Knowledge Management in Construction Industry

This report reviews the case study on knowledge management in the construction industry, including organizational learning mechanisms, knowledge management system, and critical discussion on implementation outcomes. It also includes a literature review on the theme and a comparison of KM aspects.

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Abstract
The purpose of the report is the review the case study that is based on the knowledge
management role in the construction industry. It includes the different types of the organizational
learning mechanisms which are based on the organisational environment and the strategic intent.
It include the review of the knowledge management system which include the tools and
techniques that are used by the companies for the collecting the data and appropriate techniques
for analysing the data that has been gathered. The critical discussion related to the result of the
implementation of the organizational learning mechanisms as the success of this applicability
leads to the effectiveness of the personal learning of the employees that contribute in improve the
operations of the company. This will lead to the effective use of the skills and knowledge in the
work which will contribute in accomplishing the goals and objectives.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Review of relevant literature on the theme......................................................................................4
Review of KMS...............................................................................................................................6
Critical discussion............................................................................................................................7
Comparison of the KM aspects..................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
The aim of the report is to critically evaluate the aspects related to the case study of the
organization like Knowledge management tools and techniques along with the models and
processes. The case study that has been provided is based on Strategic intent, organizational
environment, and organizational learning mechanisms in the construction industry in Taiwan.
The report includes the relevant review of the literature of the theme that is related to the
knowledge management. It also reviews the tools and techniques of the knowledge management
system that are discussed in the case study. Along with this aspect, it provides the critical
discussion outcomes of the implementation and compares this against the KM aspects.

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Review of relevant literature on the theme
The theme over here is the base on which the case study has been prepared. This section of the
report includes a literature review of the knowledge management and its linked theme that is
associated with the construction industry. According to the Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson, 2012,
the construction has the prospective to inspire the growth in the specific region. In developing
areas, the rise in the prices of the construction leads to the problem for the company. The case
study involves numerous aspects of the knowledge management which include Strategic intent,
organizational environment, and organizational learning mechanisms. According to the AF
Ragab and Arisha, 2013, Knowledge management is the process of sharing, creating, managing
the information and the knowledge of a company. In addition, he shared that this is the
systematic management of the knowledge related the assets with the aim of forming the value
and meeting the strategies and tactics. Contradicting the same, the Dalkir, 2013 stated that the
knowledge management includes the data mining and pushing the details to the users. In
addition, he stated that knowledge management system offers the manager an ability that is used
by them to organize and locate the relevant content and the expertise that is essential for the
construction business tasks and projects.
The knowledge management aspects include the below-given points: -
Strategic intent
According to the Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson, 2012, the strategic intent is the philosophical base
of the strategic management process that includes the organization endeavor of the
accomplishment. In addition, he believes that this is the statement that talks about the perspective

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of means that helps the company in achieving the vision in a long run. On the other hand, the
Haugstetter and Cahoon, 2010 shared his view for the strategy intent; he means that this is the
system that provides an idea to the organization related to the desire to achieve in the near future.
Along with this, he said that the strategic intent defines as the organizational leaders, vision, and
the objectives. Construction industry involves different organization who makes use of the
strategic intent.
Organisational environment
According to the Botha, Kourie and Snyman, 2014), an organizational environment is collected
forced or institutions surrounded by an organization. These environments affect the organization
performance, operations, and the resources. The environment also affects the construction
industry that has been discussed in the case study. In addition, the environmental factors that
influence the company include both internal and external factors. The internal factors that affect
the environment consist of the entities, condition and the forces within the organization. On the
other hand, the external environment includes external factors that affect the working of the
company. The researcher reflected that the organization or the industry consider the
environmental factors because these factors might create the major impact on the industry.
Organizational learning mechanisms
According to the Easterby-Smith and Lyles, 2011, the organization learning mechanism is the
structural fact that emphasis institutionalized structure and procedural arrangements that allow
the organization for the systematic collect, analyze and store the information. The researcher
reflects that this theory is used by them to improve the performance of the organization. The

