Assessment Task 2 - Manage Knowledge
Assessment Task 2 - Manage Knowledge
Assessment Task 2 - Manage Knowledge
(Includes role-plays)
Collect and analyse business information for knowledge
The Construction Sub Contractors Procedure outlines the methods of employing, instructing and paying
construction subcontractors. Subcontractors will be utilized to the extent necessary to complete the
construction project according to the construction contract.
The Construction Sub Contractors Procedure applies to the utilization of sub contractors for all
development or construction projects.
Nominated Construction Subcontractor List
Construction Pre-Award Meeting
Construction Subcontractor Performance Bonds
Letter of Intent
Construction Subcontracts
Construction Coordination
Subcontract Revisions
Construction Subcontractor’s Progress Claims
Construction Backcharges
2. Ensure you undertake the following activities according to
organisational (simulated workplace) requirements. For example,
to make decisions on business performance.
Invest in training
Training is critical to efficiency, especially for construction supervisors who need sound management
principles and techniques to keep projects running smoothly.
By helping your employees master critical skills, you’ll immediately see benefits in terms of efficiency in
your project.
For example, a supervisor could use his new skills to guide workers in a more efficient way of installing
steel beams, enabling you to get the work done sooner and move on to the next phase.
Improve your communication
f you aren’t communicating with your team, that’s a recipe for big losses in efficiency.
You should make yourself available to your crew so they know they can come to you with any problems
that arise. They also need to hear what your expectations are as far as what you want to get
accomplished next week or next month.
Make it a daily habit to meet with your project supervisors to go over your expectations for the day, and
get their feedback on what they think they can accomplish and what potential pitfalls there are.
In construction, the relationship between client and contractor constitutes a multilevel complex in which
parties operate simultaneously and collaborate with in-groups of networks (fig. 1). Therefore, customer
satisfaction in construction should be understood as a relationship-specific rather than a transaction-
specific construct, and the quality of the relationships amongst project participants can influence customer
satisfaction. As a result, traditional customer relationship management models used in product
manufacturing will not produce the best results in construction (see e.g. Homburgh and Rudolph 2001).
One important feature in customer satisfaction in construction is that the customer might overemphasise
the later stages of the project as a consequence of the project’s long duration and the fact that defects
during the hand-over period stay most clearly in the customer’s mind (Kärnä and Junnonen 2004). The
development of multiple customer feedback tools allows problems to be identified early on, before
conflicts develop. The challenge is then to create a feedback system, which takes into account the
customers’ and the other parties’ perceptions of the contractor’s performance both during the construction
development phase and after the completion of the facility. Developing mutual feedback during the
construction phase could contribute to the identification of the essential areas where problems arise
during the project and it could also improve the project parties’ mutual lear ning. It could also improve
reliability of the feedback when evaluating the success of the project.
Figure 1. Customer relationships and interactions in the construction supply chain (Ventovuori et al. 2002)
In order to achieve this growth rate, sub-objective for middle-level managers is to increase sales.
Increasing sales is an end of middle-level managers but means for achieving goals at the higher level.
This process goes on till objectives are framed for each level in the organisation. Objectives for each level
are an end in themselves but a means for attaining objectives for higher levels.
Strategic goals
These are the formal goals framed by top managers and address issues related to the organisation as a
whole. These goals ensure survival and successful working of a business enterprise. According to
Drucker, there are eight major areas in which organisations frame strategic goals. These are:
Market standing, innovation, human resources, financial resources, physical resources, productivity,
social responsibility and profit requirements.
Tactical goals
Each department sets specific goals to promote overall organisational goals (strategic goals). Tactical
goals are the goals of specific departments framed by middle-level managers. While strategic goals are
general in nature, tactical goals are specific. They are stated in measurable terms.
Operational goals
Operational goals are targets or future end results set by lower management that address specific,
measurable outcomes required from the lower level. These goals are framed by lower-level managers for
divisions or sub-units of each department. As tactical goals help to achieve strategic goals, operational
goals help to achieve both strategic and tactical goals. These levels of goals form a means-ends chain
where goals at lower levels provide a means to attain the ends (goals) at the higher level.
In the hierarchy of objectives, there should be complete coordination of objectives at different levels of the
ends – means chain so that right means contribute to the right ends. Lack of coordination can lead to goal
distortion and goal displacement. Due care should be taken by managers to ensure that there is:
1. No disagreement amongst the units operating at different levels regarding the means for goal
accomplishment.
