scholarly journals A fuzzy logic model for benchmarking the knowledge management performance of construction firms

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 464-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serdar Kale ◽  
Erkan A. Karaman

Knowledge management is rapidly becoming a key organizational capability for creating competitive advantage in the construction industry. The emergence of knowledge management in this capacity poses enormous challenges to executives of construction firms. This paper proposes a model for benchmarking the knowledge management performance of construction firms that can guide and assist construction business executives in meeting these challenges. The proposed model incorporates benchmarking and knowledge management concepts with fuzzy set theory to adequately handle imprecision, vagueness, and uncertainty that prevail in this process. It uses the fuzzy-weighted average (FWA) algorithm to evaluate the knowledge management performance of construction firms. It is an internal reporting model that can provide powerful diagnostic information to executives of construction firms by evaluating their firm’s knowledge management performance, identifying their firm’s strengths and weaknesses with regard to each knowledge management practice, and setting priorities for managerial actions related to knowledge management practices that need improvement. A real-world case study is presented to illustrate the implementation and utility of the proposed model.

2012 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serdar Kale ◽  
A. Erkan Karaman

Knowledge management is rapidly becoming a key organizational capability for creating competitive advantage in the construction industry. The emergence of knowledge management in this capacity poses enormous challenges to executives of construction firms. This paper proposes a model for benchmarking those knowledge management practices of AEC firms that can guide and assist construction business executives in meeting these challenges. The proposed model incorporates benchmarking and knowledge management concepts with importance-performance analysis (IPA) maps. It is a simple visual tool that can provide powerful diagnostic information to executives of AEC firms by evaluating their firm's knowledge management practices, identifying their firm's comparative advantages and disadvantages with regard to each knowledge management practice, and setting priorities for managerial actions related to knowledge management practices that need improvement. A real-world case study is presented to illustrate the implementation and utility of the proposed model.


Author(s):  
Neda Sakhaee ◽  
Hamidreza Shahbaznezhad ◽  
Mehdi Shami Zanjani

In order to implement customer knowledge management concepts, companies need to deploy several mechanisms through the development and integration of currently available ways. Although customer knowledge management has been discussed in various circles, fewer studies have tried to discover a comprehensive set of customer knowledge management mechanisms. This chapter proposes a comprehensive taxonomic model that acts as a reference in the area of customer knowledge management. By using this model, companies can manage their customer knowledge in e-commerce or non e-commerce domes. The proposed model is based on blended methodology and contains a vast look at the three different dimensions of customer knowledge through additional details as well as introducing the comprehensive set of “technological” and “non-technological” mechanisms in accordance with each identified types of customer knowledge.


2005 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. F. Botha

The research was conducted to develop and stabilize a data collection and analysis instrument for an annual survey of knowledge management practices in the South African business sector. From a literature study it was deduced that six factors could be identified with necessary and sufficient reason to be used as main parameters for the assessment instrument. Synthesized a priori and posteriori judgmental knowledge was used to construct a number of aggregational indicators for each factor. Each indicator posited as a statement being a recognized knowledge management practice. A modified six point Likert scale was created to score/indicate gradual progression towards full implementation of a specific practice. Regression factor analysis and one-way analysis of variance was used on the collected data to evaluate the instrument. These analyses indicated that the instrument could detect the expected differences on the demographics and on the KM practices of the survey and could therefore be declared sound and verified. The analyses also revealed several modifications that could be used to improve the instrument.


Author(s):  
Wen-Jang Kenny Jih ◽  
Marilyn M. Helms ◽  
Donna T. Mayo

Current literature on e-commerce and knowledge management primarily emphasizes the benefit of knowledge management for innovative e-commerce operations. The Internet-enabled e-commerce field provides capabilities for firms in all sectors to reach global buyers and suppliers. Knowledge management provides frameworks to manage intellectual capital as a valuable organizational and strategic resource. Do knowledge management practices significantly benefit electronic commerce? If so, does the relationship work in the other direction? Does a firm’s e-commerce applications significantly benefit knowledge management practices as well? To test these exploratory propositions, empirical data were collected from companies in a variety of industries in Taiwan, a country emphasizing e-commerce initiatives. The results revealed significant relationships between the way businesses implement electronic commerce projects, as well as how they experiment with knowledge management concepts. In addition, the findings reveal interesting benefits and difficulties in implementation. These relationships were found to operate in both directions, offering reinforcing effects as well as connections.


10.28945/3607 ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 331-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adebowale I Ojo

Universities have traditionally been leaders in the field of knowledge production, research, and societal development. They are expected to be drivers of innovation, thereby contributing to the development of a learning society. The array of challenges facing universities in Nigeria and other developing countries forces one to question their levels of innovation. While knowledge management has been identified as a strategy for driving innovative processes in business organizations, there is a paucity of literature on its application in Nigerian universities. This paper, therefore, proposes a conceptual model which Nigerian universities could adopt, in order to drive innovation and performance. As the paper is conceptual in nature, a literature survey was conducted to examine the concept of knowledge management and its application in higher education institutions. Findings from the literature informed the development of a conceptual model describing ways in which universities can adopt knowledge management practices and strategies in order to drive innovation and improve performance. The conceptual model proposed in this paper could serve as a basis for empirical investigations on knowledge management processes in universities. The paper concludes that, while knowledge management has the potential for improving performance within universities, the proposed model must be subjected to empirical validation for further amendments and improvements.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Joseph Baeoro Sanga

