Exploratory Study of Knowledge Sharing in Contracting Companies: A Sociotechnical Perspective
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 132, Issue 9
Abstract
According to Dede Bonner in 2000, employees hold a wealth of knowledge and experience about their companies, including the products, customers, internal processes, histories, technologies, and competitors. But this knowledge is usually dispersed across scattered individuals and locations. Although learning happens at an individual level, it is usually as a one-time event, without an organizational context or a sense of continuity. Knowledge is kept in people’s minds but not shared in an organization. Not until the 20th century did people start to realize that knowledge is critical to the success of a company and considered to be the pivotal point for aggressive organizational growth in today’s highly competitive marketplace. This is also true for the Hong Kong construction industry. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the current situation of knowledge sharing at the departmental level in contracting companies, this research was carried out with the aims of investigating the main barriers to and finding out the critical factors for and benefits resulting from effective knowledge sharing in the tendering departments of contracting companies in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. The research reviews existing theories of knowledge and knowledge sharing. It seeks to contribute to the theory of organizational knowledge sharing by providing an explorative account supported by empirical evidence. It also allows management to continuously anticipate and support knowledge sharing activities related to the successful management of construction projects within their particular organizations.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Albrecht, T. L., and Hall, B. T. (1991). “Facilitating talk about new ideas: The role of personal relationships in organizational innovation.” Commun. Monogr., 58, 273–288.
Albrecht, T. L., and Ropp, V. A. (1984). “Communicating about networks of three U.S. organizations.” J. Commun., 34, 78–91.
American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC). (1997). “Using information technology to support knowledge management: consortium benchmarking study.” Best Practice Rep., Houston.
American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC). (1998). Knowledge management and the learning organization: A European perspective, Houston.
Argote, L., and Ingram, P. (2000). “Knowledge transfer: A basis for competitive advantage in firms.” Org. Behav. Hum. Decis. Process, 82(1), 150–169.
Beckman, T. J. (1999). “The current state of knowledge management.” Knowledge management handbook, J. Liebowitz, ed., CRC, New York, 1:1–1:10.
Bock, G. W., and Kim, Y. G. (2002). “Breaking the myths of rewards: An exploratory study of attitudes about knowledge sharing.” Information Resource Management J., 15(2), 14–21.
Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.
Brockmann, E. N., and Anthony, W. P. (1998). “The influence of tacit knowledge and collective mind on strategic planning.” J. Managerial Issue, 10(2), 204–222.
Brown, J., and Duguid, P. (1998). “Organizing knowledge.” California Manage. Rev., 40(3), 90–111.
Buckman, R. H. (1998). “Knowledge sharing at Buckman labs.” J. Bus. Strategy, 19(1), 11–15.
Cabrera, A., and Cabrera, E. F. (2002). “Knowledge-sharing dilemmas.” Organization Studies, 23(5), 687–710.
Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA). (2001). Member list, ⟨www.ceca.co.uk⟩ (April 23, 2003).
Connelly, C. E., and Kelloway, E. K. (2003). “Predictors of employees’ perceptions of knowledge sharing cultures.” Leadership Organiz. Devel. J., 24(5/6), 294–301.
Constant, D., Sproull, L., and Kiesler, S. (1996). “The kindness of strangers: The usefulness of weak ties for technical advice.” Org. Sci., 7, 119–135.
Davenport, T. H., and Smith, D. E. (2000). “Managing knowledge in professional service firms.” The knowledge management yearbook 2000–2001, J. W. Cortada and J. A. Woods, eds., Butterworth-Heinemann, Woburn, U.K.
Dixon, N. M. (2000). Common knowledge: How companies thrive by sharing what they know, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
Dixon, N. M. (2002). “The neglected receiver of knowledge sharing.” Ivey Business J., 66(4), 35–40.
Drucker, P. F. (1998). “The coming of the new organization.” Harvard business review on knowledge management, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 1–20.
Dutton, J. E., Dukerich, J. M., and Harquail, C. V. (1994). “Organizational images and identification.” Adm. Sci. Q., 39, 239–263.
Dyer, J. H., and Nobeoka, K. (2000). “Creating and managing a high-performance knowledge-sharing network: The Toyota case.” Strategic Manage. J., 23(3), 345–367.
Emerson, R. M. (1976). “Social exchange theory.” Annu. Rev. Sociol., 2, 335–362.
Federation of Master Builders (FMB). (2002). Find a builder, ⟨www.findabuilder.co.uk⟩ (April 23, 2003).
Fong, P. S. W. (2003). “Knowledge creation in multidisciplinary project teams: An empirical study of the processes and their dynamic interrelationships.” Int. J. Proj. Manage., 21(7), 479–486.
Fong, P. S. W. (2005a). “Building a knowledge sharing culture in construction project teams.” Knowledge management in construction, C. Anumba, C. Egbu, and P. Carrillo, eds., Blackwell, Oxford, U.K.
Fong, P. S. W. (2005b). “Managing knowledge in project-based professional service firms: An international comparison.” Management of knowledge in project environments, P. Love, P. S. W. Fong, and Z. Irani, eds., Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, U.K.
Fong, P. S. W., and Cao, Y. (2004). “Knowledge management in general practice surveying firms: awareness and practices.” RICS foundation research paper, Vol. 4, Number 26, RICS Foundation, London, ⟨http://www.rics-foundation.org/publish/document.aspx?did=3338⟩ (July 22, 2005).
Fong, P. S. W., and Lo, L. C. (2005). “Sharing knowledge across professional boundaries in the Architectural Services Department.” Proc., CIB 2005 Joint Symposium—Combining Forces: Advancing Facilities Management and Construction through Innovation, Helsinki, Finland.
