Charles Egbu

London South Bank University, London, England,UK · School of the Built Environment and Architecture

Procurement plays a key role in sustainability as policies and practices need to extend beyond organisations' boundaries to incorporate their whole supply chains. There is, however, a paucity of empirical research on sustainable forms of procurement initiatives currently being implemented in the UK construction sector to improve competitiveness - w...

This study sought to examine project delivery challenges currently being faced by energy clients and to determine how they could achieve value creation through better alignment of project delivery processes. There are important lessons to be learned from the energy sector on how to deal with the unique operational and project challenges. Four explo...

Healing environment and Health Associated Infections (HAI) have been researched for more than 30 years globally. There is definitely a consensus among the researchers and practitioners about its importance. A range of issues such as knowledge management, performance management, design management and process management have been highlighted as major...

As organisations try to meet sustainability challenges, they need to be innovative. This often calls for the creation, use and exploitation of new knowledge. Therefore, knowledge resources must be properly managed to enable wellinformed decisions. There is, however, little empirical research on the key drivers for managing sustainability-related kn...

Facilities Management (FM) as the total management of all services supports the core businesses of an organisation in a building. However, today’s buildings are increasingly sophisticated and the need for information to operate and maintain them is vital. Facility Managers have to acquire, integrate, edit, and update diverse facility information...

The construction industry is considered to be a knowledge-based industry. Activities within construction projects are based upon knowledge creation and subsequent communication of such knowledge between the project stakeholders. Successful communication of this knowledge may lead to undisturbed implementation of the activities on the project. Howev...

Purpose The problem of climate change is one aspect of the broader problem of sustainability. Many businesses in most sectors now accept that they must address the issue of climate change in order to survive and grow in ever‐changing entangled business economies. Due to mounting pressure from stakeholders, top executives of many organisations are n...

Managing in today's environment provides many challenges and project teams are frequently confronted with situations which challenge the traditional ways projects have been managed. Project success is dependent upon the effective management of people and at the heart of this process is client leadership. Terms such as responsive project manager, is...

The impact of development plans is positively felt only when there is an implementation of a good peopleoriented design and government willingness to be part of the effort. This paper seeks to critically assess the master planning system and its constraints on planning authorities in Jos, metropolis Nigeria, by identifying and examining the charact...

The plethora of planning authorities in most urban areas in most developing countries has contributed to the emergence of more complex problems. Three key elements have been identified; roles are not clear, functions are overlapping, and responsibilities not fully discharged. This paper evaluates the activities of the planning authorities in Jos me...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine challenges faced by senior construction managers in managing cross‐cultural complexity and uncertainty. The rationale was to identify the key strategies that are considered essential for managing cross‐cultural complexity and uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach Interviews with 20 senior construc...

The Social Network Analysis (SNA) has been adopted in the UK construction management research and generated meaningful insights in analysing project management organisations from network perspectives. As an effective tool, social network analysis has been used to analyse information and knowledge flow between construction project teams which is con...

Purpose In the early part of the twenty‐first century, the term sustainability has become a buzzword. Although featuring strongly in the popular media, trade, professional and academic journals, the very concept of sustainability is elusive for businesses. There is, however, a little empirical research on the perceptions of the UK industrial sector...

Research on knowledge integration across organizational boundaries is still very limited because of the assumption that knowledge is a critical asset, which should be secured within organizational boundaries. A variety of knowledge management frameworks have presented the same common characteristics, including information sharing as the basis for k...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse the methods of housing finance adopted by the low income and informal groups in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach A survey of 300 households in selected areas (low‐income/informal) of Jos Metropolis, Nigeria, was carried out, concerning the methods of housing finance used for building...

Post-disaster reconstruction plays an important role in disaster management. This activity aims to restore the living conditions of disaster affected communities by building new houses and infrastructures, but reconstruction is also concerned with future pre-disaster mitigation activities. The success of reconstruction will greatly influence the co...

Malaysian Construction Industry has been urged to use innovative construction technique and to shift from traditional practice of brick and mortar to Industrialized Building System (IBS) construction. IBS is defined as a construction technique in which components are manufactured in a controlled environment (on or off site), transported, positioned...

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have gained significant popularity in last decade. However, with the growing rate of implementation, we have also heard of growing number of implementation failures and expensive repairs. Construction sector is a unique sector because a big proportion of construction companies can be classified as Small an...

