Raisbeck, P and Tang, L C M (2009) Humanistic and scientific knowledge management: A comparison of design practice between architects and engineers. In: Dainty, A R J (ed.) Proceedings of 25th Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2009, Nottingham, UK.
Abstract
It has been suggested in more recent research findings that architectural and engineering consultancies can be characterised as knowledge intensive professional firms. Besides, the extensive use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has both positive and negative impacts on these knowledge workers. In this study, the management of design knowledge will be strictly related to the activities of the architects and engineering consultants and is conceived of here as unique, and often one off activity or process which does not end once the initial design has been created. Given this, the aim of this study is to understand, identify and highlight the importance of how design knowledge is created, captured and then managed in architectural and engineering consultants in a small office in the UK and Australia. The research questions are: once design knowledge is created how is it then managed? Is this knowledge always implicit? Does it become embedded in structures and systems? How do these firms manage it with the help of ICT? Based on two case studies in small offices; one in an small architectural firm in Australia and the other in an large engineering firm in the UK., a high level knowledge-knower structure is constructed by mapping the design knowledge in relation to each practice. From this results and findings, a preliminary framework of humanistic and scientific knowledge management in these design-intensive firms is then finally proposed that could improve the productivity of these knowledge workers in terms of reusing personal and codified knowledge.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | architecture; design practice; engineering; knowledge management |
| Index terms: | architectural firm, engineering firm, Australia, knowledge management, design practice, engineer, productivity, case study, architect, mapping, engineering consultant, information and communication technology, consultancy |
| Subjects: | profession, design process, business, professional development, spatial and geospatial analysis, firms, organization, management, computing systems, professional, data collection methods, Geography |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Digital Applications, Organizational Design, Business Strategy, Information Management, Geographical Context |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
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