Soft Systems Methodology for Knowledge Management in Construction Projects: A Case Study, Resúmenes de Sistemas de Información Gerencial

¡Descarga Soft Systems Methodology for Knowledge Management in Construction Projects: A Case Study y más Resúmenes en PDF de Sistemas de Información Gerencial solo en Docsity! Five case studies applying Soft Systems Methodology to Knowledge Management Tayyab Maqsood Doctoral Candidate, CRC for Construction Innovation, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Andrew D. Finegan Lecturer, School of Business Information Technology, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Derek H.T. Walker Professor, CRC for Construction Innovation, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Abstract Construction projects are faced with a challenge that must not be underestimated. These projects are increasingly becoming highly competitive, more complex, and difficult to manage. They become problems that are difficult to solve using traditional approaches. Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is a systems approach that is used for analysis and problem solving in such complex and messy situations. SSM uses “systems thinking” in a cycle of action research, learning and reflection to help understand the various perceptions that exist in the minds of the different people involved in the situation. This paper examines the benefits of applying SSM to problems of knowledge management in construction project management, especially those situations that are challenging to understand and difficult to act upon. It includes five case studies of its use in dealing with the confusing situations that incorporate human, organizational and technical aspects. Key words Construction projects, knowledge management, complex systems, problem solving, Soft Systems Methodology. 1. Introduction The issue of knowledge management in construction projects is a challenge that cannot be underestimated. Such projects are becoming more complex, they are subject to constant change, and the industry environment is highly competitive and cost critical. The challenge becomes greater where joint ventures, partnerships and sub-contracting agreements are involved. The ad hoc and tradition approaches to construction management often fail to perform in these situations, and managers need to consider adopting alternative approaches to solve these difficult problems. Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is a systems approach that is used for analysis and problem solving in complex and messy situations. SSM uses “systems thinking” in a cycle of action research, learning and reflection to help understand the various perceptions that exist in the minds of the different people involved in the situation. It is particularly suited to complex management systems, and seeks to evaluate as many different options as possible. This approach is applicable to many domains; including change management, planning for health and medical systems, information systems planning, human resource management, analysis of logistics systems, and expert systems development. More specifically, SSM is being used in research associated with knowledge management, project management, and engineering and construction management. 2. Soft Systems Methodology Soft systems thinking seeks to explore the ‘messy’ problematic situations that arise in human activity. However, rather than reducing the complexity of the ‘mess’ so that it can be modelled mathematically (hard systems), soft systems strive to learn from the different perceptions that exist in the minds of the different people involved in the situation (Andrews, 2000). This interpretive approach is strongly influenced by Vickers’ (1968, pp. 59, 176) description of the importance of appreciative systems in dealing with human complexity. Checkland (1999), and Checkland and Scholes (1990) have attempted to transform these ideas from systems theory into a practical methodology that is called Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). Checkland’s premise is that systems analysts need to apply their craft to problems of complexity that are not well defined, and that SSM attempts to understand the wicked and fuzzy world of complex organisations. This is achieved with the core paradigm of learning (Checkland, 1999, p. 258). Figure 1. Summary of SSM as a seven-stage process (Adapted from Checkland, 1999: pp. 163, and Checkland & Scholes, 1990: pp. 28) Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) may be used to analyse any problem or situation, but it is most appropriate where the problem “cannot be formulated as a search for an efficient means of achieving a defined end; a problem in which ends, goals, purposes are themselves Figure 3: Rich picture Pre-tendering process COMMERCIAL PROJECTS GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS (Competition) Some clients are losing engineering knowledge TACIT KNOWLEDGE of criteria for “spotting projects” and of pre- tendering for construction projects. ENVIRONMENT: Proactive, open discussion, teamwork, lots of paper… Early Warning of potential projects Networking with government, other clients, and shareholders Any “external” project histories? IMS Yes to Bid… Set up a Tender Pack, and set up an Administration Pack. What is in IMS before “YES to bid”? • IMS is good at managing procedures. • Need to protect access to prevent corruption. • Project History takes time and effort – who is prepared to pay for it? • Every piece of correspondence should be in IMS. Consultants Project Histories are missing! CONCEPTUAL KNOWLEDGE From: Journals, seminars, professional associations, networks, Internet and project histories. Providing: • New directions • New products • New methods • New applications • New ways of thinking Shareholders Business Manager This project seems reasonable Engineering Manager My role is developing project prospects – 25% of my time. CYCLE of Feedback & Refinement Preliminary Design Concept and Costing Regional Manager I need to know the cost and timeline BID DECISION! “Yes” (Greenlight) or “No”. Chief Estimator 3rd