alignment alliances are covered by the toolkit and the use of flowcharts and diagrams to explain complex interfaces and organisation structures; official government procurement and legal issues relating to project-specific alliances; recognition of the importance of smaller organisations within an alliance and their ability to be high value-added operations that can have a major influence on the success or failure of a project — sometimes as much effect as larger 'premier league' contractors.
However, the success of alliance projects is fundamentally dependent on the relationships formed between the different parties, both at corporate level and within the alliance project teams.
I feel that a handbook of this nature could have benefited from a section on national cultural attitudes in a business context. It would have been good to have examples of attitudes within the various EU member states to alliances, particularly in terms of national characteristics. For example, in an alliance between Britain and other European alliance partners what would be the differing expectations and business protocols? This would have been a useful insight given the multinational team involved in producing this excellent guide.
This is a practical handbook, covering all of the important aspects of forming and successfully implementing project-specific alliances that will serve other procurement strategies. For example; Procure 21; Prime Contracting and PFI procurement concepts, in addition to its target audience.
Source
Construction Manager
Postscript
Review by David Stockdale MBA, FCIOB, senior manager, Shepherd Construction Division, York