INTRODUCTION

An important aim of this paper is to discuss and develop the concept of technology management in relation to the empirical field of construction projects. Technology management constitutes one of the transversal research themes treated in the case studies of the Groupe Bagnolet. As a common framework these themes firstly act as an interrogative guidance to the decomposition of large projects. Secondly and subsequently, analytical and methodological problems enlightened by the empirical reality of construction should imply a review of theoretical aspects inherent in the themes. The major problem attached to the notion of technology management as a research theme is represented by its prematurity. It does not exist as an unambiguous management term in general industrial operational practice. In construction it is by and large unknown. Nor does its underlying theoretical framework appear to be adequately defined. In other words at this stage we could be dealing with what Kuhn characterizes as a concept in its pre-paradigmatic phase (Kuhn 1973). If we, however, regard management of technology as a fundamental function inherent in technology itself (although in practice not recognized as such), it might also be argued that we are witnessing the third phase in Kuhn's model: the accumulation of anomalies leading to a conceptual crisis, and eventually, in the next phase, to a shift of paradigm for technology management. Indeed, the extensive range of technology originated problems encountered in the large construction projects, which have been studied by the group, is adding strong support to this idea. The first of two main sections in this paper will discuss questions concerning the development of a modern technology management concept. Initially a number of relevant management perspectives are considered in order to identify corresponding elements of theory-based technology concepts. The central theories and their derived assertions concerning technology management criteria are then summed up in a schematic theoretical framework. Hereafter the general characteristics of construction are examined from the point of view of serving as an empirical field for technology management analysis, and a set of questions relevant to the interpretation of technology management problems are raised. In the second section the technology management theme will be associated with the empirical properties of a specific, large construction project, the Great Belt Fixed Link. Finally on this basis the concluding remarks will point to the main theoretical problems and their practical implications for the introduction of a technology management discipline in construction.