Effective knowledge management as a performance enhancing tool in construction project management
Date
2008-04-21T08:40:38Z
Authors
Taiwo, Adekunle Olajide
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Abstract
Knowledge management is concerned with the development and exploitation of
the knowledge assets of an organisation with a view to furthering the
organisations’ objectives. The vital role that knowledge management processes
plays in the performance of business organisations has been the basis of several
studies - a number of companies, operating in various other industries, have
proven the need for, and performance enhancing benefits of, adopting knowledge
management processes in one form or the other. Taking these accounts into
consideration, this research study attempts to test the hypothesis that effective
knowledge management use would constitute a performance enhancing tool in
construction project management enterprise in South Africa. The research survey
is thus carried out among construction project management professionals in South
Africa.
The levels of awareness and use of knowledge management systems among
construction project management professionals in South Africa is researched into;
this revealed a mostly “medium to high” level of awareness and use. The Project
Efficiency Review approach to performance measurement is primarily adopted for
this study. This showed limited correlation between knowledge management use
and enhanced performance in construction project performance. Other
performance measurement approaches (Metrics, Economic and Market Value
approaches) also showed limited correlation. Two causative factors for this
situation are construction project scope changes and schedule delays, which are
seemingly pervasive in contemporary South Africa. As such, further research is
recommended to establish more appropriate “objective” performance
measurement approaches that would be able to accommodate these complexities.
This would facilitate the making of a business case for knowledge management
use in construction project management.
Description
Keywords
Knowledge management