Theoretical Research & Positive Analysis On Construction Project Knowledge Management

In recent years, the annual investment on construction in China has been remaining on the level of thousands of billion Yuan, which plays an important role in the National Economy. Construction companies are typical project-oriented organizations whose core business is undertaking projects. Therefore, their knowledge management (KM) success is determined largely by their ability to manage knowledge in project context. Unfortunately, because of the project's distinguishing characters, its temporariness and uniqueness, it is much more difficult to deal with project KM. However, in order to survive and develop in the fiercely competitive market, construction companies are in urgent need of a complete set of KM measures to accumulate knowledge and utilize previous experience both internally and externally, so as to enhance their competence through innovation.The dissertation is based upon various fundamental theories including sociology, economics, management, system approach, cybernetics and information theory, research methodology being combinations of qualitative and quantitative analyses, normative and positive analyses, theoretical analysis and case study. The dissertation reviews the state of arts, expounds the knowledge essence and basic viewpoints of KM, analyzes the mechanism and sets up a research framework for KM in project context. On theoretical basis, the dissertation studies in detail obstacles to project knowledge management, knowledge contents of construction projects and knowledge flows among various levels. Also involved are a set of measuring index to evaluate the knowledge management abilities and a performance evaluation model based on Data Envelop Analysis (DEA). The main contents of the research are as follows:The state of arts is reviewed from five perspectives including the developing history of KM, different KM methodologies, KM executing framework, knowledge body of project management and KM in construction trade.Theoretical fundamentals for the research are introduced including sociology, economics, management, system theory, cybernetics and information theory. Through expounding the knowledge essence and basic viewpoints of KM, the dissertation gives the definition of KM in project context and determines the research boundary.A concept model is set up from three dimensions like levels of knowledge management, knowledge management process and project stages, which is entitled as K (T, P, L). Taking EPC projects as example, major knowledge contents and knowledge management process are analyzed covering stages including bidding, design, procurement, construction, quality checking and trial test. The dissertation analyzes the relationship between the enterprise growth and the success of project KM. Effective knowledge management helps in accumulating individuals' knowledge to form group knowledge which then turns into organizational knowledge. Knowledge accumulated from previous projects will certainly facilitate the success of following projects, which promotes continuously the growth of the enterprise. Meanwhile, the enterprise growth will in return increase the KM abilities, forming a reinforcing cycle.The dissertation expounds the origins and features of project knowledge for construction companies, and according to the staged knowledge contents, illustrates the knowledge flows within construction projects.Summed from the above analysis, the dissertation puts forward a set of measures for construction companies to conduct project KM. Firstly, KM should be emerged into strategy; secondly, a specific organization should be established to deal with KM; thirdly, a knowledge repository shall act as technical guarantee for knowledge sharing; and finally, the learning atmosphere should be fostered within the project team and the company.It also put forward a set of index to describe the KM state of the company which is divided into two categories as process ability and infrastructure ability. Process abilities consist of subcategories like acquisition, sharing and utilization; infrastructure abilities consist of technological, structural and cultural aspects.In order to reveal the contribution of KM measures to the success of project management, a model is suggested to evaluate the KM efficiency with DEA adopted as the quantitative tool. In this model, knowledge management abilities of the organization are considered as inputs and achievement of project goals are considered as outputs.In the end, a case study is conducted to demonstrate how to use the method of KM efficiency analysis. Five EPC projects from an engineering company are selected, the KM measures and project performances being given values and treated as inputs and outputs respectively in the analyzing mathematic model.