Development of a knowledge-based quality Function Deployment tool for group decision making

A team of decision makers (DMs) in any organization has always faced with lack of efficiency and consistency when making hard decisions. An absence of a Knowledge Management System (KMS) in a decision support tool accounts for a significant portion causing this problem. This study developed an automated Knowledge-based Quality Function Deployment (KB-QFD) tool to facilitate the team to mitigate such a problem. This study established a KMS and embedded this into a modified QFD tool. The focus of this study is on assessing different building envelope design alternatives of a high-rise residential building. Both literature reviews and semi-structure interviews with senior building designers in Singapore were conducted to acquire knowledge stored in the KMS. The study employed a case study of a building design team as a research design to test the KB-QFD tool. Semi-structured interviews were applied as a data collection method to gather perspectives of team members towards using the tool to mitigate inefficiency and inconsistency in assessing the building envelopes. Findings from the interviews suggested that the KMS of the tool facilitated members of the design team to overcome cognitive limitation of knowledge, to increase consensus and confidence of the team, to reduce bias when dealing with similar decisions, and to make a prompt response. The tool therefore enhances efficiency and consistency in assessing the building envelopes. Future research is recommended to apply the development of the KB-QFD tool to build other decision support tools in their study domain.