Reports

Venters,W (2001) Review of the literature on Knowledge Management . (C-SanD Working Paper)

Khalfan,M (2002) Review of the literature on Sustainability. (C-SanD Working Paper)

Boddy,S (2002) Technology Review. (C-SanD Working Paper)

This paper proposes a sociology of knowledge approach as a basis for understanding the potential of knowledge management for a complex inter-organisational domain– the UK construction industry–with a specific aim of increasing the sustainability of the processes and products of the industry. To this end, soft systems methodology is introduced as a method of conceptualising the industry’s knowledge environment and moving towards technological interventions which enable a move towards sustainability in construction practice.

Venters, W., M. Cushman and T. Cornford (2002).Inter-Organisational Motility of Construction Knowledge Practices. At e-Sm@rt 2002, Salford, 19-21 November  

This paper presents a new model of intra-organisational knowledge management in terms of motility of knowledge practisespractices. While existing conceptualisations of knowledge, such a tacit and explicit have proved a valuable lens for focusing on knowledge practices within organisations and in relatively well understood or stable contexts, this paper argues that their use may be less effective in considering knowledge practices shared and communicated between organisations and when knowledge needs are still being negotiated. Based on research into the construction industry's approach to the issue of sustainability and the knowledge challenges it poses, this paper introduces the concept of motile knowledge practices as an alternative lens through which to make sense of, and improve, the industry's ability to support innovation for sustainability. The notion of motile knowledge helps us to focus on the fundamental property of knowledge practices as they move, mutate and decay. Seeing knowledge as essentially motile it is possible to question the application of existing approaches to knowledge management within inter-organisational domains. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for practice made apparent by the lens of knowledge motility.

Khalfan,M., NM Bouchlaghem, CJ Anumba, PM Carrillo (2002) A Framework for Managing Sustainability Knowledge: the C-SanD Approach. At e-Sm@rt 2002, Salford, 19-21 November.

There has been growing awareness of the importance of sustainable development and sustainable construction around the globe for the last few decades. Sustainable development can be defined as the development, which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs. Sustainable construction is the application of sustainable development practices to the construction industry domain. In this field and despite governmental strategies and initiatives, much more has to be done to make construction more sustainable and achieve the targets set for sustainable developments. One of the major obstacles is to capture and manage the knowledge required to improve sustainability in construction. To support this there is a need for a framework to incorporate sustainability issues within the whole construction process including pre- and post- construction phases.

After a comprehensive literature review on sustainable development and sustainable construction, the paper presents current practice and perception of sustainability within the industry based on field work conducted as part of the C-SanD Project (Creating, Sustaining, And Disseminating Knowledge For Sustainable Construction: Tools, Methods And Architectures) interviews, with a focus on creating and sharingknowledge for sustainable development and sustainable construction. Finally we present a framework to support the implementation of sustainable construction practices based on a generic design and construction process (Process Protocol).

Ferneley,E.,  B Berney and Y Rezgui (2002) Information Retrieval Algorithms for Knowledge Management - The Challenge Continues At e-Sm@rt 2002, Salford, 19-21 November.

This paper considers Information Communication Technology (ICT) support for the knowledge creation process that takes place by the interaction of both tacit and explicit knowledge with the knowledge creating entities of the individual, group and organisation (or organisations). Attempts to provide ICT support for this process have tended to focus on two stages in the knowledge evolution cycle, firstly extraction and representation and secondly dissemination. In order to extract and represent knowledge a number of approaches have been used, these include: the use of knowledge bases and ontologies, the use of filtering and categorisation mechanisms to extract key terms and the development of various weighting mechanisms in an attempt to prioritise or cluster related entities. To support dissemination various approaches to user profiling have been used which usually incorporate some form of adaptive information filtering mechanism. This paper presents a critical evaluation of a number of the more well know extraction and representation techniques. It then presents a set of user profiling techniques appropriate for use in intra-organisation knowledge management portal applications.

Venters,W., T.Cornford, M.Cushman, N.Mitev  (2003) A Prologue for Knowledge Management: The Case of Sustainable Construction Practice (C-SanD Working Paper)

This paper provides a prologue to knowledge management for the UK construction industry as it attempts to deal with issues of the sustainability of its practices. Sustainable construction is seen as a novel and contested concept within the industry, and is perceived as requiring the industry collectively to innovate new practices and deploy new knowledge. The paper explores the foundations for any technological intervention to support these aims, based on knowledge management ideas, and considers the issues of beginning such a task. The paper steps back from the detail of what any particular knowledge management intervention is trying to achieve, or how it might be undertaken, and instead asks broad questions of both knowledge management and of the formative context for any intervention in support of sustainability. Drawing on soft systems methodology, the paper explores various relevant Weltanschauungen and asks whether a desirable knowledge management intervention is feasible within this context. Classes of findings are described using evidence from an empirical study.

Khalfan,M., NM Bouchlaghem, CJ Anumba, PM Carrillo (2003) Knowledge Management for Sustainable Construction: The C-SanD Project. Construction Research Congress, Honolulu, Hawaii, 19-21 March 2003.

