Amy Javernick-Will

Motivating Knowledge Sharing in Engineering and Construction Organizations: Power of Social Motivations

AbstractKnowledge management initiatives have proliferated in recent years because of the desire to have employees share their knowledge throughout the organization. However, in practice, many of these initiatives fail to achieve their initial goals. Because knowledge fundamentally resides with people, knowledge management research and initiatives must move from a focus on macrolevel variables at the organizational level to include an understanding of microlevel variables at the individual level of why employees engage in these knowledge management initiatives. This research aims to understand participation in organizational knowledge sharing by identifying and exploring the reasons why employees share their knowledge. This is done through qualitative case studies with 48 employees in 13 multinational engineering, construction, and real estate development firms. Using an embedded unit of analysis of knowledge sharing motivations of employees, a qualitative analysis revealed four primary factors related to...

Measuring and modelling safety communication in small work crews in the US using social network analysis

Effective safety communication between all parties in a construction project is essential for optimal safety performance. Literature suggests that open safety communication across all levels of the organization enhances safety success. Previous studies have found that open communication and frequent interaction between employees and supervisors differentiate construction companies that have low accident rates from companies that have high rates. Through interviews with construction crew members on active construction projects in the Rocky Mountain region of the US, the patterns of safety communication were identified, modelled, and quantified. Social network analysis (SNA) was utilized to obtain measures of safety communication such as centrality, density, and betweenness within small crews and to generate sociograms that visually depicted communication patterns within effective and ineffective safety networks. A cross-case comparison revealed that the frequency and method of communication are important differentiators between project teams with low and high accident rates. Specifically, top performing crews: (1) have formal safety communication from management on at least a weekly basis; (2) have informal safety communication on a weekly basis; (3) undergo formal safety training; and (4) use all proposed safety communication methods on a monthly basis. In addition, typical SNA metrics, including density, centrality and betweenness, are not significant parameters to distinguish high from low performing crews.

Indicators of community recovery: content analysis and Delphi approach

Disaster recovery has been studied from a variety of perspectives including the fields of sociology, engineering, policy implementation, political-ecology, systems theory, geography, and urban planning, leading to a wide variety of definitions and indicators for measuring recovery. To assess what indicators can be used to measure both predisaster resilience and postdisaster recovery, an in-depth content analysis of recovery indicators in the existing literature was performed. Articles from 2000 to 2010 in four disaster-focused journals that include perspectives of engineers, social scientists, practitioners, and economists were analyzed. Articles were selected by a keyword search and analyzed for recovery indicators using an emergent coding scheme. Interestingly, many research articles never defined recovery. Recovery indicators were categorized as social, economic, environmental, and infrastructural. The indicators cited were analyzed based on the disciplinary affiliation of the author. Authors from different disciplines cited different indicators, suggesting that increased interdisciplinary collaboration may be needed. As a second step in this research, a multiround Delphi survey was used to obtain expert opinion on the recovery indicators. This process verified that the set of indicators identified through the content analysis were important and provided a rating of the importance of each indicator. Panelists also provided justifications for any ratings that differed from the median. Researchers can use these results as indicators of recovery in future studies. Similarly, practitioners will be able to use the condensed opinions of experts in the field of disaster recovery and planning.

Use and misuse of qualitative comparative analysis

Research in construction is often confronted with a trade-off of selecting either in-depth studies of small-N cases, which may affect generalization of findings, or statistical large-N studies, which may limit examination of causal links. Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) provides a middle ground between these options, allowing researchers to analytically determine different combinations of conditions that produce an outcome in comparative studies. QCA has been applied extensively in other fields; however, the method has only recently started to gain traction in construction research. Guidance on the implementation of QCA is provided, including: a description of the method and its variants; stages required for its application; its benefits and critiques; applications in the construction field; and recommendations for scholars employing the method. QCA is a promising approach for probing causal links via investigations between variable-based, large-N analyses and qualitative, case-based, small-N studies. However, researchers must not use the method in haste or simply to obtain quantitative results from qualitative data. It requires significant time and rigour to determine and justify the conditions, outcomes and cases used in its application. QCA is well suited for research where interactions between conditions and outcomes are not well understood and can be used to build theory in the complex environment of construction.

Knowledge-sharing connections across geographical boundaries in global intra-firm networks

To boost project performance, managers of engineering and construction organizations are interested in sharing knowledge between employees across the organization. Global project-based organizations that operate in diverse markets are particularly keen to share knowledge collectively across projects and regions to gain a competitive advantage. Unfortunately, creating knowledge-sharing connections (KSCs) and knowledge-sharing networks (KSNs) can be particularly challenging for global project-based organizations. They face not only typical knowledge-sharing barriers of resources, organizational structures and individual motivations, but also physical and cultural barriers due to geographical distance. Although the benefits of global knowledge sharing are established, little is known about how KSCs and KSNs are established and maintained. In order to better understand the network structure and the formation of KSCs within these global organizations, the research analysed the KSC within a KSN focused on susta...

