Boyd, D; Egbu, C; Chinyio, E; Xiao, H and Lee, C C T (2004) Audio diary and debriefing for knowledge management in SMEs. In: Khosrowshahi, F (ed.) Proceedings of 20th Annual ARCOM Conference, 1-3 September 2004, Edinburgh, UK.
Abstract
Site managers meet complex problems in their day-to-day work and have to find solutions promptly. However, the industry does not capture this valuable experience and may even not realise its significance. If this knowledge is collected, structured and disseminated, there would be significant benefits to the companies as well as the whole construction industry. This research is to test and improve a simple yet robust approach for this purpose. The site managers keep an audio diary of a problem-solving event by Dictaphone each week which contains their personal knowledge and thinking. Then the managers are debriefed about the set of their recorded events each month in order to explicate the significance embedded in these events and to transform it into knowledge accessible to a wider audience. With the participation of site managers from a dozen small and medium sized construction companies across the country, the event recording and debriefing process last for six months. The preliminary findings from the research indicate that audio diary and debriefing as a tool for knowledge management are effective and efficient for practitioners to capture and distil their learning and tacit knowledge.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | audio dairy; debriefing; knowledge management; SMEs |
| Index terms: | knowledge management, construction industry, tacit knowledge, practitioner, site manager, diary, construction company, manager |
| Subjects: | professional development, industry analysis, data collection methods, organization, practitioner |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Research Practice, Information Management, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here