Capture and Reuse of Project Knowledge in Construction

by Hai Chen Tan (Universiti Tunku Abdul, Malaysia); Chimay J. Anumba (Pennsylvania State University, USA); Patricia M. Carrillo (Loughborough University, UK); Dino Bouchlaghem (Loughborough University, UK); John Kamara (University of Newcastle, UK); Chi

• ISBN13: 9781444315455
• ISBN10: 1444315455
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2009-12-01
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

An organisation's competitive advantage lies in the knowledge of its employees and the organisation's ability to harness that knowledge to meet business objectives. Knowledge management is recognised in the construction industry as a potential tool for providing organisational benefits, but for a number of reasons - particularly the project based nature of construction, where teams are transient, multidisciplinary and often from different organisations - implementation has been only marginally successful.Capture and Reuse of Project Knowledge in Construction describes a methodology for the 'live' capture of reusable project knowledge that reflects both the organisational and human dimensions of knowledge capture and reuse, as well as exploiting the benefits of technology. This methodology was developed in response to the shortcomings of current practices in managing project knowledge, the benefits offered by capturing and sharing knowledge immediately after it is generated, and the organisational benefit of reusing knowledge within a project based environment.

Table of Contents

Author details

Preface

Introduction

Background

The need for live capture and reuse of project knowledge

The objectives and contents of the book

Knowledge Management - Key Concepts

Defining knowledge

Knowledge management

Functionalist vs. interpretivist

Information systems vs. human resource management

Interdisciplinary perspective

Combined soft and hard approaches

Benefits and barriers to KM

KM processes

Knowledge capture

Knowledge sharing

Knowledge reuse - adapting and applying

Knowledge maintenance - archiving and retirement

KM in construction

Shortcomings of current practice

KM research projects in construction

The importance of 'live' capture and reuse of project knowledge

Reusable Project Knowledge - Generation and Capture

Reusable project knowledge

Types of reusable project knowledge

Characteristics of reusable project knowledge

Learning situations

Formal learning situations

Ad hoc learning situations

Current practice on capture and reuse of project knowledge

Post project reviews

Communities of Practice

Training

Recruitment

Face-to-face interaction

Mentoring

Succession planning and management

Reassignment of people

Knowledge bases

Intranets

Groupware

Project extranets

Case-based reasoning

Text mining

Soft issues in KM

People issues

Organisational issues

Cultural issues

Summary

Collaborative Learning in Construction

Introduction

Collaborative learning

CL in construction

Previous research in CL

Implementing CL in construction projects

Summary/conclusions

Methodology for Live Knowledge Capture and Reuse of Project Knowledge

Background of case study companies

Findings from the case studies

End-users' requirements for knowledge capture and reuse

Analysis of the end-users' requirements for knowledge capture and reuse

Current practice for the capture of reusable project knowledge

Analysis of current practice for the capture of reusable project knowledge

Structure of the 'live' capture and reuse of project knowledge methodology

Integrated workflow system

The Capri.net System

System architecture of prototype application

Development of the Web-based knowledge base

Selection of development environment

User interface and programme codes development

Database design

Refinement of the IWS and user interface

Operation of the prototype application

Logging in

Browsing the Summary Page

Exploring the content of the system through the 'Index Page'

Exploring and validating the details of a knowledge item

Add and Edit project details

Adding new knowledge category and type

Create account for new user

Add New Knowledge

Conducting a search

Testing and evaluation of Capri.net

Prototype testing

Prototype evaluation

Concluding Notes

Summary

Conclusions

Limitations of the research

Further work

Concluding remarks

Table Comparing the Various Knowledge Management Process Models

Details of the Types of Reusable Project Knowledge Identified

Additional Learning Situations Related to Change Management, Problem-Solving and Innovation

Companies' Practice and Requirements on Knowledge Representation

References

Index

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