Developing a business case for knowledge management: the IMPaKT approach

Abstract

There is a wealth of literature on the role of knowledge management (KM) in business improvement. Those with responsibility for implementing KM in organizations are often required to demonstrate its benefits. The need to convince senior management and other stakeholders about the business benefits is increasingly recognized as crucial in justifying a KM strategy and the resources to support its implementation. A three-stage approach (the IMPaKT framework) - underpinned by an industry survey and case study findings - is presented for developing a business case for KM. The framework facilitates: (1) an understanding of the strategic context of business problems and their knowledge management implications; (2) the planning and alignment of KM strategy to address business problems or objectives; and (3) an evaluation of the impact of KM on business performance in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. Key findings based on industrial application and further development of the framework are discussed. Evaluation shows that the framework could significantly facilitate the implementation of a KM strategy in construction organizations.Knowledge Management, Business Performance, Construction Organizations,

Using eye-tracker to compare search patterns between experienced and novice workers for site hazard identification

“…Thus, knowledge-sharing practices among construction industry workers remain rare and atypical (Tserng and Lin, 2004;Fong and Chu, 2006), particularly those related to strategy formulation and implementation (Robinson et al, 2004). Similarly, methods for acquiring knowledge on inspection strategies and search paths are a fundamental problem in hazardidentification training.…”

A diagnostic model for assessing the knowledge management practices of construction firms

“…The most notable models include Kamara et al's (2002) Cross-sectoral Learning in the Virtual Enterprise model (CLEVER); Robinson et al's (2004) Improving Management Performance through Knowledge Transformation model (IMPaKT); Robinson et al's (2005) StartupTakeoff-Expansion-Progressive-Sustainability model (STEPS); and Yu et al's (2009) Knowledge Value Adding Model (KVAM). The above mentioned models, programs and initiatives have provided important insight into the concept of knowledge management and how it can be measured and used for improvement in construction firms.…”

Lessons from the business sector for successful knowledge management in health care: A systematic review

“…Barriers to KM implementation and success at the organizational level include both organizational culture and structure [5,25,46,51,60,62,68,69,71,79,94]. More specifically, a top down approach [26], separate departments [31,40], lack of "ask why" thinking [35], lack of trust [6], and not being open to sharing knowledge and information such as "lessons learned"[34] can impede KM efforts.…”

“…Furthermore, it can be difficult to present an observable (or immediate) benefit (i.e., it may take a long time to really see the positive changes contributed by the KM strategy), which may result in the KM concept being viewed as not valuable or not worth the effort/resources needed [74]. For an organization that is heavily invested in technologies, barriers to successful KM may include inconsistencies, malfunctions, or software incompatibility, as well as the challenge of obtaining the software for the knowledge base and a lack of balance between IT and personal interaction [23,30,37,51,68,78,87,88,97,98]. …”