Fong, P. S. W., and Wong, K. C. (2005). “Capturing and reusing building maintenance knowledge: A sociotechnical perspective.” Knowledge management in the construction industry: A sociotechnical perspective, A. S. Kazi, ed., Idea Group Inc., Hershey, Pa., 67–89.
Foy, P. S. (1999). “Knowledge management in industry.” Knowledge management handbook, J. Liebowitz, ed., CRC, New York,15:1–15:10.
Giannetto, K., and Wheeler, A. (2000). Knowledge management toolkit: A resource for creating policy and strategy, with practical guidance for managing knowledge at all levels within the organization, Gower, Aldershot, U.K.
Haldin-Herrgard, T. (2000). “Difficulties in diffusion of tacit knowledge in organizations.” J. Intellectual Capital, 1(4), 357–365.
Hall, H. (2001). “Input-friendliness: Motivating knowledge sharing across intranets.” J. Inf. Sci., 27(3), 139–146.
Hansen, M. T., Norhia, N., and Tierney, T. (1999). “What’s your strategy for managing knowledge?” Harvard Bus. Rev., 77, 106–116.
Hickins, M. (2000). “Xerox shares its knowledge.” The knowledge management yearbook 2000–2001, J. W. Cortada and J. A. Woods, eds., Butterworth-Heinemann, Woburn, U.K.
Hildebrand, C. (2003). Does ? ⟨http://www.cio.com/archive/enterprise/091599_ic.html⟩ (October 15, 2003).
Lee, J. N. (2001). “The impact of knowledge sharing, organizational capability, and partnership quality on IS outsourcing success.” Inf. Manage., 38(5), 323–335.
Leonard, D., and Sensiper, S. (1998). “The role of tacit knowledge in group innovation.” California Manage. Rev., 40(3), 112–132.
Levina, N. (2000). “Sharing knowledge in heterogeneous environments.” Reflections, 2(2), 32–42.
Liebowitz, J. (2000). Building organizational intelligence: A knowledge management primer, CRC, Boca Raton, Fla.
Liebowitz, J., and Beckman, T. J. (1998). Knowledge organizations: What every manager should know, St. Lucia, Boca Raton, Fla.
Martinez, M. N. (1998). “The collective power of employee knowledge.” HR Magazine, 43(2), 88–94.
McDermott, R., and O’Dell, C. (2001). “Overcoming cultural barriers to sharing knowledge.” J. Knowledge Management, 5(1), 76–85.
Monge, P. R., and Contractor, N. (2001). Emergence of communication networks. The new handbook of organizational communication: Advances in theory, research, and methods, F. M. Jablin and L. L. Putnam, eds., Sage, Thousand Oaks, Calif., 239–270.
Morrison, E. W., and Bies, R. J. (1991). “Impression management in the feedback-seeking process: A literature review and research agenda.” Acad. Manage. Rev., 16, 522–541.
Ndlela, L. T., and du Toit, A. S. A. (2001). “Establishing a knowledge management programme for competitive advantage in an enterprise.” Int. J. Information Management, 21(2), 151–165.
Nonaka, I., and Konno, N. (1998). “The concept of ‘Ba’: Building a foundation for knowledge creation.” California Manage. Rev., 40(3), 40–54.
Nonaka, I., and Takeuchi, H. (1995). The knowledge creating company: How Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation, Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.
Okunoye, A., and Karsten, H., (2002). “Where the global needs the local: Variation in enablers in the knowledge management process.” J. Global Information Technology Management, 5(3), 12–31.
Orr, J. E. (1996). Talking about machines: An ethnography of a modern job, ILR/Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y.
Owen, F., and Jones, R. (1994). Statistics, Pitman, London.
Quintas, P. (2002). “Managing knowledge in a new century.” Managing knowledge: An essential reader, S. E. Little, P. Quintas, and T. Ray, eds., Sage/Open Univ., London.
Riesenberger, J. R. (1998). “Executive insights: Knowledge—The source of sustainable competitive advantage.” J. Int. Marketing, 6(3), 94–107.
Saint-Onge, H. (2003). “Strategic capabilities shaping human resource management within the knowledge-driven enterprise.” ⟨http://www.konvergeandknow.com/articles/strategic.html⟩ (December 7, 2003).
Snowden, D. (2001). “Storytelling and other organic tools for chief knowledge and learning officers.” ⟨http://www.traininguniversity.com/magazine/articles/Snowden.asp⟩ (July 28, 2001).
Stewart, T. A. (2001). The wealth of knowledge: Intellectual capital and the twenty-first century organization, Nicholas Brealey, London.
Tannenbaum, S. I., and Alliger, G. M. (2000). Knowledge management: Clarifying the key issue, Rector Duncan & Associates, Austin, Tex.
Turban, E., and Frenzel, L. E. (1992). Expert systems and applied artificial intelligence, Macmillan, New York.
Van Maanen, J., and Barley, S. (1984). “Occupational communities.” Research in organizational behavior, B. Staw and L. L. Cummings, eds., JAI, Greenwich, Conn., 287–365.
Wageman, R. (1995). “Interdependence and group effectiveness.” Adm. Sci. Q., 40, 145–180.
Walker, T. (1995). Hong Kong: The contractors’ experience, Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong.
Wiig, K. M. (1993). Knowledge management foundations: Thinking about thinking: How people and organizations create, represent, and use knowledge, Schema, Arlington, Va.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 132 • Issue 9 • September 2006
Pages: 928 - 939
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 2, 2004
Accepted: Dec 14, 2005
Published online: Sep 1, 2006
Published in print: Sep 2006
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.