Modern Applied Science July, 2009

Malaysian Practitioner’s Perception on Knowledge Management

in Construction Consulting Companies

Ade Asmi
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu
Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

Amran Rasli
Faculty of Management and Human Resource,Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
E-mail: [email protected]

M. Z. Abd. Majid
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
E-mail: [email protected]

Ismail Abdul Rahman

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia
86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract
Construction consulting companies of today are a part of what has been called the knowledge society. The reason
behind this name is the increasing importance of intangible assets as the major source of wealth creation in construction
industry. As such, Knowledge Management (KM) has become a critical concern for construction consulting companies
to improve project performance. The purpose of this paper is to analyse Malaysian practitioner’s perception on KM in
the construction consulting companies. The finding of this study was based on an analysis of transcribed data from
semi-structured interviews conducted on Malaysian practitioners in the construction consulting companies to identify
pattern and themes accordingly. The findings of the study indicate that all participants have expressed the significant
contributions of KM to their success as a professional construction consultant in Malaysia. These participants shared a
common characteristic of being professional in construction industry such as they agreed that manage database (data
record) and filing system is perceived as important and also the professionals must build extensive social and business
networks both locally and overseas that were relevant and have impact on their business success. The professionals
have a personal desire to learn and they preferred to learn informally from a variety of people that they can access
usually through discussion, seminar/conference and media. Learning from personal experience and experiences from
others through learn on job and mentoring were a common characteristics among all the professionals and all of them
strongly prescribed that such transfer of learning’s will enable one to shortcut learning and improve their knowledge.
However, both internal and external environmental factors have equal impact on the transfer of knowledge in
construction consulting companies. Internally, personal interest has the biggest impact followed by culture, commitment
from management, incentive or reward for the staff and openness or willingness (more on trust) to share and listen.

103
Vol. 3, No. 7 Modern Applied Science

Externally, business factor/competition has the biggest impact on transfer of knowledge in construction consulting
companies.
Keywords: Knowledge management, Construction consulting companies
1. Introduction
The potential importance of sustainable competitive advantage in business community has received a phenomenal
amount of attention in recent years. Sustainable competitive advantage allows the maintenance and improvement of a
company’s performance in the global market. It is an advantage that enables businesses to survive against its
competitors over a long period of time. Sustainable competitive advantage is achieved by continuously developing
existing and creating new resources and capabilities in response to rapidly changing market. Among these resources and
capabilities, Knowledge Management (KM) is recognised as an important business consideration to gain competitive
advantage. If properly managed, KM can be converted into strategic intellectual assets of any knowledge-intensive
organisation, especially construction consulting companies. It has been argued that new skills, mind-sets, models and
commitment as well as new ways of interpreting the concept of effective management are needed to improve
construction project performance (Rasli et al., 2004). The findings of this study was based on an analysis of transcribed
data from a semi-structured interview conducted on eleven Malaysian construction industry consultants. Significant
patterns and themes will be identified and presented in this study.
2. Knowledge Management
Knowledge is increasingly being recognised as a vital organisation resource that provides competitive advantage
(Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). Thus, KM is a critical concern for creating and sustaining the organisation’s core
business in the construction industries. But knowledge is not always easily captured or effectively shared among
industry players especially in construction industries. It is generally recognised that there is much “knowledge wastage”
and difficulties in accessing important information. The industry is also large and complex, the many different players
in the industry do not share a common education base, as a result, cognitive frameworks are not always easily shared.
Furthermore, the project nature of the industry with a frequently reconfigured set of supply chain partners,
non-repetitive nature of work, pressure to complete, and lack of incentive to appraise performance, means that
information flow is often restricted.
However, the construction industry is a project-based industry which utilises a variety of separate entities in a
temporary multidisciplinary organisation to produce investment goods (e.g., bridges, buildings and roads) which are
custom built to unique specifications (Kamara et al., 2002). Figure 1 shows a simplified model of the construction
process. During project conception, the client establishes the need for a project and develops a set of requirements
which are converted into an appropriate design. At the construction stage, the design is transformed into a facility for
the use of the client.
3. Methodology
Interviews are one of the most commonly recognised forms of qualitative research method that have been used to solicit
opinions based on different background (Mason, 1996). The interview is a technique in which a set of questions are
addressed verbally to the respondent, who in turn gives replies verbally. Thus an interview involves personal interaction
between the interviewer and the respondent. The interview technique permits the interviewer to elaborate questions and
to probe the respondent for further information (Mayer, 1980). They provide in depth understanding of the
interviewee’s point of view and furnish the requested details within short time. Burgess (1984) calls them “conversation
with a purpose”.
3.1 General Understanding
The following questions were posed to the interviewees to better understand their background:
• Firstly, Can you please describe your current business you are in (Quantity surveyor, Civil Engineering,
Architecture, Others)?
• What types of products and services do you provide?
• Who are your customers?
• Describe the ownership structure of your company? (100% Malaysian ownership, Joint venture foreign
company, 100% foreign ownership)?
• What is your current position in this company?
• How many years of working experience do you have? (Less than 5 years, 5 – 10 years, More than 10 years)?
• What is your highest level of education? (Diploma, Bachelor degree, Master, Professional license, Other
please specify)?

