Arif, M; Egbu, C and Toma, T (2010) Knowledge retention in construction in the UAE. In: Egbu, C (ed.) Proceedings of 26th Annual ARCOM Conference, 6-8 September 2010, Leeds, UK.
Abstract
With employees leaving construction organizations for all sorts of reasons, it is imperative that organizations look at ways to retain their knowledge. This paper presents a four step process in order to ensure knowledge retention. The four steps include: Socialization, codification, combination and internalization. A four level maturity model is also presented in this paper. These levels of the maturity model provide an indication of how effective will the knowledge retention be in an organization. The levels also provide the ability to assess what needs to be done in order to improve the effectiveness of knowledge retention in an organization. In order to assess the effectiveness of the model, it was applied to a construction consultancy company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). After the analysis of the case study some of the major factors highlighted as crucial for the success of knowledge retention are: culture, organizational structure, configuration management, publicity and marketing, training, IT system with ability to capture multiple formats, and reward and recognition. Although, this paper presents the model for construction sector it can easily be adopted for other sectors.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | knowledge management; knowledge retention; knowledge retrieval; organizational culture |
| Index terms: | configuration, effectiveness, marketing, construction sector, United Arab Emirates, knowledge management, organizational culture, consultancy, construction organization, maturity model, retention, case study, organizational structure |
| Subjects: | data collection methods, organization, business, Geography, evaluation, professional development, management, performance management, industry analysis, systems engineering, sociology |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Information Management, Engineering Principles, Organizational Design, Quality Management, Human Resources |
| 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