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Conflicts occur commonly between main contractors and the sub-contractors (Harding, 1991; as quoted in Langford, 1992). Not only have that, but conflict also occurred between contractors and clients, or contractors and client's architects. Some elements, such as project types and sizes, procurement systems and government policy, could influence the conflict aspects (Lavers, 1992).

Effectively managed conflicts are necessary. It requires that the construction managers have enough abilities to resolve conflicts. The reason of causing conflicts is various. The majority of conflicts are developed because these are not responded correctly and timely. On the contrary, poor managed conflicts could deteriorate the issues (Zikmann, 1992).

There are some reasons of causing conflicts in construction industry. Some are because the construction plan is not clear. It confuses both client and contractor. Some are because over-scope of task between contractor and his subcontractors. The contractor requires subcontractors to do extra work. Some are because time is not enough to complete the project. Others are because the client asks for extra work but refuse to pay more money and extend the time of completion (Klinger, 2009).

Contingency is another reason of causing conflicts. In construction industry, the roles of every part could change. It means that in the new environment, there are some barriers to influence relationship balance (Langford, 1992). It is a key ability for managers to manage the complicated relationship networks of project which is limited time and budget (Zikmann, 1992).

Dispute avoidance is useful in construction management. Conflicts are often caused by wrong consideration, inadequate preparatory and plan or poor project procedures and budget. The popular ways to avoid conflicts are early negotiation, risk audits and training (Brewer, 2007).

The best way to resolve conflicts is prevention. It requires project managers to acquaint the objectives of client, make reasonable project plan and have the ability of prediction. People can pinpoint the reason of causing conflicts before happening, but it is difficult to predict when the conflict will occur. Therefore, the certainty of predicting conflicts at the beginning and end is less than in a construction project (Cree, 1992). Not only prediction, but also communication could help to resolve conflicts. Poor communication could cause misunderstanding (Mackie, 1992).

Follett(1940, as quoted in Rahim, 1992) said that there are some mains to resolve conflicts, such as domination, compromise, consolidation, avoidance and suppression. Fenn (1992) said that the new method to resolve conflicts is alternatives of litigation and arbitration. KuTenk (2000) classified the strategy of conflict resolution into three parts, avoidance, diffusion and antagonism. It is the method to resolve general conflicts and problems. It lacks of pertinence for construction industry. For construction industry, managers need the ability to negotiate to resolve conflicts (Jambro and Siddiqi, 2008).

Negotiation is the most common method to resolve conflicts. It is more flexible, economic and efficient than other methods (Dieterle and Ramirez, 2001). Mediation could assist negotiation. Parties select a mediator to help them resolve the conflicts. Mediators could assist all p