Digital library of construction informatics and information technology in civil engineering and construction
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Paper: w78-2000-674
| Paper title: | The role of it in capturing and managing knowledge for organisational learning on construction projects |
| Authors: | Patel M B, McCarthy T J, Morris P W, Elhag T M |
| Summary: | "Knowledge management is becoming increasingly recognised as a critical source of competitive advantage. The way organisations use knowledge and learn is increasingly being recognised as central to performance improvement. Construction is no exception. Many construction companies, and their clients, are recognising that the way they manage knowledge and learn, across the whole supply chain, can make an enormous difference to their performance and the efficiency of the construction process. This paper describes work forming part of the research project: ‘The Role of IT in Capturing and Managing Knowledge for Organisational Learning on Construction Projects’ – known now under the acronym KLICON: Knowledge and Learning In CONstruction. It sets the scene for the detailed research project reviewing the current state of the use if IT in knowledge management and organisational learning in the construction industry. The problem is in many ways particularly difficult and important in construction with its project base, and the large number of often relatively small projects with constantly changing members of the supply chain. Information Technology (IT) offers real opportunities for capturing knowledge and feeding it back into the project organisation. This is important if performance is really to improve. This research will examine how IT can better assist knowledge management and organisational learning in construction projects. The aim of the research is to investigate how Information Technology can facilitate organisational learning and knowledge management in the construction industry. This will be achieved by: ·examining how knowledge is captured and managed by firms working on construction projects; ·assessing what management and IT tools are used to facilitate this, and their effectiveness. Knowledge needs and the use of IT tools will be investigated within a selected domain. This will be Requirements Capture and Management. In KLICON, knowledge is being taken as the cognitive ability to generate insight based on information and data. Much of the current work in knowledge management focuses on the collection, classification, storage, accessing and communication of information. Important though this is, many organisations are increasingly recognising that the way information is used in order to facilitate continuous improvement is often of more immediate relevance. This, broadly, is the area of organisational learning. Organisational learning is the ability of the organisation to collect and use information so that members exploit it to learn and to improve performance. Learning is something that pervades every individual’s life in one form or another. Organisations may be capable of learning and such organisational learning may in turn impact upon various aspects of an organisation’s performance. The full paper will amplify the topics outlined above and illustrate them with examples from the construction organisations from the KLICON group. It will also include examples of the IT tools that are being used to capture the process functions and the related information requirements. The KLICON industrial partners, Ove Arup and Partners and Kvaerner Construction Ltd, are providing access to project teams for the in-depth research into requirements capture, knowledge transmission and organisational learning." |
| Type: | |
| Year of publication: | 2000 |
| Series: | w78:2000 |
| ISSN: | 2706-6568 |
| Download paper: | /pdfs/w78-2000-674.content.pdf |
| Citation: | Patel M B, McCarthy T J, Morris P W, Elhag T M (2000). The role of it in capturing and managing knowledge for organisational learning on construction projects. Construction Information Technology 2000. Taking the construction industry into the 21st century.; ISBN 9979-9174-3-1; Reykjavik, Iceland, June 28 - 30, 2000 (ISSN: 2706-6568), http://itc.scix.net/paper/w78-2000-674 |
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