2. No influence of personal biases and judgments on the part of any organisational member that
negatively affects integration of the links involved in the ends-means chain.
You can use a set of metrics to analyse your system based on three cause and effect angles:
One crucial goal during the implementation of a knowledge management strategy includes demonstrating
that your investment will provide value to your organization. Can ROI be measured in a knowledge
management system?
ROI can be demonstrated through benchmarking. This gives you a quantifiable measurement to justify
the expenditure and show the effectiveness of your knowledge management strategy. This provides a
framework for evaluating and tracking the strategy and identifying potential adjustments. A balanced
scorecard will include metrics for both outcome and leading indicators.
Outcome metrics analyse the achievement of organizational goals. They evaluate past performance at
various levels, and you can design a tailored set of outcome metrics to address your specific needs.
Frequently, a financial analysis is appropriate in the metrics hierarchy for providing data on shareholder
value for public corporations.
Measuring Performance
Performance metrics analyse the satisfaction of the system users. You may be investing considerable
resources in tools and infrastructure to enable knowledge management across your organization.
You want proof of its usefulness, value, and adoption. Your knowledge management system should make
the user’s experience more streamlined and productive. You can utilize three primary categories of
metrics for analysing collaboration workspaces and attaining goals: usage statistics, workspace usability
metrics, and business process and outcome measurements. These metrics include:
• Usability. This measures ease of use, adequacy of support and training, confidence of users,
workspace performance, and overall customer/user satisfaction ratings. Learning metrics analyse your
company’s knowledge management training program and the degree by which knowledge management
is consistently utilized across your organization. This depends upon how well your staff members use
knowledge management principles, concepts, and techniques. This is a key element to a knowledge
management strategy.
• Business value. These metrics will demonstrate improved responses to rapid changes, the value
of knowledge mined from collaboration, business process efficiency and improvement, and outreach of
contributions.
• Usage. This will measure the number of registered user accounts and the frequency of use.
You make a significant investment of both financial resources and time to implement a knowledge
management system. With the right metrics, you can easily demonstrate the effectiveness of that
investment.
Knowledge management is now an accepted component in nearly every industry. Companies have high
expectations for their strategy and investment to play a key role in sharpening their competitive edge.
Measuring the effectiveness of your knowledge management strategy also involves quantifiable data.
Indeed, measuring the value of your knowledge management strategy is an imperative element to
determining if your expectations have been realized.
Metrics are the numerical measurements of key attributes that produce data about a particular
phenomenon. They are critical to the advancement of business processes, and they provide the
information to compare performance between time periods and individuals.
You most likely know the old saying well: “What cannot be measured cannot be managed.” While some
areas of knowledge management are slightly more intangible, you have a variety of successful metrics
that can be applied to knowledge management.
Principles of Metrics
Prior to adopting a metrics system, you need to clarify the questions those metrics should answer. Metrics
are highly useful to answer several questions including these four topics:
• Is the knowledge management software working, and if not, what needs to be adjusted?
• Is the implementation on course, and if not, how do you get it back on track?
• Are team members producing as expected?
• Is the knowledge management delivering value to your company?
In addition, you want clarity about who will need the metrics. The metrics should be targeted to provide
guidance for better decision-making, and most metrics need a baseline from which to measure
performance. This will streamline the knowledge management measuring process.
Typically, you will want to measure how well the implementation of your knowledge management system
is occurring. By running an assessment at the beginning of your knowledge management implementation,
you will produce several baseline metrics, which will help determine improvement of business processes.
An appropriate protocol will gauge several elements of the knowledge flow within your organization. This
will enable you to pinpoint obstacles and blockers to that knowledge flow. Administering the assessment
later gives you data on your progress.
You can choose to measure how your team members are complying with the established expectations,
and a dashboard can be targeted to track various projects within your company to determine that
compliance. You may also institute similar dashboards across other business units within the
organization.
5. Develop at least three criteria to confirm information is reliable
and valid.
The first is the validity of the information. This is the truthfulness of the source in respect to the
information presented. Does the author of an article provide citations for sources? For example, Dr. Facts
believes the medical study article, which supports the use of the new cancer-free pill, would fit that
description. The study was conducted by a top cancer doctor with supportive research that was acquired
firsthand by his observations of 500 patients. Lastly, the doctor's article supporting the pill was published
in the credible, peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine. This is an important finding because
'peer-reviewed' means that it was published in a scholarly journal that was reviewed by other experts in
the field. Dr. Facts was able to report back to the agency that the article should be used to support the ad
campaign as it was a valid source.
