Applications of Knowledge Management in Construction: A Literature Review

Abstract

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.

The overview of knowledge management for the benefits of service-based value in the university libraries:

“…Impacts and benefits of KM in educational institutions and libraries (19) (Jemal & Zewdie, 2021); (Kordab et al, 2020); (Dei & Walt, 2020); (Asante & Ngulube, 2020); (Shropshire et al, 2020); (Nair & Munusami, 2020); (Maligat et al, 2020); (Sirorei & Fombad, 2019); (Ahmad et al, 2019); (Liebowitz & Paliszkiewicz, 2019); (Bello, 2018); (Sallam et al, 2018); (Oyedokun et al, 2018); (Dlamini, 2017); (Ahmad, 2017); (Koloniari & Fassoulis, 2017); (Daland, 2016); (Almudallal et al, 2016); (Dhamdhere, 2015). KM models, critical success factors, and challenges for implementing KM in libraries and educational institutions (05) (Rafi et al, 2020a); (Rafi et al, 2020b); (Musangi, et al, 2019); (Koloniari, et al, 2015); (Ologbo & Nor, 2015); KM: an overview KM is a process for gathering, distributing, and effectively using knowledge.…”

“…Girard and Girard (2015) identified more than 100 definitions for KM from different domains. They collected these definitions from 13 countries and 23 disciplines, representing the authors' points of view on the definitions based on their domains and cultures (Sallam et al, 2018). Like other organizations today, libraries can be seen as a collection of integrative processes that work together to accomplish the company's overall goals.…”

Implications of Knowledge Management Processes for Project Performance:Systematic Review, Gap Analysis and Scientometric Analysis

“…The processes of knowledge creation and knowledge application may depend on other processes such as acquisition, sharing and codification and all these depend on the human factor as the main enabler through its processes. It deals mainly with tacit knowledge which is the knowledge in human minds, people's attitudes, culture, social values and aspirations (Anumba, Charles and Carrillo, 2005;Sallam et al, 2018).…”

Integrating Knowledge Management Processes with Total Quality Management Principles in the Construction Industry: Meta Review, Gap Analysis and Scientometric Analysis

“…As a project-based industry, the construction sector must manage project knowledge. Effective management of knowledge is essential because it is one of the powerful assets that influence an organization's performance (Sallam et al, 2018). Every project, even those of the same kind, has itsspecifications and conditions, giving it a certain quality (PMBOK Guide, 2017).…”

“…The project involves a variety of disciplines because each project has a separate team from the beginning of planning through completion. It is temporary; therefore after the project is completed, the group either divides up to focus on other projects or stays together to work on a different project (Sallam et al, 2018). Therefore, effective KM is essential to offer market leverage and competitive advantage to project organizations (Rhem, 2017).…”