The use of a decision support tool in construction dispute negotiation

Negotiation is an indispensable part of dispute resolution in the construction industry. Disputants should be well prepared before the process begins. To achieve this, one of the prerequisites in preparing construction dispute negotiation is to understand one's case, in particular, the bottom line. The decision-maker can conduct self-analysis and prepare alternatives before any resolution process begins. This article aims to introduce the use of a decision support tool, modelled on the technique of a decision tree, to achieve such purposes. The tool operates on a computing environment provided by a software called "Precision Tree". The operation procedure of the analysis shall include three stages: (1) issue identification, (2) outcome identification and (3) analysis. A hypothetical case is used to illustrate the working of this tool. As such, a decision-maker can identify the probability of success and the expected profit for each alternative in this case. With the use of sensitivity analysis, the bottom line figure of each issue can be identified. It is suggested that using such a decision support tool enables a systematic and rational self-analysis in preparing for construction dispute negotiation.