Party Intelligence Suppliers Good for error checking Developer Allegiance We must be able to draw on the experience and knowledge of consultants Design Managers Need more time – I’m already working 60 hours a week Novated Consultants are too hard to manage ROOT DEFINITION – Pre-Tendering A system owned by the pre-contracts team, who together with the Chief Estimator and the Design Managers, takes prospective projects from the Business Manager, together with knowledge, processes and technology, and prepares preliminary understanding of the project and cost estimates. This is used to assist the Regional Manager in assessing the feasibility of making a tender bid. This must be undertaken within short timeframes and with expert assistance from consultants. This is taking place in a very competitive environment where the “fit” to our business objectives and corporate goals, cost and the timeline are all important. Customer: Regional Manager (RM) Actors: Engineering Manager, Chief Estimator, Design Manager, Pre-Contracts team, Business Manager. Transformation: Knowledge, processes and technology together with details of prospective projects, are used to prepare an understanding of the project and a cost estimate for assessing the feasibility of a tender bid. Weltanschauung (why Bother?): To assess the feasibility of making a tender bid, we (RM) need a good understanding of the project – does it fit our corporate objectives - and cost and timeline details. Owner: Pre-Contracts Team Environment: Competitive, quality, cost and time critical, community and corporate goals. Figure 4: Root Definition, CATWOE and Conceptual Model of Pre-tendering Process. The root definition, CATWOE and conceptual model were derived from the rich picture, then the initial version of rich picture and model were presented to a focus group of the pre- Set the criteria needed to assess the feasibility of making a bid Project Concept & Timeline Cost Business Manager Industry Potential Clients Technology Suppliers (Int.& Ext.) Get Details of, and Select the Prospective Projects Develop and Maintain required Knowledge Develop and understand the processes Acquire and Implement Technology Develop the Project Concept Monitor and Control the Concept and Estimate Details Develop a Preliminary Estimate CONCEPTUAL MODEL – Pre-tendering tendering team members. Participants of focus group, seeing themselves in a picture and interacting with each other were able to elicit further knowledge. One of the participants immediately came up with his own picture of how he interacted with other team members. This facilitated the refinement of the rich picture and conceptual model, and some of the confusion and misunderstanding that resulted from the initial interviews was resolved. With this enhanced understanding, especially of tacit knowledge, the researchers prepared the second iteration of the rich picture and conceptual model. Figure 3 and Figure 4 shows the rich picture, CATWOE and conceptual model at the end of the second iteration. The research is an on-going and next step is to follow-up with the team members with more structured questions emerging out of the activities identified in the conceptual model and to continue with the SSM approach. So far what we have accomplished using SSM is significant. The knowledge - which was embedded in the organisation routine and within individuals’ beliefs and understandings in tacit form – has been captured and explicitly shown in a form of rich picture without loosing the context. Using SSM has provided us with an approach to help overcome the difficulty in working with tacit knowledge. It has helped to describe and express form to a process, which apparently had no previous formal structure within the organisation. In the words of one of the team members “You have helped formalise the process which has never been done before in our organisation’ and “What we are doing here is distilling the facts”. SSM not only helped in formalising the knowledge but also elicited areas of conflicts and problems associated with the process. 3.1.2 Knowledge elicited in Pre-tendering process Key Players in the pre-tendering process were Regional Manager, Business Manager, Engineering Manager, Design Managers, and Chief Estimator. During the process they interact with people external to the organisation like developers, consultants and suppliers. This is illustrated in the rich picture (Figure 3) that shows the structure, processes and especially the beliefs and perceptions of the key players. Also shown are significant relationships, sources of knowledge, and significant concerns and perceived conflicts within the situation. This rich picture is followed by the development of the root definition that provides the central transformation of the “ideal” pre-tendering system. In this case-study the transformation is defined as: “Knowledge, processes and technology together with details of prospective projects, are used to prepare an understanding of the project and a cost estimate for assessing the feasibility of a tender bid”. This transformation is the basis for the development of the conceptual model of pre-tendering (Figure 4). This is expressed as a model of human activity where there are eight high-level key activities necessary to achieve the transformation. Of particular interest as candidates for further study are the three knowledge acquisition activities (or subsystems), the planning subsystem, and the management subsystem: • Get details of, and select the prospective projects, • Develop and maintain required knowledge, • Develop and understand the processes, • Set the criteria needed to assess the feasibility of making a bid, and • Monitor and control the concept and estimate details. 