567 research outputs found
The role of philosophical context in the development of theory: Towards methodological pluralism
The research strategy dictates the major direction of the research and constitutes one of the important decisions made by the researcher. However, researchers? understanding on theory at the outset of the research guides the design of the research. The paper presents an overview of the involvement of theory within different research philosophies, approaches and methods. The relationship between data and theory is an issue that has been long debated. Moving from data to theory is commonly discussed in social constructionism with inductive approach and ideographic methods. However, within positivism philosophy with deductive approach and nomothetic methods, moving from theory to data is common. However, the growing concept of philosophical pluralism and methodological pluralism challenges the polarised views on philosophies and approaches, which suggests that methodologies are best used in complementary way
Knowledge management and organisational performance: a literature review
Although knowledge management is considered as a very recent phenomenon,
research in to knowledge and the management of the knowledge within the business context
has grown dramatically over the last few years, in a number of different directions. As a result,
a great deal about, what knowledge is and the ways in which knowledge is managed, have been
addressed by many authors. However, despite the growing body of theory, there are relatively
few knowledge management texts that make an explicit connection between knowledge and
performance. Knowledge is not always utilised and that utilised knowledge does not always
result in improved performance. Thereby measurement of performance is of utmost importance
for an organisation to ensure the successful implementation of knowledge management
exercise. This paper is aimed at reviewing literature on both knowledge management and
organisational performance. Based on the review it was underlined knowledge management as
a strategy which leads to performances. The paper highlighted the extreme importance of
looking into the performance measures which can be deployed in knowledge organisations and
recommends further research to be carried out on this regard
Importance of tacit knowledge towards company performance and its relevance to construction
Valuable human and knowledge resources will be wasted unless organisations make
better use of these prime resources. Tacit knowledge in particular is still considered
to be relatively unexplored and proper understanding and management of this
resource is of immense importance for better organisational performance.
The research addresses the importance of people factor and tacit knowledge in
construction and examines the contribution towards the company performance and
achievement of competitive advantage through a thorough literature review. Principle
insights of dominant views on organisational resources are discussed to highlight the
strategic nature of tacit knowledge. Labour and knowledge intensive nature of the
construction industry is revealed and finally the importance and the significant role of
people factor and tacit knowledge in construction are highlighted. This provides the
basis for more empirical research on finding importance of tacit knowledge towards
organisational performance in the construction industry
Improving quality and consistency of dissertation assessment
During the last decade, there has been increasing calls for Higher Education to
improve standards, increase the quality of assessment, and for greater accountability
of lecturers. It is recognised that consistency in assessment is even more important
where assessment is through one large piece of work, such as a dissertation, and
where the assessment outcome will have a significant impact on the final grade of
students. In this context, this paper outlines the initial literature findings and results of
an exercise associated with mechanism used in assessing undergraduate dissertations.
This project aims to identify good practices for dissertation assessment, in an attempt
to improve the quality and consistency of assessment. Several initiatives were
undertaken to improve the quality and consistency of existing dissertation programme
drawing from the outcomes of the study
Managing the construction worker in a knowledge environment
Valuable human and knowledge resources will be wasted unless
organisations make better use of these prime resources. Construction knowledge
workers and their tacit knowledge in particular is still considered to be relatively
unexplored and proper understanding and management of this resource is of immense
importance for better organisational performance. The paper stresses the importance of
knowledge worker and tacit knowledge in construction and examines the contribution
towards the company performance. Two dimensions in construction knowledge worker
management are highlighted. This provides a valid basis to embrace the concept of
knowledge worker and a knowledge culture at all levels within construction
organisations
Managing construction workers and their tacit knowledge in a knowledge environment: A conceptual framework
Within the construction industry, it is increasingly being acknowledged that
knowledge management can bring about the much needed innovation and improved
performance the industry requires. Nevertheless, sufficient attention is still to be received for
the concept of the knowledge worker and their tacit knowledge within construction industry.
Yet, proper understanding and management of this resource is of immense importance for the
achievement of better organisational performance. Hence, this paper aims to devise a
theoretical framework for managing construction knowledge worker and their tacit knowledge
based on review and synthesis of literature. Paper stresses the importance of construction
knowledge worker and tacit knowledge through review of literature and highlights prevailing
gap due to lack of attention and recognition given to the tacit knowledge in the construction
industry. Based on identified gap research aim, objectives and hypotheses are devised. As the
specific research methodology, the social constructionism stance in terms of epistemological
undertakings and idealistic approach under the ontological assumptions with value laden
purposes are suggested. Further, it recommends the deployment of multiple exploratory case
studies approach with triangulation techniques
Are we catering to the construction industry KM requirements?: A literature synthesis
The concept of Knowledge Management is now familiar to the construction industry and
various attempts are being made for the effective management of knowledge in the industry.
This paper addresses the importance of people factor and tacit knowledge in construction and
examines the current focus of knowledge management initiatives to find out the alignment with
the industry requirements. Labour and knowledge intensive nature of industry is revealed with
challenging aspects of construction performance. Dominant hard model of human resource
management is uncovered and finally the mismatch between the current focus and industry KM
requirements is unearthe
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