Knowledge Management In Construction Research Articles

Use of Artificial Intelligence to Improve Knowledge Management in Construction

Considerable progress has been made in the development and deployment of knowledge management (KM) systems in the construction industry. These have included a variety of technology and non-technology-based solutions that have had varying levels of impact on organizational knowledge management. Very few of the technology-based solutions adopted any artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. The current resurgence of AI and data analytics presents a tremendous opportunity to re-engineer knowledge management systems such that they are a much more powerful and critical component of an organization’s business infrastructure. This paper starts with a review of the evolution of knowledge management in construction sector organizations, and highlights the potential for AI-based KM. It also discusses the resurgence of AI and data analytics, and highlights the key technologies that could play a role in enhancing construction KM. Drawing on specific KM sub-processes, it describes the applicability of some AI techniques to organizational KM processes and systems. The benefits of the proposed AI-based KM are also presented.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN CIVIL ENGINEERING: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

The construction industry is generally one of the fundamental industries of a country, weighing between 5 to 10% of the gross domestic product. Rapid changes in the construction environment require a great deal of effort for a company or project manager to maintain the project successfully. To do so, applying performance management is of crucial importance. Therefore, a systematic literature review was conducted to detect new trends and highlight the evolvement of this research topic. The conducted bibliometric analysis resulted in 1240 documents published in Scopus and Web of Science databases in the period from 2000–2021. The bibliometric indicators, network citations, and multivariate statistical analysis were obtained using JabRef, OpenRefine, Excel, and VOSviewer tools. The co-occurrence analysis showed three keywords clusters as current research hotspots that may be considered as potential research topics in the future: (1) value management in the construction industry, (2) organisation innovation and knowledge management in a particular company, and (3) project management tools and techniques for a particular construction project.

Knowledge management by construction management template for sustainable entrepreneurship

Abstract The article is devoted to the development of a new information and communication concept – “construction management template (CMT)”. This concept changes the way knowledge management in construction is due to: taking into account the most effective modern and traditional methods of management; use of information technologies; end-to-end integration of different solutions into one information and communication tool. CMT is an information and communication model in the form of a three-dimensional parametric part of a building or structure and the associated resource schedule of works used to plan and control management, architectural, technological, operational, and economic decisions throughout the construction project. Combining different construction solutions and including management innovations, the developed information and communication concept is the latest way to manage knowledge in construction. Development of the information and communication concept CMT takes into account the use of modern software, innovative and most effective traditional methods of managing enterprises of the full investment construction cycle. The practical significance of the results lies in the development of recommendations for: finding and using efficiency reserves in construction management with the help of modern information technologies; development and use of construction management templates for knowledge management. The obtained results allowed establishing the new method of management in construction increases the accuracy and speed of management influences, while reducing the cost of management. Thus, more sustainable development of construction entrepreneurship is possible.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY: CURRENT STATE OF KNOWLEDGE AND FUTURE RESEARCH

Knowledge management in the construction industry has become an element of transition between traditional processes and the current needs demanded by technological change. This research reviews the updated scientific contributions of knowledge management in construction, as well as its influence. The results come from a bibliometric study, elaborating a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the current state. The research method was divided into the following stages: preliminary approach to the bibliography, establishment of search strategies, selection and classification of articles, quantitative analysis and discussion of relevant articles. Three main factors were identified: use and exploitation of knowledge, knowledge transfer, and information technologies; five complementary facets were also identified: culture, innovation, quality, knowledge generation and human factors. The results reaffirm the importance of the use and exploitation of knowledge, in addition to increasing attention to the transfer and technology of information. However, the generation of knowledge has declined because the sector still does not report the results of applying knowledge, and this underlines the need for the future study of strategies to transform tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge.

The influence of machine learning-based knowledge management model on enterprise organizational capability innovation and industrial development.

