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as input is an essential characteristic for the selected technique. Moreover, the applicability of the selected technique in capturing multiple experts’ knowledge is
essential especially during multidisciplinary conceptual design stage.
In order to capture tacit knowledge in a multidisciplinary area, the study posits that any technique to perform this task must support two characteristics: 1 applicable in
tacit-dominated area, 2 applicable for multiple experts. When the study evaluated these two characteristics against recognized techniques See Table 2.4, it
recommends observation as an appropriate technique for the task of converting tacit knowledge.
2.4 Design Process
In this section different definitions for design stage are reviewed. Because design stage is an important phase of construction industry, we, therefore, examine research
results concerning the effects of this stage on the overall performance of the project. Shumate et al. 2010 utilize social network analysis tool to examine knowledge
allocation and retrieve pattern in project teams. They found significant differences in the flow of tacit knowledge vs. explicit type. Indeed, social network analysis,
according to Wasserman and Faust 1994, is a useful tool for conducting research on the interaction of human relationship. Social network analysis has emerged as a set of
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methods for the analysis of social structures, methods which are specifically geared towards an investigation of the relational aspects of these structures. The use of these
methods, therefore, depends on the availability of relational rather than attribute data Scott, 1992.
The unit of analysis in network analysis is not the individual, but an entity consisting of a collection of individuals and the linkages among them. According to Wasserman
et al. 1994, network methods focus on two or three actors and their ties, or larger systems subgroups of individuals, or entire networks. Social Network Analysis
SNA has four major underlying principles; first, actors or participants in the system are viewed as interdependent upon one another, rather than independent: such an
assumption underlines the holistic rather than methodological-individualist nature of SNA research. Second, relations among actors provide access to resources. Third, the
relationships that exist among the actors are determined by and in turn determine the structure of the actors’ interactions. The final point is that the interactions between
actors determine their social, economic and political structures Wasserman and Faust, 1994; Wetherell, 1998. One final consideration when undertaking Social
Network Analysis research, relates to whether the Whole of the Network WN or an Egocentric Network EC approach should be considered Wetherell, 1998. The
latter approach concentrates on the relationships of the individual rather than the whole of organizational network Hanneman, 2002; Liebowitz, 2005.