3.2.2 Knowledge elicited about Project Histories Project Histories are basically the repositories/data bases that are developed to contain useful information and knowledge from the previous projects. In the organisation under study, the information, like productivity rates on previous projects, cost and timelines, and client details, mainly form the part of these repositories. These project histories are operated through an organisational ICT (Information and Communication Technology) system referred to as IMS (Information Management System). As one of the leading contractors company in Australia, the organisation under study has championed the use of ICT (since mid 1990’s) as part of its commitment to become a Best-in-Practice organisation. IMS has become the general and most usual form of communication in the organisation and successfully been diffused with in the organisation even to the foreman level. Whereas IMS is effectively utilized while the project is in progress, it is rarely used to successfully develop and maintain a history when the project is finished. Developing a history requires the sifting through of huge volumes of information generated while project is being executed, and identifying and sorting the information that may be of use on next projects. Though in project close-out procedures, project debriefing about the project just finished is done, it is often not sufficient to provide and record the useful information for future use. The lack of interest of the project team in participating in project debriefing further aggravates the problem and eventually, there is very little that is carried forward from a previous project to be used in future projects. Hence, most of the knowledge carried from one project to other remains “Tacit” – residing as knowledge of individuals. The success of project histories proliferation alone is highly unlikely, unless it is seen as a part of the some strategic and business philosophy like Knowledge Management. The benefits that project histories can deliver are significant and very clear in the minds of the people who want to use them. However, as shown in the Rich Picture (Figure 5) this small group of people is less likely to influence the other functioning team members who have different priorities. As illustrated by the activities defined in the Conceptual Model (Figure 6) Knowledge Management places a great emphasis upon the project histories and see it as a mechanism whereby not only useful information is assorted and stored but efforts are made to turn “Tacit” knowledge of the individuals into “Explicit” and is disseminated to all others through these repositories. These repositories, then, contain lessons learnt, unique problem handling techniques devised by the individual when faced with problem on the project, etc so as to stop “Re-inventing the wheel” on the next project thus saving time and resources. Attaching the context of Knowledge Management to the scenario of project histories will give these histories a new vigour and framework for understanding by both senior management and the project team. 3.3 Bridge Project 3.3.1 Applying Soft Systems Methodology to the case study After conducting the case study on “Project Histories”, it was deemed necessary to further look for the cases that can successfully become part of the project histories and the lessons generated in those projects can be the effectively used in improving pre-tendering process on future projects. This case study documents the commonly observed scenario while tendering, where multiple parties try hard to bid on a certain project and only one with the lowest bid achieves success. This case study documents a tendering process on a Bridge Project where the bidder lost their bid by a very small margin. It was claimed by the bidder that with a little more expense, the client was going to get a lot more value out of the design. However, by disregarding value analysis and resorting to competitive bidding, the bid with the lowest price (with less value) was selected. The case study, illustrated in the Rich Picture (Figure 7) also illustrates the difficulty that tendering team experienced throughout the tendering process due to the very short time available for preparing the bid, then to discover that they had failed to be successful by a very small margin. In this case, client had undertaken an investigation of the site in the previous 3 to 4 years, but had not completed a final design. It then became a task of the bidder to develop a realistic design in addition to the cost and time estimate that would form a bid within the short time span of 12 weeks. The routine method of bridge design and the typical construction method could not be used because of the nature of soil (clay) that was very difficult to compact. Also, the presence of wild life sanctuary in the vicinity of the bridge made the design and construction environmentally sensitive and subject to community interest. To achieve a suitable solution all the team worked strenuously and developed a realistic design, cost and timeline, and bid was submitted. The bid was eventually lost by a very little margin, much to the disgust of the bidding team and especially the design manager. The project team shared the experience gained in developing this bid, adding to their tacit knowledge. By applying SSM, this experience has been made explicit and is documented in the Rich Picture (Figure 7), and Root Definition and Conceptual Model in Figure 8. Figure 7: Rich Picture of the Bridge Project ROOT DEFINITION – Bridge Project A system owned by the Bidding Contractor, who together with the Design Engineer, use knowledge, skills and experience to prepare competitive bids for the design and construction of bridge projects. This is undertaken with the understanding that while the client wants a low price, there is also a desire to obtain the best value in a bid. These bids must also take into consideration the competitive market and community expectations for the design and construction of a major project. Customer: The client and the community Actors: Bidding contractor, competitors, design engineer, design team, client. Transformation: To use knowledge, skills and experience to prepare competitive bids for the design and construction of bridge projects. Weltanschauung (why Bother?): While the client wants a low price, there is also a desire to obtain the best value in a bid. Owner: Bidding Contractor Environment: Competitive, quality, cost and time critical, and community expectations. Figure 8: Root Definition, CATWOE and Conceptual Model of the Bridge Project. 