Organizational learning during internationalization: acquiring local institutional knowledge

Organizational learning plays an important role for firms entering new international markets. Acquiring knowledge of a foreign market helps firms to decrease uncertainties, misunderstandings and risks, allowing them to plan and achieve project expectations more accurately. Little is known, however, about how real estate developers, contractors and engineering firms initially collect important local knowledge for their international projects. This study uses qualitative research methods to explore the sources firms use to acquire different types of local knowledge. The results indicate that organizational learning is a complex process, and although similarities exist, different types of firms use different sources to collect needed knowledge. The research contributes to theory by responding to requests for additional research on how firms actually acquire and develop institutional knowledge. In addition, by understanding the sources used to acquire different types of institutional knowledge, company managers can determine the best sources to employ to acquire knowledge that is important for their specific business.

Projectwide Access: Key to Effective Implementation of Construction Project Management Software Systems

Construction engineering and management experts asserted in the 1980s that computer-based information and communication technologies (ICTs) would grow quickly to increase the efficiency of communications in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. Since that time, many studies have measured the rate of adoption and effectiveness of these tools. Recently, studies have noted that these tools are not being used ubiquitously and have yet to reach their full potential in increasing the efficiency of intercompany communications. The present research employed the Delphi method with a panel of AEC industry professionals to address barriers and facilitators of using project-based project management software systems (PMSS), including issues of access to PMSS and how project-based access would affect the efficiency with which information can be communicated. The results of this research indicate that data reentry is a common source of inefficiency in the use of PMSS and that future construction ICT developments should focus on implementing a more collaborative, project-based PMSS that allows direct and active access to the PMSS by all project team members. However, governance issues may be preventing more widespread use of a collaborative PMSS implementation model. Specifically, the respondents felt that general contractors should maintain their roles as managers and controllers of the PMSS. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000596.

Long-Term Functionality of Rural Water Services in Developing Countries: A System Dynamics Approach to Understanding the Dynamic Interaction of Factors

Research has shown that sustainability of rural water infrastructure in developing countries is largely affected by the dynamic and systemic interactions of technical, social, financial, institutional, and environmental factors that can lead to premature water system failure. This research employs system dynamics modeling, which uses feedback mechanisms to understand how these factors interact dynamically to influence long-term rural water system functionality. To do this, the research first identified and aggregated key factors from the literature, then asked water sector experts to indicate the polarity and strength between factors through Delphi and cross impact survey questionnaires, and finally used system dynamics modeling to identify and prioritize feedback mechanisms. The resulting model identified 101 feedback mechanisms that were dominated primarily by three- and four-factor mechanisms that contained some combination of the factors: Water System Functionality, Community, Financial, Government, Management, and Technology, implying these factors were the most influential on long-term functionality. These feedback mechanisms were then scored and prioritized, with the most dominant feedback mechanism identified as Water System Functionality-Community-Finance-Management. This study showcases a way for practitioners to better understand the complexities inherent in rural water development using expert opinion and indicates the need for future research in rural water service sustainability that investigates the dynamic interaction of factors in different contexts.

Measuring Community Resilience and Recovery: A Content Analysis of Indicators

Disaster resilience and recovery have been studied from a variety of perspectives including sociology, policy implementation, decision-making, engineering, geography and urban planning. For this reason, there is a wide range of definitions of resilience and recovery, and determining appropriate indicators of recovery and resilience is a challenge for both researchers and practitioners. We begin this paper with a discussion of the varying definitions of recovery, vulnerability and resilience and how they have been utilized in each field. In order to assess what indicators can be used to measure both resilience and recovery, we performed an indepth content analysis on definitions and indicators from existing literature. We analyzed articles from 2000 to 2010 in four disaster-focused journals that include perspectives of engineers, social scientists, practitioners and economists. Articles were selected by a keyword search and analyzed for resilience and recovery indicators using an emergent coding scheme. We classified the indicators of community resilience into infrastructure, social, economic and institutional categories. Recovery indicators were categorized as social, economic, environmental and infrastructure. Researchers can use these results for future studies of causal factors and recovery indicators. Similarly, practitioners will be able to have a condensed opinion of experts in the field of disaster recovery and planning.

Institutional effects on project arrangement: high‐speed rail projects in China and Taiwan

Previous studies recognize institutional impacts on the arrangement of large infrastructure projects but they have not analysed the process by which a host country’s institutions shape infrastructure projects. Institutional theory was applied as an analytical lens to identify different effects of regulatory, normative and cultural institutions on project arrangements. A cross‐case comparative study of high‐speed rail projects in China and Taiwan was conducted to investigate the processes through which political cultures and industrial structures determined the decisions for project arrangements, including delivery method, financing, participants’ roles, the degree of private and foreign participation, and organization. Longitudinal archival methods combined with exploratory case studies were employed to examine project decisions by analysing government regulations, official publications, news articles, project documents and 20 interviews. A conceptual model was presented to integrate the findings. The political culture in each host country defines the political goals and legitimate approaches of large infrastructure projects, while industrial structure limits feasible alternatives for project arrangements. Collectively, they shape project arrangements and largely dictate the roles played by the government, private enterprises and foreign actors.