104
 Modern Applied Science July, 2009

3.2 Questions Regarding Knowledge Management

Based on the transcription of the data, the following questions regarding KM were identified among the interviewees:
• How important is Knowledge Management (KM) in construction consulting companies? Why? Please
describe?
• What is the Knowledge factors required to achieve success in construction consulting business?
• How do you continue to learn to improve your skill or to acquire new competencies?
• What is your preferred learning style to improve your knowledge?
• How do you transfer your learning experience to others?
• What are the external or internal environmental factors that have impacted on transfer of knowledge in
construction consulting companies?
• What do you (and your company) expect from KM initiatives?
4. Findings
4.1 General Understanding
The current business characteristics of the participants in this study are presented in Table 1. The construction
consulting companies are involved in diverse business interests ranging from architecture (4 counts) to civil
engineering (3 counts), valuation management (1 count), “Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning
(EPCC)” ( 2 counts) and quantity surveyor (1 count).
To better understanding the type of products and services that the participants provided for their clients, the question
“What type of products and services do you provide?” was posed to the participants. Table 2 shows that most of the
participants provided for design (9 counts) followed by project management services (4 counts) and then structure
analysis (3 counts). It can be accepted that these products and services are common in the construction consulting
companies as the basic products and services. Other products and services are not so popular among the participants
such as construct industrial plant e.g.: petro-chemical, oil and gas, cement and mineral, power plant and
infrastructure projects (2 counts), valuation services especially for land acquisition, property and construction
project (2 counts), Landscape architecture (2 counts).
As shown in Table 3, the customers of the participants mostly are from private (8 counts) and government body (8
counts). This is can be accepted because the construction project needs a huge of budget and the budget is provided
mostly from private and government body.
Table 4 shows the ownership structure of the company from the participants. It can be seen that most of them are 100%
Malaysian ownership companies (9 counts) and the rest are joint venture companies (2 counts).
The current position of the participants in this study is presented in Table 5. The participants are involved in diverse
position in their company ranging from principle (3 counts), project manager (2 counts), program manager (1 count),
president managing director (1 count), owner (1 count), managing director (1 count), technical manager (1 count) and
director architecture (1 count).
As shown in Table 6, it is interesting to note that most of the construction consultants have some form of business
experience i.e., more than 10 years experiences (10 counts) and only one construction consultant has 5-10 years
experience.
The construction consultancy businesses were built from scratch, acquired or resulted from “cases of dispute”. One
obvious common denominator is that the interviewees all portray strong consultant entrepreneurial orientation and are
either well educated (refer Table 7) ranging from Bachelor degree (4 counts), Professional Engineer (3 counts),
Professional Architecture (3 counts), Master degree (3 word counts) to PhD degree (4 counts) and also have a lot of
business experience in construction industry in Malaysia.
4.2 Knowledge Management (KM)
4.2.1 How important is Knowledge Management (KM) in construction consulting companies?
Table 8 shows the importance of KM in construction consulting companies to achieve success in the construction
business industry. It is interesting to note that to manage database (data record) and filing system is perceived as
important by interviewees (6 counts). This component is the most critical KM component required in construction
consulting companies to survive in the construction business. This statement can be accepted because in the
construction consulting companies, the role of the database and filing system is important such as in design process,
supervision, administration and claim report. Other important components are system for transferring and sharing of
knowledge and experience (2 counts) and to maintain staff and company’s knowledge (2 counts). These components are

