Alosaimi, H (2019) Embedding knowledge management strategies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia construction industry. PhD thesis, University of Wolverhampton, UK.
Abstract
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) construction sector is an important industry and contributes approximately 20% of the GDP. It has been the most significant economic activity outside the oil sector. However, uncertainty, complexity, sustainability, climate change, and Saudi Arabia National Policy Plan 2030 are among the most important features of the current construction business environment in the KSA. As organisations try to meet these complex challenges, they need to be innovative. It is widely recognised that knowledge is an essential strategic resource for a firm to retain a sustainable competitive advantage. Although Knowledge Management (KM) has been widely practiced in the western countries, there is a little evidence in the KSA especially in the construction industry. Therefore, this research focuses on key KM strategies that the KSA construction organisations implemented en-route to organisational competitiveness. The findings are in the main, based on semi-structured interviews with 46 professionals from 30 construction organisations. The data analysis revealed that, the key initiatives implemented broadly under the umbrella of KM are: knowledge sharing initiatives, knowledge capturing initiatives and knowledge mapping initiatives. Furthermore, seven types of KM specific training strategies adopted in the KSA construction organisations. The single most important driver for managing knowledge is to improve cost savings. The key challenge for managing knowledge is capturing tacit knowledge. The KM strategies contribute to improved competitiveness on cost savings. Furthermore, a framework for managing knowledge is developed and validated. The study concludes that managing knowledge is an integrated and complex process. More effective knowledge-sharing within and across construction organisations is required. Therefore, the KSA professional institutions and construction industry should support and participate in the work of knowledge-sharing groups to address perceived risks and opportunities from new technologies and processes. The results do suggests that for effective implementation of KM strategies, there is an urgent need for KSA construction industry to develop and deploy appropriate KM related management training programmes. Leadership plays an important role in breaking down barriers in achieving KM strategies. This study has made significant contributions to knowledge since there is no previous research explored on KM programmes in the KSA construction organisations. Findings of this research are limited to the KSA construction industry context only, as such, the level of generalisability outside this context may be very limited.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | climate change; competitive advantage; construction sector; knowledge management; leadership; sustainability; interview; Saudi Arabia |
| Index terms: | complexity, strategic resource, construction industry, new technology, tacit knowledge, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, climate change, evidence, economic activity, construction organization, national policy, Saudi Arabia, programme, competitiveness, interview, competitive advantage, construction sector, data analysis, cost saving, knowledge sharing, knowledge management, strategy, implementation, mapping |
| Subjects: | organization, spatial and geospatial analysis, market analysis, industry analysis, economic analysis, evaluation and assessment methods, innovation and technology management, climate science, professional development, data collection methods, management, contractual arrangements, knowledge management, project controls, data analysis and analytics, systems engineering, public policy, economics, Geography |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Sustainability, Engineering Principles, Procurement, Cost Management, Governance, Time Control, Information Management, Geographical Context, Business Strategy, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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