The role intuitive decision making plays in project selection in the residential property market: a case study of a medium sized

This thesis addresses the role of intuition in project selection in residential property development. The paper provides a comprehensive review of existing literature in relation to project selection and decision making. In addition, the examination of the project files of M.A. Ryan & Sons Ltd., a medium sized property development company, has enabled a case study to be carried out on three projects carried out by the organisation. Through the case study, the paper analyses how decision making in project selection can impact on the success or failure of a project. The use of a rational decision making process in project selection is contrasted with projects where intuition alone was used to select a project and where a combination of both intuition and rationality were used. The evidence from this case study would suggest that intuition does have a role in project selection within the Irish residential property development industry. Nevertheless, this paper finds that intuitive decision making is not preferable to rational decision making processes in project selection. The report finds that decision making processes within project selection are most effective when a comprehensive rational analysis of the feasibility of the project is used in conjunction with intuition, although the results are tempered by the limited range of the study. Despite its restricted scope, the case study gives an indication as to how property development companies in Ireland operated throughout the ‘Celtic Tiger’ period in the country. Research encompassing more property developers and far more projects is required in order to definitively determine the value of intuition in making project selection decisions in property development.