Tacit knowledge as a promoter of project success

2005

ABSTRACT Valuable human and knowledge resources will be wasted unless organisations make better use of these prime resources. Tacit knowledge in particular is still considered to be relatively unexplored and proper understanding and management of this resource is of immense importance for better organisational performance.

Journal of Operations Management, 2010

2006

The concept of the knowledge worker and their tacit knowledge still lacks sufficient attention within construction industry, despite the fact that proper understanding and management of this resource is of immense importance for the achievement of better organisational performance. Hence this paper presents a conceptual framework for managing construction tacit knowledge, based on a review of literature and pilot interview findings. This paper stresses the importance of the construction knowledge worker and tacit knowledge, whilst highlighting the prevailing gap due to the lack of attention and recognition given to tacit knowledge in the construction industry. The necessity for purposeful, formal and systematic knowledge management (KM) techniques with a proper plan that can be monitored, controlled and measured is highlighted from the interview findings. Also stressed by respondents is the importance of measuring effort, outcomes and different areas of KM. The model will provide a ...

2013

The importance of knowledge as a key determinant of organisational competitiveness and better performance is increasingly appreciated by both academics and practitioners. However, the concept of tacit knowledge still lacks sufficient attention within the construction industry, despite the fact that proper understanding and management of this resource is of immense importance for the achievement of better organisational performance. As the initial step towards the management of tacit knowledge, this paper examines the factors affecting tacit knowledge generation and utilisation in the construction industry. The study integrates theories of experiential learning, cognitive science and knowledge creation, in order to articulate the process of tacit knowledge generation and utilisation. The exploratory phase of the case study identified several factors affecting tacit knowledge generation and utilisation in an organisational context in terms of Individual level: Intra-personal drivers;

2008

The importance of knowledge as a key determinant of organisational competitiveness and better performance is increasingly appreciated by both academics and practitioners. However, the concept of tacit knowledge still lacks sufficient attention within the construction industry, despite the fact that proper understanding and management of this resource is of immense importance for the achievement of better organisational performance.

Research Policy, 2002

This paper investigates the wave of codification of technological knowledge which has occurred over the last two decades due to the availability at low cost of electronic automation and measurement instruments. During this process, traditional tacit skills of workers have become largely obsolete and modern operators on the shop floor are mainly process controllers and low-level problem solvers. Alongside this, the acceleration of innovation has made high-level problem solvers increasingly important. Tacit knowledge has thus remained crucial, but it has become complementary to a codified knowledge base and concerns problem solving heuristic, interpretation of data, etc. After illustrating the benefits and costs of codification and the nature of tacit skills, three case studies are presented regarding the steel, semiconductor and mechanical sectors. The last part of the paper discusses the impact of codification/automation/complexity and increased burden of fixed costs on industrial organisation. A story of co-evolution of technological knowledge, cost structures, transaction costs and social division of labour emerges.

Journal of Intellectual Capital, 2020

Purpose This research identifies the forms of tacit knowledge frequently requested in the job descriptions of knowledge workers in a multinational automotive manufacturer's product development department. It then explores how and why the most requested forms of tacit knowledge are used in practice to achieve organizational goals. Design/methodology/approach This study follows a sequential mixed-methods approach to quantify the most frequently requested forms of tacit knowledge within internal job descriptions and then explores how and why this tacit knowledge is used. The first stage applies manifest content analysis to internal job descriptions to highlight the epitomes of tacit knowledge to identify the most frequently requested forms of tacit knowledge. The second stage employs semi-structured interviews to explore the use of the most frequently requested forms of tacit knowledge in practice. Findings The research indicated that the organization most frequently requested tacit knowledge in the form of skills and experience in the job descriptions of knowledge workers in the product development department. When the use and application of tacit knowledge in the form of skills were further explored in practice, it was found that tacit knowledge-based socially-focused skills were used, which was underpinned by the need to bring people together and align them towards a common goal to make things work; by enabling people to work together as a team; by developing and using networks; and acting as a required resource to support the development and integration in product development. Tacit knowledge in the form of experience was applied through the application of personally obtained experience to enhance development work by acting as a pacemaker for increasing efficiency and a sense of upcoming issues.

Construction Economics and Building, 2012

Increased complexity of the construction business and consequentuse of new management concepts and technologies ledconstruction organisations to focus more on the transfer of explicitknowledge. However, it is the tacit knowledge that determinesthe construction companies’ competitiveness in a business thatis driven by turbulent market conditions and customers’ everincreasingdemands. This paper highlights the importance of tacitknowledge sharing in construction, explores the challenges andopportunities to efficiently share tacit knowledge, and based on theliterature review identifies some critical factors that influence tacitknowledge in construction. It is argued that employees’ knowledgesharing (learning) behaviours are influenced by work practices thatare borne by respective organisational behaviours. Organisational,cultural, and project characteristics that facilitate knowledgesharing among construction employees are explored and thepractices that influence the construction employ...

Journal of Knowledge Management, 2007

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of tacit knowledge in construction and to underline the significant contribution of tacit knowledge towards the organisational performance. Design/methodology/approach – Includes a review of literature on principal insights of dominant views on knowledge and organisational resources to highlight the strategic nature of tacit knowledge. Further, intrinsic characteristics of

2008

Abstract The construction industry is perceived as one of the knowledge-based value creating sectors of the economy; however, it faces many challenges, especially in terms of performance, due to its intrinsic nature. Different knowledge-based solutions have been proposed in the past to overcome this problem.