**3. Communication in construction projects**

According to [29], so many factors such as lack of trust and inadequate responsibility, which causes misunderstanding among two parties during construction process, affect communication between client and contractor.

Tazelaar and Snijders [30] however identified harsh relationship between client and contractor which often leads to conflicts and litigation, as major cause of communication barrier between them. Ning et al. [31] on his part, suggests that lack of public clients' initiative in relational transactions negatively influence the communication between public clients and contractors during project. Mitkus [29] identified lack of trust between client and contractor; as always resulting to argument and conflicts.

Lau and Rowlinson [32] equally mentioned lack of trust and misunderstanding as being responsible for difficulty in managing construction projects.

According to [29], the true cause of construction related conflicts is unsuccessful communication between the participants (client and contractor) in a construction project.

The absence of communication between client and contractor equally creates fears of exploitation and betrayal, which invariably results in avoidance of commitment by the team [33].

Laufer et al. [34] also mention that, poor communication between the client and contractor results to conflict, misunderstanding, uncertainty and lack of mutual cooperation among the two parties.

A study conducted by [35] highlighted that, poor communication between the parties (client and contractor) leads to estrangement and misunderstanding regarding the contract requirement while according to [36], same is one the factors that leads to time overrun in construction projects in Malaysian, Nigerian and Indian.

The construction sector is an economic investment, and its relationship with economic development is well posited. Many studies [22, 24] have discussed the contributions of the construction sector towards the economic development of nations.

The construction business is a complex enterprise with several stakeholders whose interaction requires that information be analyzed and transmitted. As such, communication remains a strategic consideration, more so that most construction disputes are due to breach or inadequate communication among the team members.

For instance, poor communication of design information often leads to design problems and eventually lead to delays and poor quality. Therefore, communication will only become effective if the receiver understands the information as intended by the sender.

At every stage of the construction lifecycle, information (in the form of drawings, specifications, notes, letters, memos, models, catalogs, instruction manuals, and pictures) needs to be stored, retrieved, and communicated.

The structure of the Dutch construction industry does not differ so much from the UK, except for the fact that Dutch industry is highly regulated in comparison with the UK [37], and that the UK subcontracting system (as opposed to the Dutch) allows for principals to contract directly to subcontractors [38].

Communication between clients and contractors during the construction project has also become a great challenge to the extent that it constitutes one of the major factors that affects project delivery. It is an important element for every organization to succeed thus making timely and accurate Communication among project stakeholders a sine-quanon in realizing the project objectives - management cannot receive information inputs, supervisors cannot give instructions, work cannot be coordinated and eventual collapse of organization [27].

Communication is a term derived from Latin word 'communis', which means to inform. It is the transformation of information; and a key function of management in any organization - ideas, goals, plans, instructions etc. are communicated to the managerial staff for the purpose of coordination. Davis [39] asserts; it is essentially a bridge of meaning between people. The communication process is made up of four key components namely: encoding, medium, decoding, and feedback while the other two factors, representing the human elements in the form of the sender and the receiver, are present.

There are multiple factors that influence the user's evaluation and perceived impacts of communication process. Trevino and Webster [40] identify flow as an *Client Type and Communication Practice during Pre-Contract Phase of Construction Project… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113210*

important construct that characterizes perceptions of employee interactions with computer-mediated communication technologies as more or less playful and exploratory. They further hypothesized that flow is influenced by the technology (higher for electronic mail), ease of use and computer skill. Furthermore, [41] argue that communication flows vertically and horizontally in the hierarchy or it is free-flowing [42], with all the members of the organization communicating with each other.

Bartels et al. [41] further argue that communication flows vertically and horizontally in the hierarchy of organizations. It thus gives the employees the opportunity to speak out and provide critical feedback that could be important in decision-making process [43].

Communication is therefore seen as complex creative processes that occur between two or more people with the aim of exchanging information in order to solve problems and 'break new grounds'. It is however imperative that an open communication climate characterized by unrestricted dialog, honest and mutual interaction that encourages shared understanding and promotes tolerance is created, to achieve a better work environment.
