Building on Knowledge: Developing Expertise, Creativity and Intellectual Capital in the Construction Professions

Bartholomew, David

ISBN 10: 1405147091 / ISBN 13: 9781405147095

Published by Wiley-Blackwell, 2008

About this Item

Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. An apparently unread copy in perfect condition. Dust cover is intact with no nicks or tears. Spine has no signs of creasing. Pages are clean and not marred by notes or folds of any kind.

Seller Inventory # rev2186908061

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Building on Knowledge: Developing Expertise, Creativity and Intellectual Capital in the Construction Professions
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1405147091
• ISBN 13: 9781405147095
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Like New
• Weight: 680.4 grams

About this title

Synopsis

This guide shows design practices and other construction professionals how to manage knowledge successfully. It explains how to develop and implement a knowledge management strategy, and how to avoid the pitfalls, focusing on the techniques of learning and knowledge sharing that are most relevant in professional practice. Expensive IT-based ‘solutions’ bought off-the-shelf rarely succeed in a practice context, so the emphasis here is on people-centred techniques, which recognise and meet real business knowledge needs and fit in with the organisational culture.

Knowledge is supplanting physical assets as the dominant basis of capital value and an understanding of how knowledge is acquired, shared and used is increasingly crucial in organisational success. Most business leaders recognise this, but few have yet succeeded in making it the pervasive influence on management practice that it needs to become; that has turned out to be harder than it looks.

Construction professionals are among those who have furthest to go, and most to gain. Design is a knowledge-based activity, and project managers, contractors and clients, as well as architects and engineers, have always learned from experience and shared their knowledge with immediate colleagues. But the intuitive processes they have traditionally used break down alarmingly quickly as organisations grow; even simply dividing the office over two floors can noticeably reduce communication. At the same time, increasingly sophisticated construction technology and more demanding markets are making effective management of knowledge ever more important. Other knowledge-intensive industries (such as management consultancy, pharmaceuticals, and IT), are well ahead in adopting a more systematic approach to learning and sharing knowledge, and seeing the benefits in improved technical capacity, efficiency, customer satisfaction and reduced risk.

About the Author

David Bartholomew has been managing knowledge for over 25 years as a director of research, a business manager, a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor at De Montfort University and a consultant on innovation.