Print this page Consultants and Owners from the Other's Perspective - Avoiding Conflict and Forming Strong Relationships
Timothy D. Blackburn, MBA, P.E.
Course Outline
Poor perceptions can and often become reality between Owners and Consultants, and affect the project, relationships, and each other's business. To resolve issues that result in poor perceptions, this course addresses the following:
1. Common poor
perceptions of one towards the other and the consequences
2. Underlying conflict that often results in poor perceptions
3. Tools that can be used to minimize conflict
4. A strategy for minimizing conflict to strengthen Owner/Consultant relationships
- applying the toolkit
5. A strategy for recovering from conflict or a poor perception
6. Case studies are included in the course from real-life situations to apply
the concepts learned.
This course includes
a multiple choice quiz at the end,
Learning Objective
At the conclusion of this course, you will:
- Gain a better understanding of the other;
- Understand why poor perceptions occur between Owner's and Consultants;
- Know the common poor perceptions of one towards the other and the consequences;
- Understand how perceptions are formed;
- Understand how conflict expresses itself;
- Understand typical causes of a conflict between an Owner and Consultant;
- Learn how to determine sources of conflict for specific applications;
- Understand tools that can are available to minimize conflict;
- How to applying the toolkit to differing conflict scenarios;
- Develop a strategy for recovering from conflict or a poor perception;
- Learn proper definitions of concepts that when misunderstood can cause conflict and poor perceptions, such as integrity, quality, robustness, and conflict itself;
- Apply effective communication techniques between Owner and Consultant exchanges;
- Learn and apply the three core elements of effective project management;
- Come to expect typical benefits from a good perception;
- Apply techniques
and learning from course to real-life case studies.
Intended Audience
This course is intended for all involved in Consultant/Owner projects, including engineers, architects, owner representatives, and constructors. This material will be especially beneficial to project managers, those who interface regularly between Owners and Consultants, and business development staff.
Benefit to Attendees
This course will equip the learner to better develop an effective Owner/Consultant relationship by better understanding the other, as well as develop strategies to minimize conflict and overcome poor perceptions. The end result could be a sustained relationship that is mutually beneficial.
Course Introduction
Owner's and Consultants
have typical perceptions of each other. When these perceptions become poor (as
they often do), there are negative consequences for both the Consultant and
it's customer (the Owner.) A continuum of events can result from minor nuisance
to the more serious, as well as loss of the business relationship. Poor perceptions
are based on a variety of reasons. The primary reason is that one entity isn't
the other; that is, one hasn't experienced the environment of the other and
has conflicting demands placed upon them. The adage of walking in another's
shoes is the idea. If we hope to have strong relationships, it is important
to understand how relationships deteriorate, and strategies for recovering as
well as mitigating conflict.
Course Content
The
course content is in a PDF file (235 KB) Consultants
and Owners from the Other's Perspective - Avoiding Conflict and Forming Strong
Relationships. You need to open or download this document to study this
course.
In this course, we review negative perceptions that often occur, both from the perspective of the Owner and of the Consultant. Poor perceptions result in broken or unpleasant working relationships. Specifically, we review the following:
1. Common poor
perceptions of one towards the other and the consequences
2. Underlying conflict that often results in poor perceptions
3. Tools that can avoid conflict
4. A strategy for minimizing conflict to strengthen Owner/Consultant relationships
- applying the toolkit
5. A strategy for recovering from conflict or a poor perception
It is possible to foster long-term, mutually beneficial relationships between Owners and Consultants. Once we master the concepts taught in this course, then we may reap the benefits
Quiz
Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.
DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.