3.3.2 Knowledge elicited about the Bridge Project. The case study elicited various kinds of knowledge. For example, the deficiencies on the part of the client who were not able to complete a design of their own after 3-4 years of the study of the project. Also, that the value analysis was disregarded, allowing the client to select the lowest bid that offered comparatively lesser value in comparison with the second lowest bid. Set the criteria needed to define what will be a competitive bid Bid to the Client Client Community Competition Get details of the client’s technical requirements Understand client’s expectations for price and value Understand community’s expectation for major project Know how to be competitive Monitor and Control the Bid Develop a Competitive Bid CONCEPTUAL MODEL – THE BRIDGE PROJECT initiated a bid process. The organization under study was one of the bidders and didn’t agree with the sizing and spacing of the culverts as provided by the client. The bidding organization carried out their own flood modelling and challenged the client’s specification for culverts based on the new model and the design properties derived from it. They completed their study under severe time pressure and were able to convince the client of their sizing and spacing, and eventually produced significant cost savings on the whole project. Figure 10 describes the Root Definitions and Conceptual Model for this case study. The knowledge gained in this process can significantly help the pre-tendering process. It explains in a explicit fashion that client may not be right all the time and sometimes it is worthwhile to explore alternative options. That the client is loosing the engineering knowledge is an important insight achieved by the bidding organization. From client’s point of view, the explicit fact is that they need to strengthen their technical base. 3.4 BAMTEC innovation diffusion case study The case study specifically describes the adoption and diffusion process of an innovative product called “Bamtec” in the organization under study. The technical nature of the product is immaterial to the execution of this case study. The most important issue is to know that the process behind the proliferation of such an innovation in the organization so as to know how it was adopted and diffused. Issues like adoption of innovation and its diffusion are central to the core of knowledge management. Knowledge Management helps in spotting such innovation that have the potential to improve the productivity and then provides a framework to adopt and diffuse that innovation through out the organization in order to reap benefits from that innovation. Figure 11: Rich Picture of the BAMTEC study ROOT DEFINITION – BAMTEC A system owned by the Design Engineers, who with the support of Senior Management are able to achieve professional development and learn new ideas and techniques by attending major, international conferences. This adoption of innovative building techniques can be the key to project success. However, Senior Management need to be convinced of the value of conference attendance, and many design engineers consider themselves to be too busy to attend conferences. Customer: The building company, project managers, the clients and the community. Actors: Design engineer, senior management. Transformation: To achieve professional development and learn new ideas and techniques by attending major, international conferences. Weltanschauung (why Bother?): This adoption of innovative building techniques can be the key to project success. Owner: Design engineer Environment: Work pressure, cost and time critical, and community expectations. Figure 12: Root Definition, CATWOE and Conceptual Model of the BAMTEC study. The rich picture in Figure 11 highlights a pictorial representation of the related processes. The innovative product under study was displayed at a European construction conference. This conference was attended by one of the design managers from the organization under study. The rich picture documents the values and beliefs usually existing in the organization. For some, attending conferences is not an important deal but some others take it seriously and Set the criteria needed to define what will be the important ideas and techniques to learn Adopt innovations for projects Client Senior Management Project Managers Know the client’s technical requirements Know which conferences are worth attending Understand Senior Management’s expectations for value Know the opportunities for applying innovations to projects Monitor and Control the adoption of innovation Deliver innovative solutions CONCEPTUAL MODEL – THE BAMTEC PROJECT Available Conferences have expectations that their organization to allow them attend such events on a regular basis. In this case, design manager implemented the use of the BAMTEC product in a project that previously had been declared as a “dead duck”. It was the sort of the project that was running over budget but not returning any profit to the organization. Implementing the BAMTEC product on the project - in the words of the design managers - “literally” saved the project and pushed it towards a profitable outcome. Knowledge Management may help make these events happen on regular basis. The root definition and conceptual model shown in Figure 12 give an explicit description of how a specific innovation can be adopted and diffused and can be effectively utilized for the benefit of the organization. 4. Conclusions And Further Work This paper has illustrated the approach of applying SSM to problems in construction project management, especially those knowledge management problems that are challenging to understand and difficult to act upon. It includes five case studies of its use in dealing with the confusing situations that incorporate human, organizational and technical aspects. SSM encourages group learning and is ideal as a group decision-making approach. 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