Development of a conceptual team integration performance index for alliance projects

Project alliancing, also known as collaborative contracting, is designed to foster integration practice between multidisciplinary teams involved in delivering construction projects. If continuous improvement in project alliances is to be achieved through the use of integrated teams, a means of assessing how well teams integrate and how that integration changes over time needs to be introduced. As part of a wider study to develop an assessment tool for team integration in road construction alliance projects, key indicators (KIs) are identified for measuring team integration practice. It is necessary to identify not only the relevant KIs, but also which indicators are dominant, thereby focusing the attention of owners and non-owner participants (NOPs) on those that will have the greatest impact on alliance team integration. Seventeen experienced road construction alliance practitioners participated in four rounds of a Delphi questionnaire to identify the KIs. The resulting seven team integration practice KIs were: team leadership; trust and respect; a single team focus on project objectives and key result areas (KRAs); collective understanding; commitment from project alliance board; creation of single and co-located alliance team; and free flow communication. A conceptual alliance team integration performance index (ATIPI) was then developed based on the identified KIs and their relative significance. The ATIPI takes the form of a linear additive weighting model, consisting of a measure for each of the identified KIs and a corresponding weighting coefficient, identified as part of this research. A linear additive weighting model is considered appropriate based on the lack of correlation between the KIs, thus suggesting that they can be considered as independent variables in the ATIPI. The measures for each KI will be determined as part of future research and will result in a fully working model for the ATIPI.