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author stated that the organization leaning mechanism supports the company in overcoming the
problem faced by the company (Argote, 2011).
Review of KMS
Knowledge management system has been discussed in the provided case study which reflects
how organization involved in the construction industry makes use of the knowledge management
in the business. Knowledge management refers to as kind of the IT system that stores and
retrieved the knowledge and bring the improvement in the collaboration and locate knowledge
sources (Iyengar, Sweeney and Montealegre, 2015). The organization gathered the information
in different ways and this is considered as one of the effective tools of the knowledge
management.
The interview is one of the ways through which they can the organization can gather the
information. According to the case study, the interview is used as one of the tool of knowledge
management that helps in data collection of the company (Groff and Jones, 2012). The semi-
structured survey to interview individual includes the construction industry of Taiwanese. The
surveys were majorly conducted to determine the how organizational learning mechanisms are
formed and implemented in this industry. The organization has selected the interviewees based
on their background and the understanding in the construction industry. The research candidates
for the company have been selected considering the two basic requirements in mind which are
discussed below: -
 The firm’s yearly sales amount needs to be greater than the $30 million.
 The company should be illustrative enterprises in their area and equally distributed in
Taiwan (Fang and Chen, 2016).

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The construction organization in the case study conducted the interview from 15 practitioners of
the construction industry. These practitioners carry the experience of 10 and 20 years of the
experience. These interviews help the organization of the construction in evaluating the
organization learning mechanism. The organization learning mechanism in the construction
industry can be done with the help of the interview as through interview they can collect the
details that are essential for the businesses.
The techniques of the knowledge management include the mapping of the knowledge. This
mapping allows the manager to select the process that is important to the organization and
implement the specific elements of the knowledge (North and Kumta, 2018). The case study
reflects the use of the knowledge management technique which is the coding analysis. The
organization that falls under the construction industry makes use of this coding analysis to
decode all the responses to the interview. The organizations make use of the open, axial and
selective coding to evaluate the properties that are related to the organization learning (Argote
and Miron-Spektor, 2011). The accuracy of the data can be done with the help of the effective
method that can be used to analyze the properties that are associated with the organizational
learning. The organization learning is only possible when they get the accurate outcome in the
form of the data.
Critical discussion
This section of the report includes the details related to the outcomes and the implementation of
the KM aspects in the construction industry. These aspects are explained in the case study with
the help of all the aspects of the Knowledge management. The organization mechanism has been

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implemented which is identified by the 2 critical dimensions which include strategic intent and
the organizational environment (Argote, 2012).
The below-given image reflects the theoretical framework of the relationship among the strategic
intent, organizational environment, and the learning mechanism development.
(Source: Fang and Chen, 2016)
The implication of the organization learning mechanism results in the clarity between the
learning of the organization towards the strategic intent and the organization environment. The
strategic intent includes the proactive and reactive orientation in the organization, on the other
hand, the organization environment change include the stability and instability in the market in
which the company is operating its business (Argote and Miron-Spektor, 2011). It is
recommended to the firm after the analysis that they should make use of the strategic intent in

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which they need to defend a current market position so that they can develop a new business
scope. The implication of the knowledge management aspects reflects that the organization
environment is considered an important dimension because this factor impacts the development
of the organization learning mechanism.
Organisational learning in a stable environment
The outcomes of the implications reflect the measurement of the learning effectiveness in the
construction industry that is related to the firm's employee's achievement of the set goals
comparing it with the other firms in the industry. Learning through the set goals by the
employees is appropriates for the strategically proactive organizations that operate the business
in the stable environment. This learning in the organization helps the company in balancing the
personal growth and the development of the organization (Lam and Lambermont-Ford, 2010).
Apart from this, the organizational learning through specialization is appropriate for the
strategically reactive organization who deals in the stable environment. This specialization helps
the company in performing their operations as it works as their core competencies.
Organisational learning in a stable environment
The outcomes of the implication of KM reflect that the companies who operate their business
activities in the unstable environment tend to adopt the organization learning method. The
organization learning plays a vital role not only for the managers while conducting their business
activities but also for the training of the employees. It is considered as one of the essential
mechanism that is used by the organization for providing the training to the employees. Strategic
intent which is a dimension of the organization learning leads to the origin of the shared goals of
the organization (Hislop, 2013). In simple words, it defines the essential knowledge and skills

