A dialectic of process and tool:knowledge transfer and decision-making strategies in the building deliveryprocess

The building delivery process has traditionally been regarded as a discrete and sequential set of activities. This state of affairs is the result of a historical evolution driven by many factors, one of which might be the necessity to organize the activities for the purpose of establishing a professional fee structure that is commensurate with the scope of work and level of accountability or responsibility. However, within the context of rapid changing technologies, production processes as well as knowledge explosion, the existing framework no longer seems effective or capable of meeting the increasingly complex demands associated with the creation of the built environment. The capabilities of decision support tools are expanding but they still fall short of anticipating or challenging the very logic of the rather static processes they are supposed to support, This paper examines the necessary conditions under which significant structural changes in the building delivery process can evolve and the related implications for future development of decision support tools. It also explores hidden potentials of existing tools and propose enhancements to facilitate effective knowledge transfer and process management.