The aims are to explore the construction of the knowledge management model for engineering cost consulting enterprises, and to expand the application of data mining techniques and machine learning methods in constructing knowledge management model. Through a questionnaire survey, the construction of the knowledge management model of construction-related enterprises and engineering cost consulting enterprises is discussed. First, through the analysis and discussion of ontology-based data mining (OBDM) algorithm and association analysis (Apriori) algorithm, a data mining algorithm (ML-AR algorithm) on account of ontology-based multilayer association and machine learning is proposed. The performance of the various algorithms is compared and analyzed. Second, based on the knowledge management level, analysis and statistics are conducted on the levels of knowledge acquisition, sharing, storage, and innovation. Finally, according to the foregoing, the knowledge management model based on engineering cost consulting enterprises is built and analyzed. The results show that the reliability coefficient of this questionnaire is above 0.8, and the average extracted value is above 0.7, verifying excellent reliability and validity. The efficiency of the ML-AR algorithm at both the number of transactions and the support level is better than the other two algorithms, which is expected to be applied to the enterprise knowledge management model. There is a positive correlation between each level of knowledge management; among them, the positive correlation between knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing is the strongest. The enterprise knowledge management model has a positive impact on promoting organizational innovation capability and industrial development. The research work provides a direction for the development of enterprise knowledge management and the improvement of innovation ability.

Paths of innovation and knowledge management in timber construction in North America: a focus on water control design strategies in CLT building enclosures

ABSTRACTMass timber construction systems, such as cross-laminated timber (CLT), which originated in Europe, are gaining acceptance within North America as a viable alternative to multi-story steel-frame or concrete structures. The purpose of this study is to analyze types of innovation in the design of the building enclosure precipitated by the introduction of CLT in the North American market. Additionally, knowledge management and transfer mechanisms supporting the use of CLT in the field are investigated through the analysis of case examples. A number of factors are identified that characterize the implementation of innovation in mass timber building enclosure, among which is the interplay of structural and enclosure design in those elements at higher risk of moisture intrusion. These system innovations required concurrent design collaboration dynamics and effective knowledge management among the different project’s stakeholders and partners. This analysis can contribute to a better understanding of the current state of practice in architectural design, as well as in the mechanisms supporting knowledge management and R&D initiative in an emerging construction market.

Applications of Knowledge Management in Construction: A Literature Review

Knowledge is considered one of the effective assets which control the success of organizations, and its effective management is crucial. Although knowledge has existed and has been used along all projects, the way it was managed was almost intuitive and highly reliable on in-house systems. As a consequence, knowledge management was introduced in the late 1990s to help companies create, share, and systematically use knowledge. Knowledge management can be defined as the identification, optimization, and active management of intellectual assets that create value, increase productivity, and gain and sustain competitive advantage. Construction field, as one of the most complicated fields, is considered a project- based field where numbers of investments in it are in millions every year. Although knowledge in construction is among the main factors for project success, most of this knowledge lies in the minds of the people, which makes it hard to be captured and stored. Accordingly, effective knowledge management in construction is affected by different factors, including the willingness of people to share their knowledge and the mobilization of the workforce from one project to another without sharing lessons learned and previous knowledge. Here comes the role of application of KM, which could help prevent “reinventing the wheel” in construction. This paper aims at offering a comprehensive overview of the application of KM in construction through reviewing extant literature sources. Topics discussed included factors affecting KM, KM tools and techniques, the processes of KM, and the main benefits and challenges facing KM. There are many factors affecting knowledge management and many tools and techniques to manage knowledge. As for the findings of this paper, they took the form of an analysis of the main benefits and challenges facing the application of KM in construction.

Critical factors for transferring and sharing tacit knowledge within lean and agile construction processes

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to investigate the critical success factors (CSFs) associated with the effectiveness of transfer and sharing of tacit knowledge in lean and agile construction processes. Design/methodology/approach The study identifies ten CSFs that initiate the transferring and sharing of tacit knowledge. The CSFs are validated through quantitative study. This study recruited project managers, executives, consultants and other managers that are directly involved in the management of a construction project. It recruits the respondents those have background and experience from disciplines such as lean construction, agile construction, construction supply chain (CSC) and knowledge management in lean, agile and CSC. The data collected through self-administrative questionnaire are categorised as ordinal data to analyse in SPSS with frequency and Kruskal–Wallis H test, Spearman’s correlation analysis and a rank-order analysis is done to establish the level of importance of those factors. Findings Initially, “Trust between construction organisations” is identified as the foremost CSF. Moreover, other CSFs such as motivation, leadership capabilities, business strategies and organisational capabilities follow trust. Originality/value This is the first study that investigates and establishes the CSFs that are essential to initiate transferring and sharing tacit knowledge in a lean and in an agile construction processes.