<p>Knowledge management (KM) is an emerging discipline and in recent years it has received increased attention both from academics and practitioners. At the academic front, the major debate is over the conceptual plurality of KM. This is as a result of the subject having its roots from various disciplines. To practitioners the subject is attractive since it promises the management of knowledge, an abstract concept and the most elusive one to manage. Some think KM is just another fad but the realities experienced by multinational corporations trying to do business across cultures forces both academics and practitioners to constantly think about knowledge management and culture. This thesis posits that there is such a thing as national cultures. In this work, Solomon Islands' national culture with its main features of multiplicity of subcultures, bigmanism, wantokism, pijin and the people's experiences through mission work, government and war are highlighted as providing encouragement and also barriers to knowledge management. Using De Long and Fahey's four frameworks, a case study was conducted informed by the ethnographic tradition. The study drew on methodological triangulation which included semistructured interviews, focus groups, document analysis and observations. The use of multiple data collection tools was employed to ensure convergence of data and the dependability of this work. This study finds two important considerations. First, important knowledge is cognitive understanding and to a lesser extent technical. Structured knowledge is not central to KM. There are two reasons given for this view. One, due to scarcity of resources, there is high competition for education which is regarded as cognitive knowledge, although in practice it is structured knowledge. Two, indigenous knowing is socially constructed and mainly exists in tacit form. Second, even when solicited, participation from subordinates is difficult to come by. This behaviour is embedded in kastom relating to bigmanism. This thesis contributes both to theory and practice. The main theoretical contribution is the argument that knowledge management theorist must take into consideration the effects of national cultures on knowledge recognition and the evaluation of knowledge management concepts. For practitioners, an understanding of the recipient culture is critical for implementing proposed changes. Particularly for Solomon Islands practitioners, a special awareness is necessary from leadership to understand the minds of workers, otherwise change interventions will always be a frustrating vocation.</p>


IFLA Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-321
Author(s):  
Saima Kanwal ◽  
Miguel Baptista Nunes ◽  
Muhammad Arif

The investigation reported in this paper intended to explore the research on knowledge management in higher educational institutions in South Asian countries. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify, select and retrieve relevant scholarly literature, by following a detailed protocol and a systematic data extraction strategy. The findings of the study showed that limited research on knowledge management in the context of higher educational institutions was conducted in both theoretical aspects and practical implementations, denoting an imperative to conduct more research in this area. The findings also disclosed that multiple factors affect the knowledge management practices among primary higher educational institution agents: faculty, administrative staff, and information professionals. As the result of the analysis of the literature review findings, a conceptual framework is proposed, which is expected to provide a good foundation for future research as well as pave the way towards more successful knowledge management implementations in the higher educational institutions in South Asia and beyond.


IFLA Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-51
Author(s):  
Md Nazmul Islam ◽  
Md Shariful Islam ◽  
Abdur Razzak

The main goal of the study is to explore the shortcoming in existing knowledge management practices of some selected academic and special libraries and information centres in Bangladesh in terms of knowledge management activities, human resource management, knowledge innovation-based activities and use of ICT as a tool for knowledge management. Data were collected through review of existing literature on knowledge management, and a structured questionnaire designed for a total of 16 libraries including five public university libraries, four private university libraries, six special libraries and one information centre. This study depicts that a good number of the respondents (25%) never tried to promote knowledge exchange and sharing programmes among staff and users. Half of the total respondents (50%) were not interested in encouraging staff members in the talent competition in all categories. About 38% of the respondents never developed knowledge resources for increasing knowledge level and ability among staff and users. The essence of the study is that knowledge management practice in the libraries of Bangladesh has just been started. Finally, the study provides some suggestions for the development of knowledge management practices in the context of libraries and information centres in Bangladesh.


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 777-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ram Manohar Singh ◽  
Meenakshi Gupta

Purpose – This paper aims to develop a scale to measure knowledge management holistically at team level and to provide an empirical integration to a fractured body of literature on knowledge management. Design/methodology/approach – Ten concepts commonly studied under the umbrella term “knowledge management” were reviewed. On the basis of literature review, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 24 information technology (IT) professionals. A scale was developed based on the literature review and the interviews. The scale was tested in two phases, on samples of 91 and 699 IT professionals. Team knowledge management was analysed on 512 respondents, belonging to 34 teams. Findings – Findings suggest that the newly developed scale is a reliable and valid measure of knowledge management. Exploratory factor analysis of the 27-item scale suggests that knowledge management should be measured along four dimensions: knowledge creation, sharing, retention and actionable knowledge support. Practical implications – Organizations expect their teams to make the best use of knowledge resources. This scale would help organizations diagnose knowledge management practices in teams and develop interventions according to the needs of each team. The scale and four-factor model will provide a framework and a tool to investigate relationship of knowledge management with other variables. Originality/value – The attempts to integrate literature on knowledge management have largely been theoretical, and there has been little empirical work to provide an integrative framework for knowledge management concepts. This paper presents an empirical basis for the integration of knowledge management concepts. The paper also presents development of a scale which measures knowledge management practices in teams.


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