105
Vol. 3, No. 7 Modern Applied Science

also critical component that explain the importance of managing and encouraging staff to share and maintain the
knowledge asset in the construction consulting companies.
4.3 What is the Knowledge factors required to achieve success in construction consulting business?
Table 9 shows the knowledge factors required to achieve success in construction consulting business based on the
interviewees’ opinion. It is apparent that Networking is viewed as the most important attribute to achieve success by all
of the interviewee (11 counts). Other important knowledge are Technical skill (8 counts), Partnership (5 counts),
Knowledge how to market our services (Marketing) (4 counts), Leadership (4 counts), Teamwork (4 counts), Human
resource capability (3 counts), Commitment (3 counts), Communication skill (2 counts) and Facility capability (2
counts).
4.4 How do you continue to learn to improve your skill or to acquire new competencies?
The knowledge improvement for the construction players in construction industry is often viewed as important in the
development of the skill competencies. Within the context of this research, it is apparent that all of the interviewees
believed that discussion (11 counts) contributes a lot to the development of their knowledge (refer Table 10) as an
informal method to improve their knowledge. On the other hand as shown in Table 6.4, attending seminar and
conference (10 counts) are also another way to improve their knowledge as a formal method. The media application is
also has vital role to improve the construction player’s knowledge which is in this research, reading (i.e., Books,
magazines, Newspaper etc) (7 counts) and internet application (5 counts) as viewed the important attribute to improve
the knowledge.
4.5 What is your preferred learning style to improve your knowledge?
To better understanding the preferred of learning style of the interviewees, Table 11 presents the perceptions of the
interviewees.
Based on Table 11, it can be seen that the informal method is the most source of learning, which is represented mainly
by Discussion (7 counts). Secondly, meeting (2 counts), seminar (2 counts) and short course (2 counts) are viewed as
the next most important source of learning for construction consulting players.
4.6 Transfer of learning experience
The following question was posed to the interviewees to better understand their transfer of learning experience:
• How do you transfer your learning experience to others?
Based on Table 12, lean on job (7 counts) is the most frequently cited method for the transfer of learning experience,
followed by as a tutor/mentoring (3 counts) and then discussion (2 counts) and presentation (2 counts). Other not so
popular methods comprise make a new work instruction (in writing) or procedures (1 count), write some articles/papers
and books (1 count) and meeting (1 count).
4.7 What are the external or internal environmental factors that have impacted on transfer of knowledge in construction
consulting companies?
Based on Table 13, both internal and external environmental factors have equal impact on the transfer of knowledge in
construction consulting companies. Internally, personal interest (5 counts) has the biggest impact followed by culture (3
counts), commitment from management (2 counts), incentive or reward for the staff (2 counts) and openness or
willingness (more on trust) to share and listen (2 counts). Externally, Business factor/ competition (4 counts) has the
biggest impact on transfer of knowledge in construction consulting companies.
4.8 What do you (and your company) expect from KM initiatives?
Table 14 shows the expectation of the interviewees from the KM initiatives. It has been seen that quality in service (5
counts) and efficiency (5 counts) are the most popular by all of the interviewees. However, world class company (more
professional company) (4 counts) is the second priority of expectation from the KM initiatives followed by good
performance of the staff (2 counts). Other expectations are not mentioned frequently and to be considered not really
preferred by the interviewees such as: maintain the knowledge and competitiveness (1 count), client satisfaction (1
count), personal satisfaction (1 count), documentation or filing data system more advance (1 count).
5. Conclusion
The findings indicate that all eleven participants have expressed the significant contributions of KM to their success as a
professional construction consultant in Malaysia. These participants shared a common characteristic of being
professional in construction industry but aside from this similarity there were differences in areas such as education
background and type of business stared. The participants have been involved in more than one business products and
services and therefore are considered to be serial professionals with experience stretching over a period from 6 to 20
years in running a construction consulting business. The main themes that this research uncovered are as follows:

