Effective knowledge management as a performance enhancing tool in construction project management

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.