CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT ON SITE: REQUIREMENTS FOR A LESSONS-LEARNED SYSTEM

Abstract

Construction is a knowledge-intensive industry in which knowledge is mostly generated inthe projects that each company performs. A problem arising is that many of these companiesdo not have a structured system to capture lessons learned on site, thus affectingorganization improvement. Then, it becomes handy to have a system to identify, acquire,process, transfer and reuse experiences, whether they are the product of success or failure.The implementation of such a system would help companies to improve the performance ofprojects and therefore, of the organization as a whole. The objective of this study is todevelop a lessons-learned system to improve the construction management process throughthe use of the information and knowledge generated in projects developed by a constructioncompany. To reach this objective, a research methodology based on case studies has beenapplied, where semi-structured interviews, direct observation and review of documentationhave been conducted in three construction companies with the purpose of understandinghow construction companies manage construction on site, the associated knowledge flowsand the main features of the context in which they work, in order to develop a lessonslearnedsystem that fits these features.This article presents the main results of the interviews with particular emphasis on the mostrelevant aspects related to having a lessons-learned system on site, presenting also an initialproposal about how such a system should be. Main conclusions are that none of the threecompanies have a lesson-learned system for construction management. Also, they recognizethe convenience of the system specially because they do not carry out a systematic andstructure use of the knowledge generated on site.