KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN SINGAPORE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Abstract

In today’s era of knowledge economy, effective knowledge management (KM) is increasingly seen as a mandatory condition for success. Despite widely-recognized benefits of KM, KM practices in construction industry is still in its infancy. Due to the industry’s complex and fragmented nature, KM in the construction sector faces multiple challenges. In Singapore, this area of research is still poorly explored with only a few studies done on a limited range of topics. This research paper aims to contribute to this knowledge area in the Singapore context with the hope to transform the way knowledge is viewed and managed in the local construction industry. This study aims to: (i) investigate the KM tools being adopted in the Singapore construction industry and their usage level; (ii) evaluate the effectiveness of KM tools currently practiced in Singapore and the reasons behind it; and (iii) Propose a framework for the implementation of KM in Singapore construction industry. For the design of survey questionnaire, this study adopts a metrics approach that includes variables of KM technologies, KM techniques and three dimensions of KM performance. Findings suggested that the Singapore construction industry is putting more efforts and resources on explicit knowledge than on tacit knowledge. While a majority of firms have in place technologies with high capability as knowledge management tools, they fail to utilize the tools effectively. It was also found that among the three aspects of KM, the industry is performing better in knowledge exploitation and skill enhancement than in knowledge innovation. A framework for knowledge management has been developed in this study based on proposals from the literature in order to address the short comings that have been identified in the survey.