A Cloud-based Mobile System to Manage Lessons-learned in Construction Projects

Knowledge and experience are vital assets within the construction industry. Nevertheless, small and medium construction companies still have problems to transfer the knowledge acquired in their projects to the rest of the organization. Lessons-learned are elements of knowledge management that could help companies to improve this process, and therefore, their global performance. This research presents a cloud-based mobile shared workspace to support knowledge management in construction. The article presents the original system and the modifications made to it based on an initial evaluation by construction professionals. The main upgrades were to include a notification system, letting users know when an action is required from them, and to improve the synchronization process for a better offline experience on site. The evaluators considered these were essentials features to be able to use the system on site. The 2.0 version of the system was validated with construction experts. The article concludes that one of the most relevant features of the system is its capacity to save information on site without an internet connection for later synchronization. Also, the proposed cloud-based shared workspace is a feasible option to improve knowledge management in small and medium Chilean construction companies, mainly because of mobility, usability and investment-related factors.

A Study on the Effects of Knowledge Management on Innovation Strategies and Competitive Advantages

The 21st century is a knowledge economic era when a person who could master knowledge and technologies could master the competitive future. The knowledge and technology competition and the emergence of information technology and the Internet in the future have innovation strategies enter a new era. Knowledge management and share as well as innovation strategies of a business present the importance on the enhancement of competitive advantages. Effective knowledge management and innovation strategies become the key in the success. Aiming at Kunshan German Industrial Park, the executives and employees in 6 of top 500 businesses are distributed 300 copies of questionnaires, among which 218 valid copies are retrieved, with the retrieval rate 73%. The research results show the significant correlations between 1. innovation strategies and competitive advantages, 2. knowledge management and innovative strategies, and 3. knowledge management and competitive advantages. It is expected to assist businesses in constructing knowledge management.

A Study of the Cognitive Effects and Outcomes of Newspaper Reading Behavior of the Elementary School Students in the Taipei City

The purpose of this study is aimed to explore elementary school students in Taipei on demographic variables of gender and grade level; their views of implementation of newspaper behavior, including learning motivations, learning preferences and frequencies; and their selfassessment of effects on newspaper-in-education that included broader views, better interpersonal relationship, civic literacy, expression ability, problem solving ability, and increase of vocabulary. The study involved elementary school students participated in the Newspaper in Education in Taipei Elementary School Education Project in 2008. The results showed that elementary school students do not differ in gender and grade level in their opinion of newspaper in education, but differ in self-assessing learning outcomes. This study suggested that adequate teaching strategy for newspaper in education should be gender-and-grade specific, and at same time should promote teacher-student collaborative teaching and learning to help students construct knowledge management capabilities in order to achieve objectives of newspaper in education.

Knowledge Management in Composition of Construction Contracts

The objective of this paper is to present a model which will allow knowledge management in construction contracts composition. It was decided to investigate the possibilities to manage knowledge in constructions contracts composition. The complexity of construction process interested parties, construction contract life cycle, multilayer construction contracts modelling possibilities were evaluated. In the following research, model of information system for construction contracts structural analysis (previously developed by the authors) is additionally developed by taking into consideration the possibility to use the knowledge management.

