Benefits Realisation: an Investigation of Structure and Agency

The last 3 decades have seen significant developments in all aspects of process management and New Product Development (NPD) in the Built Environment. Many of the characteristics of NPD models have been challenged and new key principles are emerging as necessary for success. The issue of delivering benefits rather than just tasks and processes has become more prominent also. Previous work related to NPD and Benefits Realisation has focused on the representational and process aspects of their implementation. This paper extends these notions and in particular introduces and explains ‘structure’ and ‘agency’ as they are understood in social sciences. In particular the notion of ‘structure’ will be presented as part of the overarching imperative for action and the actors involved in both undertaking and enacting processes. Finally, the paper concludes in describing how research should be undertaken within the particular context of benefits realisation. The Unique Adequacy (UA) requirement of methods is critical in researching benefits realisation. As such, researchers need to be competent (in theory and practice) of and in the context, which they investigate. Implications for future research are also identified.