106
 Modern Applied Science July, 2009

1) The professionals agreed that KM is important in construction consulting companies whereby manage
database (data record) and filing system is perceived as important by interviewees. This component is the
most critical KM required in construction consulting companies to survive in the construction business.
2) The professionals must build extensive social and business networks both locally and overseas that were
relevant and have impact on their business success. Other important knowledges are Technical skill,
Partnership, Knowledge how to market our services (Marketing), Leadership, Teamwork, Human resource
capability, Commitment, Communication skill and Facility capability.
3) The professionals have a personal desire to learn and they preferred to learn informally from a variety of
people that they can access usually through discussion, seminar/conference and media (i.e., reading and
internet).
4) Learning from personal experience and experiences from others through learn on job and mentoring were a
common characteristics among all the professionals and all of them strongly prescribed that such transfer of
learning’s will enable one to shortcut learning and improve their knowledge.
5) Both internal and external environmental factors have equal impact on the transfer of knowledge in
construction consulting companies. Internally, personal interest has the biggest impact followed by culture,
commitment from management, incentive or reward for the staff and openness or willingness (more on trust) to
share and listen. Externally, Business factor/ competition has the biggest impact on transfer of knowledge in
construction consulting companies.
6) The professionals agreed that the expectation from KM initiative have to achieve quality in service, efficiency,
world class company (more professional company) and followed by good performance of the staff.
7) While all these professionals have attain higher level of formal education, however these formal education
formed a basic foundational knowledge and skills which when combined with some prior work experience
enabled these professional competencies to start up their business in construction consulting. From this
research it is clear that the formal education were insufficient to guarantee the professionals success in
construction consulting companies, the professionals had to acquire and manage knowledge competencies to
succeed in a global economy.
References
Burgess, R. G. (1984). In The Field: an Introduction to field Research. London, Alen and Unwin, UK, pp. 23-37.
Kamara, J. M., Augenbroe, G., Anumba, C. J and Carrillo, P. M. (2002). Knowledge Management in The Architecture,
Engineering and Construction Industry. Construction Innovation, Vol 2, pp. 53-67.
Mason, J. (1996). Qualitative Researching. SAGE Publlication Ltd, 6 Bonhill Street, London, EC2A 4PPU, UK, pp.
35-47.
Mayer, R. R. (1980). The Design of Social Policy Research. Prentice-Hall, Inc.,Eaglewood Cliffs, N. J. 07632, USA, pp.
8-17.
Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H. (1995). The Knowledge Creating Company. New York: Oxford University Press.
Rasli, A., Abd. Majid, M. Z. and Asmi, A. (2004). Factors That Influence The Implementation of Knowledge
Management and Information Technology Infrastructures to Support Project Performance. Proceedings of UNITEN
International Business Management Conference, Pahang, 6th – 7th December, Malaysia.

107
Vol. 3, No. 7 Modern Applied Science

Table 1. Current business characteristics

Firstly, Can you please describe your current business you are in? Count
- Quantity surveyor
- Civil Engineering
- Architecture
- Others

1. Architecture 4
2. Civil Engineering 3
3. Other 3
a) Valuation management consultant 1
b) (EPCC) companies: 2
- Engineering
- Procurement
- Construction
- Commissioning
4. Quantity Surveyor 1

Table 2. Types of products and services

What type of products and services do you provide? Count

- Design 9
- Project Management Services 4
- Structure analysis 3
- Construct industrial plant e.g.: petro-chemical, oil and gas, cement and mineral, 2
power plant and infrastructure projects
- Valuation services especially for land acquisition, property and construction project 2
- Landscape architecture 2
- IT service (2D and 3D animation) 1
- Preparation for Tender document and Contract management 1
- Testing material and design 1
- Interior design 1
- Supervision 1
- Estimating (Quantity surveyor) 1
- Training 1

Table 3. Type of customers for construction consulting companies

Who are your customers? Count

- Private body 8
- Government body 8
- individual 1

108
 Modern Applied Science July, 2009

Table 4. The ownership structure of company

Describe the ownership structure of your company? Count

- 100% Malaysian ownership
- Joint venture foreign company
- 100% foreign ownership
- 100% Malaysian ownership 9
- Joint venture foreign company 2
- 100% foreign ownership 0

Table 5. Current position in the company

What is your current position in this company? Count

Principle 3
Project Manager 2
Program Manager 1
President managing director 1
Owner 1
Managing Director 1
Technical Manager 1
Director Architecture 1

Table 6. Years of working experience

How many years of working experience do you have? Count
- Less than 5 years
- 5 – 10 years
- More than 10 years
- More than 10 years 10
- 5 – 10 years 1
- Less than 5 years 0

Table 7. Highest level of education

What is your highest level of education? Count
- Diploma
- Bachelor degree
- Master
- Other. please specify?
Education
- PhD 4
- Bachelor degree 4
- Master 3
Professional license
- Professional Engineer (Ir) 3
- Professional Architecture (Ar) 3

