From project-based knowledge creation to organisational knowledge application Creating a knowledge management toolbox for a mid-sized consulting firm

The construction industry consists of a large amount of projects with unique circumstances such as conditions, durations, budgets and resources. As a consulting project manager, the assignments are often project-based, and the processes are not seldom non-standardised. This creates an expressed difficulty to collect, save and apply knowledge. However, there is today a spectra of various tools within the knowledge management area that may contribute to collecting, saving and applying knowledge. This study aims to investigate what knowledge management tools that could be relevant to apply for Construction Management AB, a mid-sized consulting firm acting in the construction industry. Through interviews with the project- and organisational managers along with observations of the current knowledge management system and discussions at the office, an analysis of what knowledge is asked for and what possibilities there are to work with knowledge management was done. The result of this showed that Construction Management AB has a need to manage both tacit and explicit knowledge. It was also clear that the organisational management and the project management had different views on what kind of knowledge was important. The management strived towards leadership knowledge and managerial templates, extremely tacit and explicit knowledge. However, the project managers focused on building technological knowledge, knowledge varying between tacit and explicit knowledge. Moreover, the possibilities to work with knowledge management were large, as it was looked upon positively. What was a constraint was that there were unclear directives on how to work with it, and that time was a limiting factor. To meet this, tools that applies a structure which is easy to follow and tools that can be applied for tacit respectively explicit knowledge should be focused on. Thus, a taxonomy, AAR-meetings that can handle explicit knowledge, and workshops and knowledge cafés for tacit knowledge were proposed to create a knowledge management toolbox fitted for the resources and possibilities at the mid-sized consultancy