Applications of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in Knowledge Sharing and Management in Construction

Applications of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in Knowledge Sharing and Management in Construction

Application of knowledge management technologies in Korean small and medium-sized construction companies

In today’s emerging knowledge-based economy, Knowledge Management (KM) is being rapidly disseminated in both academic circles and the business world. The effective management of knowledge is vital to the survival and prosperity of a company, particularly in project-based industries such as construction. As a result, construction companies have adopted Information Technology (IT)-based KM systems (KMSs). KMS refers to the technology platform and infrastructure that an organization employs to support KM. However, the increasing attention given to KM is targeted at Large Multi-national Construction companies (LMCs), with little attention given to Small and Medium-sized Construction companies (SMCs). Compared to LMCs, SMCs need different sources and types of knowledge and technology to remain nourished and healthy. In this context, this research attempts to facilitate KM activities within SMCs through the distribution of a set of KM technologies tailored to meet the requirements of SMCs. First, we analyze key obstacles to implement KM activities within SMCs through a survey. Based on this analysis, a set of KM technologies are then identified and adapted to support the KM activities of SMCs in a feasible fashion. In addition, we discuss the expected change of organizational behavior by the distribution of those KM technologies. In the end, these technologies are synthesized into a web-based Construction Knowledge Management Portal (CKMP) system that seeks the inter-organizational sharing of construction knowledge. By delivering key KM technologies to SMCs, our study benefits both academia and the construction industry.

Ontology-Based Partial Building Information Model Extraction

The current application of building information modeling (BIM) in the construction industry is generally focused on using the complete building information model during the life cycle of the project. With more information being added to the model, the size of the model file and the difficulty to manipulate the model increase. However, different use scenarios may only require access to certain specific information stored in the model. In contrast with the ample research of ontology applications in construction knowledge management, research of ontology in construction modeling has been limited. Hence, the purpose of this study is to use ontology in the extraction of a partial building information model from the original complete model. The building information models covered in this study are in the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) format, which is a widely supported open BIM standard. An ontology TBox is developed according to the existing IFC schema specifications. For each specific IFC model, an ontology ABox is generated at run time, combining the ontology TBox and the IFC instances in the model. The ABox works as an index in the partial model extraction algorithm. A prototype Java program based on the algorithm was developed to demonstrate and validate the algorithm using both a sample model and an IFC model from a real building. The results indicated that the use of ontology provides a valid way to deal with the technical complexity of IFC models.

실무자 관점에서의 국내 대형 건설 회사 지식경영 인프라 만족도 분석

지식기반 경제라는 패러다임의 등장과 함께 건설 산업 역시 지식이 기업의 경쟁력을 좌우하는 요인이 되고 있다. 국내 건설산업은 90년대 중반부터 대형 건설 회사를 중심으로 지식경영을 도입하기 시작하였으며 현재 지식경영을 위해 많은 투자가 이루어진 상태다. 그러나 최근 지식경영에 대한 건설 조직의 전망은 상당히 회의적이다. 현행 건설 산업의 지식경영은 실무자의 요구사항을 만족시키지 못할 뿐만 아니라 실무자 입장에서 이중 업무의 부담으로 작용하여 활용도가 떨어지는 등 다양한 문제가 지적되고 있다. 따라서 본 연구는 국내 대형건설회사 소속의 건축프로젝트 시공단계 참여자를 대상으로 지식경영 인프라 만족도를 조사하여 현행 건설 산업 지식경영 전략의 적정성을 진단하고 향후 지식경영 개선 방향을 제시하는데 기초자료로 활용되고자 한다. Knowledge has been one of the key factors influencing the companies' competitive power. Domestic construction industries have introduced Knowledge Management from 1990s around major construction companies. However, construction organizations have recently give a skeptical response about Knowledge Management. The existing Knowledge Management in construction industries does not satisfy the demands of workers. Furthermore it makes workers do double business. Therefore, this study investigates the workers' satisfaction of Knowledge Management, and becomes the preliminary study to suggest how to improve Construction Knowledge Management.