109
Vol. 3, No. 7 Modern Applied Science

Table 8. How important is KM in construction consulting companies

How important is Knowledge Management (KM) in construction consulting

companies?
Why? Please describe? Count

Very Important 11

I. Knowledge for Business

1
- For sustainable company
- To compete with others 1
- To know our job ability 1
- Our benchmark with others 1
- Efficiency 1
- Multi-skill engineer 1
- To maintain the quality of the products 1

2. Knowledge Creation

- Provide a system to maintain the knowledge 1

- To know our strength in knowledge 1
- To avoid the same mistakes 1
- For regeneration knowledge system from senior engineer to junior engineer 1
- System for transferring and sharing of knowledge and experience 2
- To avoid the mistakes
- To maintain staff and company’s knowledge 2

3. Knowledge for Documentation

- To manage database (data record) and filing system 6

- Knowledge information 1
- Provide the basic and fundamental knowledge as a reference how we can do the job 1
(best practice module).
- To protect the employee’s knowledge 1

110
 Modern Applied Science July, 2009

Table 9. Knowledge factors required in construction consulting companies

What is the Knowledge factors required to achieve success in construction Count

consulting business?

1. Sense of entrepreneur

- Networking 11
- Communication skill 2
- Knowledge how to market our services (Marketing) 4
- Sense of Business 1
- knowledge/negotiation skills how to deal with the clients 1
- Partnership 5

2. Resource Capability

- Technical skill 8
- Presentation skill 1
- Human resource capability 3
- Facility capability 2
- Idea / Creativity 1

Table 9. Continued

What is the Knowledge factors required to achieve success in construction Count

consulting business?

3. Personal Skill

- Leadership 4
- Teamwork 4
- Having some experiences 1
- Commitment 3

4. Management

- Client satisfaction 1
- Time management 1
- Knowledge about the regulation/low provided by the government or board 1
- Knowledge about human resource management/ people management 1
- Good company profile and track record 1
- Quality of the product 1
- Cash flow knowledge/ Financial management 1

111
Vol. 3, No. 7 Modern Applied Science

Table 10. Source of knowledge to improve interviewees’ skill

How do you continue to learn to improve your skill or to acquire new Count
competencies?

Formal method

- Training 3
- Short course 3
- Seminar and conference 10

Informal method

- Learn on job 2
- Observation 4
- Meeting 2
- Open minded 1
- Discussion 11

Media

- Reading (i.e., Books, magazines, Newspaper etc) 7

- Internet 5
-TV media 1

Other

- Exhibition 2
- Workshop 2

Table 11. Preferred learning style to improve knowledge

What is your preferred learning style to improve your knowledge? Count

- Reading 1
- Discussion 7
- Observation 1
- Meeting 2
- Seminar 2
- Short course 2
- Workshop 1

112
 Modern Applied Science July, 2009

Table 12. Transfer of learning experience

How do you transfer your learning experience to others? Count

- Presentation 2
- Make a new work instruction (in writing) or procedures (e.g.: Value Engineering 1
procedure)
- Learn on job (involve staff on job) 7
- As a tutor (mentoring) 3
- Write some articles/papers and books 1
- Discussion 2
- Meeting 1

Table 13. The external or internal environmental factors that have impacted on transfer of knowledge in construction
consulting companies

What are the external or internal environmental factors that have impacted on Count
transfer of knowledge in construction consulting companies?
Internal:
- Commitment from management 2
- Commitment from employee 1
- Personal interest 5
- Level of IQ capability and education 1
- Communication 1
- Family background 1
- Media / System 1
- Culture 3
- Incentive or reward for the staff 2
- Openness or willingness (more on trust) to share and listen 2
External:
- Business factor/ competition 4
- Environment 1
- Client 1
- Government/Professional body (must give an encouragement to practitioners) 1
- Clients 1
- Suppliers 1

113
Vol. 3, No. 7 Modern Applied Science

Table 14. The expectation from KM initiatives

What do you (and your company) expect from KM initiatives? Count

- Maintain the knowledge and competitiveness 1
- Quality in service 5
- Good performance of the staff 2
- Efficiency 5
- Client satisfaction 1
- Personal satisfaction 1
- World class company (More professional company) 4
- Documentation or filing data system more advance 1

Figure 1. Simplified model of the construction process (Source: Kamara et al. 2002)

114