Managing the process of interdisciplinary design: identifying, enforcing, and anticipating decision-making frames

Abstract

Although a number of studies are devoted to studying design practice, very little is known about how the managerial decisions are made to steer the design process. This article sets forth an exploration of managerial decision making in the interdisciplinary design process. To this end, the paper derives a theoretical framework, which posits that process-level design management is based on decision-making frames that set the context for design activity. The paper provides evidence for the theoretical framework by using data from an interpretive case study of a large-scale engineering infrastructure project. The case study findings set out the role of process-level design management as the identification, enforcement, and anticipation of decision-making frames. The theoretical relevance of the findings is in the model of process-level design management described as a reflective practice. The findings contribute to practice by introducing the considerations of frame identification, enforcement, and anticipation into the design management skill set.

Keywords:

• interdisciplinary design
• reflective practice theory
• construction project management
• case study

Acknowledgements

This paper is the result of an ongoing study on different aspects of design management in the built environment. For this reason, some parts of the case study have already been presented in other papers, albeit from entirely different theoretical angles. The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers who helped shape the argument of this paper by providing comments on its early draft. We would also like to express our gratitude to the informants of this study who wish to remain anonymous.