Clustering Approach to Construct Knowledge Management for Statistics Concepts of University Students

The purpose of this study is to develop a methodology as to the knowledge management of concept structure for learners. Fuzzy clustering is adopted to implement classification so that learners of the same cluster have homogeneity and display common features of cognition diagnosis. In addition, fuzzy clustering is based on information of concept scoring and caution index from polytomous student-problem chart. In the study, the empirical data is the assessment of statistics concepts from university students. The results show that there are four clusters and each cluster has its own cognitive characteristics. To sum up, the methodology can improve knowledge management in classroom more feasible. Finally, some recommendations and suggestions for future investigations are also discussed.

Malaysian Practitioner’s Perception on Knowledge Management in Construction Consulting Companies

Construction consulting companies of today are a part of what has been called the knowledge society. The reason behind this name is the increasing importance of intangible assets as the major source of wealth creation in construction industry. As such, Knowledge Management (KM) has become a critical concern for construction consulting companies to improve project performance. The purpose of this paper is to analyse Malaysian practitioner’s perception on KM in the construction consulting companies. The finding of this study was based on an analysis of transcribed data from semi-structured interviews conducted on Malaysian practitioners in the construction consulting companies to identify pattern and themes accordingly. The findings of the study indicate that all participants have expressed the significant contributions of KM to their success as a professional construction consultant in Malaysia. These participants shared a common characteristic of being professional in construction industry such as they agreed that manage database (data record) and filing system is perceived as important and also the professionals must build extensive social and business networks both locally and overseas that were relevant and have impact on their business success. The professionals have a personal desire to learn and they preferred to learn informally from a variety of people that they can access usually through discussion, seminar/conference and media. Learning from personal experience and experiences from others through learn on job and mentoring were a common characteristics among all the professionals and all of them strongly prescribed that such transfer of learning’s will enable one to shortcut learning and improve their knowledge. However, both internal and external environmental factors have equal impact on the transfer of knowledge in construction consulting companies. Internally, personal interest has the biggest impact followed by culture, commitment from management, incentive or reward for the staff and openness or willingness (more on trust) to share and listen. Externally, business factor/competition has the biggest impact on transfer of knowledge in construction consulting companies.

Ontology‐based information and knowledge management in construction

PurposeThere is an increasing recognition of the value of effective information and knowledge management (KM) in the construction project delivery process. Many architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) organisations have invested heavily in information technology and KM systems that help in this regard. While these have been largely successful in supporting intra‐organisational business processes, interoperability problems still persist at the project organisation level due to the heterogeneity of the systems used by the different organisations involved. Ontologies are seen as an important means of addressing these problems. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of ontologies in the construction project delivery process, particularly with respect to information and KM.Design/methodology/approachA detailed technical review of the fundamental concepts and related work has been undertaken, with examples and case studies of ontology‐based information and KM presented to illustrate the key concepts. The specific issues and technical difficulties in the design and construction context are highlighted, and the approaches adopted in two ontology‐based applications for the AEC sector are presented.FindingsThe paper concludes that there is considerable merit in ontology‐based approaches to information and KM, but that significant technical challenges remain. Middleware applications, such as semantic web‐based information management system, are contributing in this regard but more needs to be done particularly on integrating or merging ontologies.Originality/valueThe value of the paper lies in the detailed exploration of ontology‐based information and KM within a design and construction context, and the use of appropriate examples and applications to illustrate the key issues.

A web-based prototype for live capture and reuse of construction project knowledge

The concept of Knowledge Management (KM) is now widely embraced in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, and many strategies and tools have been (and are being) developed for its implementation in the industry. Much of these efforts, however, are targeted at the firm-level, and they do not facilitate the collective learning of various participants involved in a project. This paper describes a web-based prototype (CAPRI.NET) that was developed to facilitate the live capture and reuse of project knowledge. Following a review of strategies for project knowledge management in construction, the research underpinning CAPRI.NET is discussed. This is followed by a description of the development and testing of the prototype. CAPRI.NET allows project participants to document their learning during the course of a project in a Project Knowledge File (PKF) which is collectively owned by all participating firms. The knowledge captured in the PKF can be reused during or after the project. A preliminary evaluation of CAPRI.NET by AEC practitioners suggest that it proffers unique possibilities for knowledge capture and reuse in AEC projects.