This paper presents an assessment of occupants’ opinion of the internal environment of buildings, based upon their responses to questions relating to a range of discrete factors. The survey considers many aspects of the internal environment and seeks to gain occupants responses to each of these in terms of “User Satisfaction” and “Degree of Importa...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish manufactured construction as a good potential alternative to meet the growing housing needs of China. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses literature review and case study as research methodologies. Literature review is used to identify the need for housing and establish the manufacturing...

Knowledge is increasingly being recognized as a vital organisational resource that provides competitive advantage. Managing knowledge assets can be a challenge, especially in the construction industry, where short-term working contracts and temporary coalitions of individuals can inhibit knowledge sharing. Knowledge sharing in organisations is the...

Many organisations are now looking towards knowledge management (KM) initiatives to address some of the challenges brought forward by marketplace pressures and the nature of the workplace. Organisations in the construction industry are no exceptions. Such initiatives are often started with the development of a KM strategy. A common short-sight for...

The University of Salford, UK and Indian Green Building Council, Hyderabad, India, organized a workshop in Hyderabad on June 26, 2009 to examine the issue of industry academia collaboration to encourage green construction in India. Some of the major objectives of the workshop included identifying the key needs of the industry with regard to green c...

In the last few years, knowledge management has become one of the hot topics discussed by scholars and industry practitioners. There is also an increasing awareness that to survive and maintain sustained competitive advantage in an uncertain and global market place, organisations need to give due consideration strategies that lead to effective know...

Previous studies in various fields have identified numbers of knowledge mapping tools and techniques that are widely used. Knowledge mapping tools and techniques assist with information and knowledge flow throughout an organization. However, for a knowledge map to be useful it must serve the purpose for which it is intended. This imposes some const...

organizations like local authorities, the ability to effectively share knowledge across organizations can lead to improved service delivery and the achievement of best practices. Hence, the degree to which an organization effectively applies knowledge sharing initiatives is an indicator of the organization’s knowledge management development; yet or...

With employees leaving construction organizations for all sorts of reasons, it is imperative that organizations look at ways to retain their knowledge. This paper presents a four step process in order to ensure knowledge retention. The four steps include: Socialization, codification, combination and internalization. A four level maturity model is a...

The number of natural disasters has increased sharply in the past few decades, threatening human lives, and the built environment. Recent disaster management paradigms have, arguably, shifted from disaster relief to disaster preparedness, hazard mitigation, and vulnerability reduction. Reconstruction activities are those activities in recovery and...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a workshop organized in New Delhi to assess the current state of green construction in India and highlight the major drivers and challenges faced by the construction sector. Design/methodology/approach – The data collection for this paper is conducted through two sources; a survey a...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the characteristics of green building guidelines in developed countries and to analyze their influence on the evolution and adoption of similar guidelines in India. Design/methodology/approach This research reviews the green building guidelines in the developed as well as the developing countries su...

A workshop on green construction was organized in New Delhi in July 2008 by Jamia Millia University, India and University of Salford, U.K., aiming to increase 'green' practices that are environmentally friendly and energy efficient. The workshop included participants from regulatory bodies, public and private construction companies and researchers....

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a model that can be used to assess the knowledge retention capabilities of an organisation, and suggest opportunities for improvement. A model to fulfil this aim is developed and validated on a construction engineering consultancy. Design/methodology/approach A knowledge retention model was developed...

Knowledge sharing is widely regarded as vital to organisational innovations. Knowledge itself is seen to provide real value when it is converted into economic and competitive advantage to organisations. In the same vein, organisational culture is considered to play a vital role in knowledge sharing initiatives. Culture can be argued to be rooted in...

In business management, the management of knowledge has been touted as the way forward in ensuring the survival and resilience of organisations. But differing opinions abound as to how its strategies could be successfully managed. Despite the increase in adoption of knowledge management concepts in other industrial sectors, the construction industr...

Purpose – To propose a framework for performance management in facilities management (FM) services in hospitals. Herein, particular attention has been given to domestic services under the area of FM. Design/methodology/approach – The discussions of the paper are based on findings of a mixed methodology approach, i.e. combination of qualitative and...

A key problem facing the construction industry is that all work is done by transient project teams, and in the past there has been no structured approach to learning from projects once they are completed. Now, though, the industry is adapting concepts of knowledge management to improve the situation. This book brings together 13 contributors from r...

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Knowledge Management Research and Practice [© Operational Research Society]. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.kmrp.8500154 The last two decades have witnessed a significant increase in discussions abou...

The cross-boundary knowledge transactions between foreign companies and local companies in developing countries can be a useful source of knowledge for both foreign companies and local companies. With the increased investments in buildings and infrastructure by developing countries, the cross-boundary knowledge transactions between foreign companie...

