Visualizing Evolution of Knowledge Management Capability in Construction Firms.

Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Volume 139, Issue 7 ( 2013). pp. 839-851.

Le Chen, Patrick S. W. Fong.

School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland Univ. of Technology, 2 George St. Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia. E-mail: [email protected] and

 Dept. of Building and Real Estate, Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ., Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China. E-mail: [email protected]

 

Abstract

A firm, as a dynamic, evolving, and quasi-autonomous system of knowledge production and application, develops knowledge management capability (KMC) through strategic learning to sustain competitive advantages in a dynamic environment. Knowledge governance mechanisms and knowledge processes connect and interact with each other, thereby forming learning mechanisms that execute double-loop learning. This in turn drives the genesis and evolution of KMC to modify operating routines that contribute to the desired performance. This paper reports a study that was performed within a context of construction contractors, a type of project-based firm, which operates within the dynamic Hong Kong construction market. The writers used a multiple-case design to incorporate evidence from the literature and interviews, with the help of system dynamics modeling, to visualize the evolution of KMC. The writers’ paper demonstrates the feasibility of visualizing how a firm’s KMC correlates with its operating environment over time. The findings imply that knowledge management (KM) applications can be better planned and controlled through evaluation of KM performance over time from a capability perspective.

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Additional Information

Strategic management theory has recognized that knowledge is the most important strategic organizational resource. Drawing on the dynamic capabilities view, the authors reckonknowledge management capacity (KMC) as an essential dynamic capability. Firms deliberately develop KMC to reconfigure knowledge resources in order to sustain competitive advantages, over time, within a dynamic business environment. KMC is underpinned by both knowledge processes that carry out knowledge management (KM) activities, and governance mechanisms that facilitate KM implementations. Performance outcomes will reflect the strategic positions of the firms, and indicate how well KMC is developed to match with knowledge resources in meeting the need of constantly evolving market. The evolution of KMC thus can be visualized through studying its organizational learning system. The complex learning systems in organisationsare formed by(1) the processes that create, assimilate, disseminate and apply knowledge, (2) the mechanisms that control the knowledge processes, and (3) performance outcomes that indicate the effectiveness of knowledge resource reconfiguration.  Therefore, from the capability-based perspective, KM performance evaluation should assess the degrees in which the knowledge processes and governance mechanisms are deployed to achieve desirable performance over time.

This paper reports an empirical study which builds on the theoretical assertions.  Through the study,the authors demonstrated that it is feasible to design a dynamic KM performance evaluation approach. The approach has potential to overcome the static nature of conventional KM performance evaluation methods, which make assessments only on cross-sectional data, and thusreveal performance at a specific point in time only. The dynamic performance evaluation approach has incorporated evidence derived from interviews, documentation reviews as well as a survey study into system dynamic analysis. The evaluation takes firms’ strategic objectives and resource availability into consideration, and simulates the evolution of learning system, that drives the development of KMC and performance outcomes over a certain time frame.  Comparing to conventional performance evaluation methods, the advantage of the dynamic approach lies in its capacity to provide better guidance for long-term KM strategy planning. The dynamic approach enables firms to formulate KM strategies based on different scenarios that are likely to emerge in the dynamic market.

 

 

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