The role of knowledge management in enhancing knowledge pull in the construction organisation to deliver innovation: A case study

Knowledge pull has become an essential requirement for construction organisations to survive in knowledge era. As more industries recognizing knowledge as a vital sustainable asset, the construction industry cannot afford to lag behind. This paper argues that implementing knowledge management principles in the organisation would generate forces within the organisation enabling the pull of knowledge from outside the organisation to within and exploit it to deliver innovation. This would pave the way for external sources of knowledge and innovation, like universities or research centres, to work closely with the industry and would ensure that useful and beneficial academic research would not go unnoticed. The paper provides an account of a case where a specific construction organisation has benefited from the effort of an employee who constantly strived to establish a link with the external innovative knowledge by attending research conferences. As a result external knowledge of an innovative product was introduced into the organisation and used on a construction project to deliver significant benefits that resulted in enhanced profitability. Soft System Methodology (SSM) has been used to undertake this case study and to develop deeper understanding of the issues involved. The paper argues that such beneficial links with the external research and knowledge bodies must be better understood and encouraged, and knowledge management provides the organisation with the tools and techniques to achieve this.