Improving integration in construction industry through
knowledge management in relational contracting setting:
A critical success factors approach

Bakri, AS; Ingirige, Bingunath; Amaratunga, RDG

Abstract

Construction is a project-based industry and generally it works with a unique product in every project. Generally, repeated project organisations are reconfigured for each project. This means that construction supply chains are characterised by adversarial practices and fragmentation in relationships, with the result that construction participants generally have temporary relationships rather that long-term partnerships. A consequence of this is the lack of trust between construction clients, designers, main contractors and subcontractors. Since the supply chain works as a disparate collection of separate organisations rather than as a unified team, the supply chain suffers from lack of integration. Besides this, there is still an unwillingness to share knowledge between the construction participants, thus, there is poor knowledge flow. These characteristics of construction industry are the main reasons of its low efficiency and productivity in project delivery. It is important to focus on the management of knowledge within the construction industry setting. Knowledge Management (KM) has roles in improving collaborative behaviour among firms and individuals involved in construction process such as knowledge sharing, knowledge transfer, communications and information technology. In addition, Relational Contracting (RC) is one way to minimise the problems of fragmentation. It is believed that RC, when integrated with KM, can successfully address the major problems of the industry and its clients. There are some common key issues shared between RC and KM. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to discuss how KM through its critical success factors (CSFs) could be used to improve integration in RC project settings.

Citation

A critical success factors approach. Presented at Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference (SPARC), University of Salford, Greater Manchester, UK

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference (SPARC)
• Conference Location: University of Salford, Greater Manchester, UK
• Start Date: Jun 1, 2009
• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2009
• Deposit Date: Dec 13, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 13, 2011
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference