Managing economic and environmental goal conflicts during the front-end phase of community service property projects : An interview study

Abstract: Background: Today, the construction industry faces heightened expectations in terms of environmental and economic requirements. Consequently, goal conflicts have become a persistent challenge in construction projects, necessitating efficient conflict strategies. It is therefore important to understand goal conflicts to be able to solve them before they escalate and become an issue that affects the project’s outcome. Purpose: The aim of this study is to explore goal conflicts and their prioritization, as well as the factors influencing the choice of conflict management strategies, regarding environmental and economic goal conflicts. In addition, the study aims to identify the perceived hindrances to achieve more efficient conflict management.  Method: Relevant literature was analyzed to establish a theoretical foundation for the researchconducted in this report. Additionally, a methodological approach incorporating ten semistructured interviews was implemented, where thirteen respondents from private developers, public developers, and municipalities were interviewed as part of the data collection process.  Conclusion: Goal conflicts that arise tend to revolve around the challenges of implementing environmental solutions while staying within budgetary constraints, as well as deciding whose goals should be prioritized. Among the conflict management strategies, avoiding was the least mentioned approach, while compromising emerged as the most popular choice. The selection of an approach was mostly influenced by goal prioritization, hierarchical position, and resource availability. The study also identified three key barriers to effective goal conflict management: knowledge gaps, varying levels of ambition, and industry conservatism.