CONFLICTS AND DISPUTES ARE INEVITABLEConflict is defined as behavior whereby people differ in their feelings, thoughts and/or actions. Collins (1995) states that conflict is a “serious disagreement and argument about something important” and also as “a serious difference between two or more beliefs, ideas, or interests” (see Kumaraswamy, 1997, p. 96). Conflicts are generally believed to be the underlying cause of disputes. In other words, the dispute is a manifestation of a deeply rooted conflict. A dispute is defined as "a class or type of conflict, manifesting itself in distinct and justifiable issues." It involves disagreement about issues that can be resolved through negotiation, mediation, or third-party judgment” (Brown and Marriot 1993, cf. Yates 2003, p.1). Many authors have provided different theories and guidelines to distinguish between the terms "conflict" and "dispute". But still some practitioners are unable to recognize the difference between the terms. In fact, they use the terms interchangeably regardless of whether the terms are quite different (Gebken II, 2006). A workable distinction is made by John Burton who differentiates the two terms on the basis of time and the issue in conflict. According to Burton, disputes are short-term disagreements that are negotiable, meaning it is possible to find a solution that satisfies the interests of both parties. On the other hand, conflicts are long-term, deeply rooted and non-negotiable issues. Human needs for security, recognition and identity are always conflicting and non-negotiable issues. These conflicts often escalate into intractable conflicts. Both terms can be used independently and can be linked. According to Douglas......middle of paper......competitive attitude and different perception of fairness by different people involved in commercial projects are responsible for disputes, but these can be resolved with appropriate management of time, coat and quality factor. Semple (1994; see Cheung and Yiu, 2006) suggested that what makes a project open to dispute are the provisions in the contracts, the limited access of individuals, the scope of work and the acceleration of work to due to the inevitable delays. Contracts and unforeseeable events are closely linked to the origin of disputes. It can be said that a project involves a large amount of uncertainties during its life cycle and the activity of planning for these uncertainties in contracts has laid the foundation for disputes. This could be due to the failure to identify the sources of uncertainties in the contract.