The rapid pace of change, both in society and in business, can be witnessed all around in technology,
new phenomena, but perhaps most strikingly in information management. The data and information used
as a basis for decision-making is in serious danger of becoming outdated and distorted. New data is
being generated all the time, but tapping to the latest expert information is a challenge.
Constant monitoring of the business industry and data analysis ensure that the information is valid and
real-time.
Reliable information
The second piece of analysing a source is to look at the reliability of the source. In order for a source to
be reliable, the information presented must be able to be repeated. The final conclusions must be able to
be created again in order to reinforce the reliability of the findings. Reliability is, literally, the extent to
which we can rely on the source of the data. Dr. Facts' next task is to judge the reliability of all of the
additional sources used to support the marketing and medical claims for the new product.
Let's first understand the two basic elements of reliability. First is the primary source, which is the original
results of the experiment, such as eyewitness accounts, legal documents and the results of an
experiment. The secondary source is when someone writes about a primary source, such as comments,
discussions or observations. These secondary sources can be found in magazines, journals, online
articles or even academic journals. There are some key areas that must be examined in order to judge
the reliability of a source. Dr. Facts will take each source and look to see if her findings meet her approval
checklist.
Reliability is, literally, the extent to which we can rely on the source of the data and, therefore, the data
itself. Reliable data is dependable, trustworthy, unfailing, sure, authentic, genuine, reputable. Consistency
is the main measure of reliability. So, in literary accounts, the reputation of the source is critical. In John
Cole’s view, Richard Crossman was not a reliable diarist. Indicators of reliability will include proximity to
events, (whether the writer was a participant or observer,) likely impartiality, and whether, as the police
say, the record was really contemporaneous or an eventide reflection on the day’s events. Very few
politicians admit to real failings: all too often, their own agenda appears to justify their actions or to
criticise others.
Facts and truth
Once again, you will find that adopting a critical distinction between facts and truth is useful. Facts are the
available data. They present incomplete snapshots of events. Truth is the reality behind the facts.
Sometimes the facts may obscure the truth – perhaps deliberately so. A good example was provided to
me by a leading academic. He privately described how he had critically reviewed a best- selling account
of British rural life where that the author had misrepresented the facts by combining material from a
number of interviews to represent a composite figure. The author had replied to the effect that his critic
was unable to distinguish between the facts and truth. The decision-making process is a part of our
everyday life. Some of those decisions are trivial, short-term decisions, like what to have for breakfast or
what type of clothes to wear. Business decisions, on the other hand, can set the course of a company.
The stakes are high with complex decisions, as they require you to gather information, brainstorm
potential solutions, analyse possible alternatives, and ultimately arrive at the best course of action. Each
part of the decision-making process may require intense problem solving and a cost-benefit analysis.
After you’ve accurately identified the decision that must be made, it’s time to enter the information-
gathering phase. Good decision-making requires you to be as informed as possible and tackle the
problem from all available angles. In business decision-making, it’s often helpful to talk to the group of
people at the office who have the most knowledge about the decision at hand. Outside sources like
market research and studies may serve as relevant information during this phase of the decision process
as well. Gathering enough information will help you analyse all possible outcomes and make the best
decision.
When information seems ambiguous or contradictory it should be rejected; a reliable source will explain
the information clearly and concisely, while a rambling source that does not explain the information
properly is probably not a well informed and reliable source. So, you must reject.
Another downside of ambiguous information is that you cannot be sure of the facts unless you understand
the information fully, which is usually impossible with an ambiguous source. The concept of ambiguity is
generally contrasted with vagueness. In ambiguity, specific and distinct interpretations are permitted
(although some may not be immediately obvious), whereas with information that is vague, it is difficult to
form any interpretation at the desired level of specificity.
Role of information in decision making
The purpose of information needs analysis technique is to identify and set priorities for
the information needed to support business activities in order to reach established business goals. In
addition, it facilitates commitment to the strategies developed to meet enterprise-
wide goals and objectives. Ensure objectives for analyses are clear, relevant and consistent with the
decisions required.
Information is required to make decisions. When gathering information to analyse you should ensure that
you establish objectives of your information analysis. This will keep you on track and give your work a
purpose and direction and allows you to analyse the information for a specific reason. When you need to
make a decision, you need to know exactly what you are looking for from your information; these are your
objectives. When you have identified your objectives and met them, you should have enough
understanding of the situation to make a decision regarding a course of action.
