Are Building Construction Delivery Systems Complicated or Complex?

摘要

The study of complexity in construction has raised a valid question: Is construction really complex or just complicated? More importantly, how to test which one is the best characterization of a construction project delivery system? The answer to these questions, as well as that of the title, is developed in this paper through a systematic story: Comprehensive literature search is firstly used to make an embedded conceptual analysis of basic concepts of complex and complicated; behavior analysis of complex systems-as opposite to ordered (complicated) systems; metonymic mapping of complex and complicated system to construction domain, considering construction delivery as a system-product (object), organization and process (social systems), and implying complex theory on the project execution; in the end, discussion of new approaches to construction project delivery management. From the synthesis reasoning of this paper, construction project delivery systems could be considered as complex systems rather than complicated ones. Understanding complexity in construction management is important for two reasons: (1) to visualize how both complicated and complex traits exist in a construction project (object and social systems), and (2) to identify for stakeholders new types of managerial competencies and tools that reflect the understanding of complexity in construction.