THE
KNOWLEDGE SHARING TOOLKIT
Overview
Contents
'Sharing Knowledge' guide
9 case studies
Author David
Bartholomew
Address DBA
Apsley House
12 Wellesley Road
Cheltenham
GL50 4LZ
Email info@dba-insight.co.uk
Price Free
to download as pdfs
Published 01 June
2005
The ‘Knowledge Sharing
Toolkit’ - a concise 49 page how-to manual
accompanied by nine detailed case studies -
shows design practices how to develop a
knowledge strategy to support their business
objectives, and explains the main tools and
techniques for learning and sharing knowledge,
and how to use them.
Governments and business
gurus alike assert that knowledge is the key to
innovation, economic growth and commercial
success. Knowledge management has already
become an indispensable tool in many industries,
and construction needs to catch up. But
managing high-value professional knowledge - as
opposed to simply managing documents and data -
is not as easy as it looks, and the (many) books
on the subject concentrate overwhelmingly on
large multinationals in the manufacturing and
process industries. The very different
circumstances and needs of professional
practices in a project-based industry are
largely ignored. The Knowledge Sharing Toolkit
fills the gap for design practices, and much of
the advice is equally relevant to other
professionals such as surveyors.
It is based firmly in
reality, drawing on research and experience in
other industries accumulated over the past
decade and on the results of a two-year
DTI-funded project carried out by innovation
consultancy David Bartholomew Associates (DBA)
and nine of the UK’s leading architectural and
engineering practices - Aedas, Arup, Broadway
Malyan, Buro Happold, Edward Cullinan
Architects, Feilden Clegg Bradley, Penoyre &
Prasad, Whitby Bird and WSP. During the
project, all nine practices put their management
of knowledge under the microscope, improved
their existing systems, implemented new ones,
and assessed the results. All the main tools
and techniques described in the Toolkit were
tested by one or more of the project partners,
and most have been adopted as standard practice.
The Toolkit also draws on
results from an earlier study of learning from
experience led by DBA in collaboration with
Amicus, BAA, the BP-Bovis Global Alliance, Buro
Happold, Gardiner & Theobald, National Grid
Transco and SecondSite Property.
The partners in the
project were:
DBA (lead partner),
a consultancy specialising in the innovation
process, from policy and research & innovation
programme planning to knowledge management and
practical implementation in industry. Founded
in 1992, its clients include government
departments, public bodies, research
organisations and commercial companies. DBA has
carried out several major projects on knowledge
management in construction, and worked with many
of the leading bodies and companies in the
industry.
Aedas,
one of the largest architectural practices in
the UK, with 14 offices and 950 staff worldwide.
Arup, a
multidisciplinary practice with over 7000 staff
operating out of 73 offices in 32 countries.
Broadway Malyan, an architectural
practice with 400 staff and 9 offices across
Europe.
Buro
Happold, an engineering consultancy with
over 800 staff worldwide.
Edward Cullinan
Architects, a small London practice with
nearly 40 staff.
Feilden Clegg Bradley Architects, a
mid-sized practice with 110 staff based in Bath
and London.
Penoyre & Prasad,
architects with over 60 staff based in London.
Whitbybird,
engineers with nearly 300 staff working out of 6
offices around the UK.
WSP, a
large engineering plc with over 5000 staff
working from over 100 offices worldwide.
BSRIA,
one of the UK’s leading construction research
organisations.
Return to DTI Project summary>
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