Tacit knowledge: how can we capture it?

Date

2019

Authors

Jepson, J.
Kirytopoulos, K.
Chileshe, N.

Editors

Mutis, I.
Hartmann, T.

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Conference paper

Citation

Advances in Informatics and Computing in Civil and Construction Engineering, 2019 / Mutis, I., Hartmann, T. (ed./s), pp.189-197

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Proceedings of the 35th CIB W78 2018 Conference: IT in design, construction, and management (1 Oct 2018 - 3 Oct 2018 : Chicago, Illinois)

Abstract

The importance of knowledge transfer or mentoring as a way to pass tacit knowledge (experience) across generations is discussed widely. This tends to re-lies on the proximity and mutual exchange within a project management (PM) context. The sender/receiver approaches used to the transfer learning from one project to another is inhibited by the context of the projects, and the lack of time, which may obscure its relevance or purpose. There is concern that the knowledge captured in the minds of senior project managers is not being passed on to the next generation conversely it may be that much of the knowledge that they do have is potentially obsolete or has been superseded by new methods and systems. This study used a grounded theory approach to interviewing 25 construction PMs from South Australia, on the management of project risks. The conclusion derived is that experience accumulated to generate tacit knowledge is essential for success management future projects. However these PMs tended to still rely on traditional and the often poorly utilized methods such as lessons learnt and mentoring to capture this knowledge. Using this information the study examines the key issues around knowledge management in project organizations and possible avenues for capturing tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge will potentially be lost unless better systems are developed. This paper questions how Building Infor-mation Systems, IT systems and the more visually based techniques such as pod casting, 3D photography, time-lapse cameras, web-based methods can to be used to accumulate and enable more effective knowledge transfer.

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Copyright 2019 Springer Access Condition Notes: Accepted manuscript available after 1 October 2019

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