Insights on Knowledge Transfer in a Medium-Sized Construction Company: Barriers and Enablers
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Design and construction project management (MPDCM), MSc
Publicerad
2021
Författare
EDWIJN, JACOB
ZÖÖGLING, LINNEA
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Knowledge is a vital resource for an organisation and knowledge transfer within project-based
organisations is an important process of knowledge management. This topic is considered
difficult to perceive and even harder to implement. The study took place in Gothenburg and
was conducted together with Tommy Byggare, a medium-sized construction company located
in the southwest of Sweden. Tommy Byggare had experienced inefficiency regarding their
work with knowledge transfer and wishes to improve this process, with hope that it would
facilitate the overall quality within the company. The aim with this thesis is to investigate and
determine what the current barriers with knowledge transfer are in a medium-sized construction
company and to see what enablers there are to improve the work with this process.
The foundation of the thesis is built on previous literature on this subject and on an interview
study. There was one explorative interview in the beginning of the thesis followed by ten
interviews, where the participants were white collar workers with various working roles. The
interviews were semi-structured, which helped to map the current barriers. The results from the
interview were then analysed and compared to the literature, which led to suggestions for
possible enablers for improvements in this area. Several issues were found in the interview
study, which were assembled into six main barriers: inconveniency, lack of time,
imperceptibility, lack of responsibility, lack of transparency and incoherency. These key
barriers are presumed to hinder the progress of knowledge transfer, which led to possible
enablers. The study indicated that governance, organisational culture, communication, and
user-friendly knowledge transfer systems were factors that could facilitate improvements of
knowledge transfer processes. These results aim to provide medium-sized construction
companies with insights on what to focus on when improving the work with knowledge transfer.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Knowledge transfer , medium-sized construction company , project-based organisations , barriers , enablers