Overspecified vessel design solutions in multi-stakeholder design problems

Engineering design is characterized, in many cases, by the involvement of multiple stakeholders. The variety of stakeholders’ expectations with regards to the output and outcome of a vessel design situation, and the differences in background, culture and information asymmetry among stakeholders, make it difficult to arrive at a common set of requirements and a mutually accepted vessel design solution. In this paper, we show how poor handling of expectations in multi-stakeholder arrangements may lead to overspecified design solutions and thereby, negatively affect business outcomes. We propose and test a set of metrics to measure the level of misalignment among stakeholders’ expectations to identify and measure overspecification in vessel design alternatives. The measure can be used in tradeoff analysis against cost, in the decision process for selection among design alternatives. Hence, at equal cost, a higher degree expectation fulfillment may be preferred and selected. A case study is presented for the design of an offshore ship design based on a joint-venture ownership.