• Decision
By setting objectives for your analysis you will gather all the information you need to make an informed
decision on utility usage and manage and control with adjustments required to control the expenditure.
• Objective relevance
The objectives must be relevant to the situation or issue you are trying to address; there is no point
spending time and effort answering questions that do not contribute towards the decision you are trying to
make.
Objectives for information analysis is used to identify all the information necessary for use in achieving
specified goals or objectives, such as performing an activity, satisfying customer needs, or making
strategic decisions. An information need is an unstructured statement that describes a type of information
required by an organizational unit to enable it to meet its objectives and support its functions. The
objectives for information analysis show the information needs for each business activity, by type of
usage, and by a pre-defined category. Other information, typically included in the information needs
summary, are the business objects supported, current availability, information medium, current source
system, requirements satisfaction, and the relative importance of the business activity.
• Purpose
The purpose of objectives for information analysis is to identify and set priorities for the information
needed to support business activities in order to reach established business goals.
8. Using the appendix trend charts and descriptions of market
analysis , identify and interpret patterns and emerging trends.
Using applicable technology (as directed by the assessor) interpret
statistical analyses and sensitivity analysis on relevant options.
Write them in dot points.
Emerging patterns are sets of items whose frequency changes significantly from one dataset to another.
They are useful as a means of discovering distinctions inherently present amongst a collection dataset
and have been shown to be a powerful method for constructing accurate classifiers. There is an explosion
of information that is available to everyone, making people feel overwhelmed.
• How can you gather, manage and organise information?
• What does the information mean?
• Are there patterns and trends in the information?
A trend refers to the tendency for human behaviour or events to move in a pattern or particular direction.
Trend analysis is the process of comparing business data over time to identify any consistent results or
trends. You can then develop a strategy to respond to these trends in line with your business goals. It will
give ideas about how you might change things to move your business in the right direction.
Analysing trends to improve business performance
Spending time analysing your business results is valuable if the insights help you to improve your
business. Right trend analysis will help reveal trends in your business's performance that are not
necessarily obvious from day-to-day performance figures.
You can analyse trends of your business performance by:
• doing financial calculations
• looking at ratios
• creating tables of information
• graphing results over time.
This type of analysis reveals fluctuations in a time series. These fluctuations are short in duration, erratic
in nature and follow no regularity in the occurrence pattern. In prediction, the objective is to “model” all the
components to some trend patterns to the point that the only component that remains unexplained is the
random component.
A stationary time series is one with statistical properties such as mean, where variances are all constant
over time. A stationary series varies around a constant mean level, neither decreasing nor increasing
systematically over time, with constant variance.
9. Write a one page report on approach to analysis of information and
knowledge and conclusions drawn from above.
INTRODUCTION
The need for change and continuous improvement in the construction industry has resulted in
various initiatives, which are aimed at improving the construction process. These initiatives
are primarily targeted at reducing fragmentation, and have included: (a) the development of
alternative procurement strategies to clarify and improve the communication structure
between different participants in the construction process (BPF, 1983; Ashworth, 1991); (b)
the use of computer technology to integrate the construction process through the electronic
sharing of data/information in both directions at the design-construction interface (Howard et
al. 1989; Miyatake and Kangari, 1993; Evbuomwan and Anumba, 1996); (c) the adoption of a
However, it is now being recognised that the management of project knowledge (especially within the
construction industry where projects are implemented by temporary 'virtual' organisations) is open to
considerable improvement, both within construction organisations, and between firms in the supply chain
THE MANAGEMENT OF KNOWLEDGE
The management of knowledge involves various tasks and activities that are performed to
ensure that knowledge is generated and/or captured, stored, disseminated or shared, and
retired. However, this may not necessarily be a linear process, as the context of use and
supporting infrastructure and tools also have to be considered (Laudon and Laudon, 1998;
Webb, 1998). These interrelated factors can be grouped into four main categories:
• The knowledge base (used in a wider sense) that is to be managed. This includes data,
information, and knowledge. The purpose of this knowledge with respect to what it is
required for; what it contributes to; who needs it, etc., also need to be identified.
• The context of use. This includes issues like the factors that initiate the need for
knowledge, and how it is applied within the organisational structure and culture.
• The actual processes, procedures and tools required to capture, share and reuse
knowledge.
• An indication or measurement of how managed knowledge is contributing to improved
business performance, since knowledge management is not an end in itself, but a means to
increased competitive advantage.
Figure 1 is a conceptual (theoretical) framework that illustrates the interrelationships between
the various factors involved in the management of knowledge.