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that direct for the corresponding investment in HRM. The organization environment factors
which generally create the impact on the working of the organization include customer’s
preferences, needs, demand along with the design of the product and the marketing activities that
are done by the company (Suppiah and Singh Sandhu, 2011).
The overall outcomes of the knowledge management implication reflect that it contributes to
improve the performance of the employees available in the construction industry. This effective
learning will improve the skills and abilities of the personnel and bring the emergence of the
learning climate for the internal strategy intent and the external environment. Though, the
negative aspect of the implication of the knowledge management in the organization includes the
suggestions given by the project or division managers (Fang and Chen, 2016). The suggestion
which was provided by the participants includes the change in the strategic goals into the
functional objectives or the action plans.
Apart from this, these participants provided the recommendation for the on-the-job-training
facility that can encounter the needs of the departments or projects. The major difference that
occurs between the highest supervisors and the project supervisors reflects that most of the
supervisors of the company understand the significance of the strategic intent and the
organizational environment in the progress of the organizational learning mechanisms (Fang and
Chen, 2016). The variance that occurs between the top manager and the project manager occurs
in terms of the cognition and focus.
Comparison of the KM aspects
The knowledge management basic aspects include the management of the information and the
people management. The case study includes the different knowledge management aspects such

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as strategic intent, organizational environments, and organizational learning mechanism. The
aspect of the knowledge management varies from the industry to industry. The effective
knowledge management contributes to improve the skills and knowledge of employees within
the organization (Fuller, 2012). Along with this, it brings the improvement in sales, customer
satisfaction, and rise in the productivity of the company.

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Conclusion
In the end, it can be concluded that the Knowledge management plays a vital role for all the
organizations. This report is based on the case study for analyzing the aspects of the case study
organization such as the organizational learning and learning organization, knowledge sharing
and trust, communities of practice and tools of KM. According to the case study, the major aim
was to bring the improvement in the employee’s skills and knowledge helps the company in
achieving the goals. The organization learning mechanism implementation has been done which
include the two dimensions (strategic intent and organizational environments) that are essential
to be considered by the organization. The overall analysis related to the outcomes of the
implementation and comparison of the KM aspects has been discussed.

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References
AF Ragab, M. and Arisha, A. (2013) Knowledge management and measurement: a critical
review. Journal of Knowledge Management, 17(6), pp.873-901.
Argote, L. (2011) Organizational learning research: Past, present and future. Management
learning, 42(4), pp.439-446.
Argote, L. (2012) Organizational learning: Creating, retaining and transferring knowledge.
Springer Science & Business Media.
Argote, L. and Miron-Spektor, E. (2011) Organizational learning: From experience to
knowledge. Organization science, 22(5), pp.1123-1137.
Botha, A., Kourie, D. and Snyman, R. (2014) Coping with continuous change in the business
environment: Knowledge management and knowledge management technology. Elsevier.
Dalkir, K. (2013) Knowledge management in theory and practice. New York: Routledge.
Easterby-Smith, M. and Lyles, M.A. eds. (2011) Handbook of organizational learning and
knowledge management. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Fuller, S. (2012) Knowledge management foundations. New York: Routledge.
Groff, T. and Jones, T. (2012) Introduction to knowledge management. New York: Routledge.
Haugstetter, H. and Cahoon, S. (2010) Strategic intent: Guiding port authorities to their new
world?. Research in Transportation Economics, 27(1), pp.30-36.

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Hislop, D. (2013) Knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction. Oxford
University Press.
Hitt, M.A., Ireland, R.D. and Hoskisson, R.E. (2012) Strategic management cases:
competitiveness and globalization. New York: Cengage Learning.
Iyengar, K., Sweeney, J.R. and Montealegre, R. (2015) Information technology use as a learning
mechanism: The impact of IT use on knowledge transfer effectiveness, absorptive capacity, and
franchisee performance. Mis Quarterly, 39(3).
Lam, A. and Lambermont-Ford, J.P. (2010) Knowledge sharing in organisational contexts: a
motivation-based perspective. Journal of knowledge management, 14(1), pp.51-66.
North, K. and Kumta, G. (2018) Knowledge management: Value creation through
organizational learning. Springer.
Suppiah, V. and Singh Sandhu, M. (2011) Organisational culture's influence on tacit knowledge-
sharing behaviour. Journal of knowledge management, 15(3), pp.462-477.
Fang, S.C .and Chen, H. K. (2016) Strategic intent, organizational environment, and
organizational learning mechanisms: A multiple-case study in the construction industry in
Taiwan. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 45(5), pp. 928-946.