Managing knowledge is becoming more and more important within the construction industry because it is considered critical for the competitiveness of a construction firm. Managing knowledge is particularly important to the construction industry due to the unique characteristics of its projects such as multi-disciplinary teams, temporary team members, heavy reliance on experience, the one-off nature of the projects, tight schedules, limited budget, etc. Many initiatives have been undertaken within the industry itself and in the academic world to develop mechanisms and tools for managing knowledge within a construction firm and on projects. These address issues such as capturing knowledge, storing knowledge, and transferring knowledge. Despite these efforts, there is still very little understanding of the best ways to foster the creation of knowledge, less about how to capture it, and even less about how to ensure that knowledge is readily available to other individuals, project teams, and companies. The C-SanD Project (Creating, Sustaining, And Disseminating Knowledge For Sustainable Construction: Tools, Methods And Architectures) is being undertaken by Loughborough University, the London School of Economics, and Salford University. The aim of the project is to develop, test, and implement software tools which enable the capture and retrieval of relevant knowledge, and to embed these tools in working methods that enable the creation of new knowledge particularly in the area of sustainable construction. This paper presents some initial project findings and discusses the knowledge management issues identified during the case studies undertaken within the project. It highlights that little has been done to create and retain knowledge on sustainable construction. It concludes that there is much to be done in order to manage sustainable construction knowledge within the industry. The C-SanD Project is addressing this current need.

This paper introduces a model of intra-organisational knowledge management in terms of motility of practiced knowledge. While existing conceptualisations of knowledge, such a tacit and explicit, have proved a valuable lens for focusing on knowledgeable practices within organisations and in relatively well understood or stable contexts, this paper argues that their use may be less effective in considering practiced knowledge as it is shared and communicated between organisations and when knowledge needs are still being negotiated. Based on research into the construction industry's approach to the issue of sustainability and the knowledge challenges it poses, this paper introduces the concept of motility of knowledge as an alternative lens through which to make sense of, and improve, the industry's ability to support innovation for sustainability. A motile account of knowledgeable practice helps us to focus on movement, mutation and decay, and to question the application of existing approaches to knowledge management within inter-organisational domains. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for practice.

We present a reflexive account of an engineering research council funded research project investigating the deployment of knowledge management software to support environmental sustainability in the UK construction industry. Although the normal output is usually engineering-oriented, we adopt here a fuller analysis of the multidisciplinary nature of this academic collaboration. We reflect upon the context of publicly funded research and the relationships with the construction industry through empirical findings from our industrial partners and their knowledge practices. We discuss the tensions in terms of private vs. public companies and their expectations of ICT-based knowledge management, and expose a parallel with the political tensions found between the public and private sector with regards to the sustainable construction agenda. Sustainable construction knowledge practices are subject to different forms of de/regulation and accountability in which ICTs are envisaged as
independent self-regulating agents and ‘out of’ politics.

This paper describes the use of Oval Mapping Technique (OMY) to combine the insights gained from multiple research sites by a team of researchers drawn from three universities and represented through Soft Systems Methodology rich pictures. The research team were confronted with the problem of how to develop a shared and comprehensive view of the research arena, which was how to gain and apply knowledge about sustainable construction methods. Through the use of OMT the team assembled clusters of related concepts which formed the basis of CATWOEs and root definitions. Further, they overcame their problems that arose from the absence of a problem owner who could verify and legitimate their reading of world

Khalfan,MMA. NM Bouchlagham, CJ Anumba, PM Carrillo, J Glass (2004) Managing Sustainability Knowledge for Sustainable Build Environment, CIB Conference in Toronto, Canada, 2-7 May.

This paper proposes a sociology of knowledge approach as a basis for understanding the potential of knowledge management in the work of a complex inter-organisational domain-the UK construction industry. Such knowledge management has the specific aim of increasing the sustainability of this industry's processes and products. The paper introduces Soft Systems Methodology to this end, employing the method in conceptualising the industry's knowledge environment. Such conceptualisations are then used in considering how information technology may be developed with the aim of increasing the sustainability of the construction industries practices. The paper concludes with a discussion of Soft Systems Methodology's appropriateness for developing such knowledge management systems.

Masters projects related to C-SanD

Chong,I (2003) An explorative study on Knowledge Management in architectural practice: a socio-technical perspective (ADMIS Student dissertation)

This paper presents an explorative study of knowledge management in architectural practice from a socio-technical perspective. The objective of the study is to understand how knowledge is managed in a project-based, multi-profession environment; what challenges are facing knowledge management in this environment; and the role of social relationships in knowledge management. The research findings suggest that the main problems facing architectural practice are the management of tacit project knowledge. The inadequate management of tacit knowledge results in two inter-related problems: loss of project knowledge, and not knowing ‘who know what’, which leads to ‘reinventing the wheel’. The study also highlights a misconception that attributed the loss of knowledge to inadequate codification of knowledge. This paper argues that technology may be used to resolve this problem of managing tacit knowledge, but the focus should shift from codification to utilising technology as a facilitator that helps in initiating and sustaining social interaction.