Hajikarimi, M H; Hajikarimi, A A and Ghalambor, M A (2009) Utilisation of knowledge management in decreasing waste of steel structure construction via increasing effectiveness of welding process. In: Dainty, A R J (ed.) Proceedings of 25th Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2009, Nottingham, UK.
Abstract
As firms are facing with a new competitive environment which knowledge has a unique position, they should give more consideration to their employer s knowledge, and construction firms are not an exception. Employers are creating values for companies, and nowadays they are counted as strategic resources. In construction firms, due to their project based nature, workers are more important in creating values. One of the most essential elements of a construction firm is its ability to cope with social and environmental pressures to reduce waste and minimise the use of raw materials. To decrease wastes of Steel structure Construction, it is necessary to enhance the weld quality. Weld quality depends on many factors, and one of the most important of them is welder s effectiveness. From another point, it takes a long period of time and experience for an amateur welder to become a professional one. By using KM competences, workers knowledge increases and tacit knowledge retains in the firm, and consequently quality of welding promotes, so waste of construction process such as wastes of materials, time, and project s cost mitigate. To determine how managers could use KM. According to APQC maturity road map, a survey study was done, also Delphi technique was used to understand experts opinion, and exploratory research method was used to identify the principal components that explain influencing factors related to wastes welding. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used as a statistical method for data reduction. Finally 5 main categories (Welding Properties, Environment Condition, Educational Condition, welding Apparatus Condition, and Effect of Management) including 14 independent factors were obtained. It is recommended that steel structure firms managers develop firms KM strategy in accordance with these 14 factors to retain, develop, and share tacit knowledge of welders to reduce wastes of construction.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | knowledge management; waste reduction; welding process and quality; principal component analysis |
| Index terms: | influencing factor, manager, strategic resource, construction firm, survey, strategy, exploratory research, statistical method, Delphi technique, effectiveness, competence, principal component analysis, construction process, welder, steel structure, knowledge management, tacit knowledge, waste reduction |
| Subjects: | risk assessment, data collection methods, organization, practitioner, management, sustainability assessment, performance management, economics, research methods, specialized materials and systems, personnel development, professional development, building construction, statistical analysis |
| Topics: | Quality Management, Human Resources, Site Management, Organizational Design, Business Strategy, Information Management, Construction Materials, Research Practice, Risk Management, Roles and Professions, Sustainability |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
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