A Spatio-Temporal Perspective to Knowledge Management in the Construction Sector

Abstract

The construction sector is an informative intensive one. In every project, during each phase are generated hands-on experiences, problem solving capabilities, understanding of various means and methods, and highly contextualised solutions. This knowledge represents one of the most important assets for AECO firms. In the construction process, the development of a project requires the aggregation of several stakeholders. Many times this group of stakeholders collaborate for the development of the project and once it is delivered they disband moving on to the next project. Hence, the knowledge generated during the process by a whole of stakeholders is disrupted at the end of the project. Furthermore, the experiences gained in the process are rarely, if at all documented with the consequence that knowledge remains stored in the minds of those who were directly involved.

This paper proposes a novel interpretation of the classical theories of knowledge management considering the peculiarities of the construction sector. Starting from the study proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi and in particular the hypertext organisation schema and the SECI model, the article proposes a redesign of the schema to allow its introduction in the construction sector. This main topic is integrated with considerations derived from the cultural historical activity theory and the heuristic decision theory that represent fundamental areas of study to integrate the general model with the means to analyse distributed and decentred organisations, and the intrinsic psychological aspects involved in the management of knowledge.

Hence, the paper proposes an integrated vision of the hypertext organisation schema studied in the construction sector. Furthermore, starting from the latter, the research proposes an interpretation of the knowledge generation and consumption process in the construction sector introducing a spatio-temporal perspective that highlights the distribution of knowledge related processesin terms of both space and time during the construction process.