In the early part of this 21st century, global competition, the knowledge economy and the potential offered by emerging technologies along with commitment to the principle of sustainability pose profound strategic challenges for business. Sustainability concerns the management of an organization's total business impact upon its immediate stakeholde...

Purpose The main purpose of this paper is to present some of the findings of a PhD research project. The findings are related to issues of integration of the key players in the control of healthcare associated infections (HAI) in FM services. Out of the FM services, the focus of the study was limited only to domestic services. Design/methodology/a...

In the 21st century, organisations are faced with complex challenges stemming from increasing opportunities to create economic value by integrating corporate environmental and social responsibility change issues into business. Due to globalisation and the complexity of issues associated with working in a knowledge economy, the potential offered by...

Purpose This paper seeks to address the importance of knowledge production and capabilities for the construction industry; and the implications of the challenges associated with their effective exploitation for the construction industry in China. Design/methodology/approach A thorough review of extant literature and 31 detailed semi‐structured int...

Knowledge management (KM), though still a relatively new area of research, has captured the attention of many management researchers and practitioners as the panacea for effective organisational performance. But the challenge posed by the reluctance of some key employees to share their tacit knowledge so as to facilitate organisational competitiven...

There is now a great deal of interest among researchers and practitioners regarding the importance of knowledge management (KM) in an organisational context. Few large construction organisations have implemented and reaped the benefits of formal KM approaches. However, there are very few empirical studies on knowledge capture geared towards small a...

Knowledge capture techniques and technologies are important for any knowledge management strategy. Organisations that have implemented knowledge management (KM) strategies seem to have realised that if techniques and technologies are not carefully selected, the likelihood of success is very limited. This requires careful selection of techniques and...

The grounded theory research method has been adopted by researchers across a range of different disciplines. Two different examples that are currently using the method as part of individual research programmes are explained. These two examples form part of two separate PhD programmes that are currently at similar stages of development making for a...

Performance based procurement is a relatively new directive for contractor selection. Performance based procurement considers the value of the contractor's services in the award of the contract in addition to the submitted bid price. This study utilizes a statistical analysis comparing the abilities of the performance based and price based (lump su...

There is often a risk of structural collapse on refurbishment projects involving structural alterations, facade retentions and demolition. There is evidence which shows that the construction industry lacks appropriate management systems to cope up with the refurbishment safety risks and hazards. The decisions taken during the refurbishment process...

Purpose To explore the role of facilities management (FM) in the control of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) and then to discuss a three‐dimensional approach which can be used for FM services in the control of infections (HAI). Design/methodology/approach Most of what is put forward in this paper is based on a research project which is at it...

Purpose An investigation of the importance of the knowledge of the key individuals in organisations, knowledge within organisations as well as customer capital and knowledge; and how these might impact on sustainable competitive advantage of small and medium sized enterprises. The key challenges for knowledge‐intensive SMEs are the identification,...

Purpose – Popularity in knowledge management has, unfortunately, not been matched by parallel empirical research on the processes, challenges and benefits of knowledge capture in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the construction industry, given the fact that 99 per cent of firms in the UK construction industry can be classified as SMEs. This...

The refurbishment project involving structural alterations, facade retentions and demolition are high risk activities. There is evidence which shows that construction industry lacks appropriate management system to cope up with the risks and hazards on refurbishment. The safe building refurbishment, is quite complex and decision making plays a sign...

The briefing process in construction projects involves the documentation and communication of clients' requirements and represents a cornerstone for achieving client satisfaction. The inefficiency of the briefing process has long been recognised as an area which needs improvement To improve on the briefing process, it is necessary to look at the ca...

This article is based on an on-going PhD research study which includes the investigation of the role of facilities management (FM) in the control of Healthcare Acquired Infections (HAI).

Innovation is viewed as a major source of competitive advantage and is perceived to be a pre-requisite for organizational success and survival. The ability to innovate depends largely on the way in which an organisation uses and exploits the resources available to it. The paper explores the importance of knowledge management (KM) and intellectual c...

Site managers meet complex problems in their day-to-day work and have to find solutions promptly. However, the industry does not capture this valuable experience and may even not realise its significance. If this knowledge is collected, structured and disseminated, there would be significant benefits to the companies as well as the whole constructi...

Site managers acquire knowledge through solving complex problems in their day-today work. However, the construction industry does not capture this valuable experience formally for the greater benefit of all. If this body of knowledge could be collected, structured and disseminated, there would be significant benefits to the construction industry at...

Purpose – Popularity in knowledge management has, unfortunately, not been matched by parallel empirical research on the processes, challenges and benefits of knowledge capture in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the construction industry, given the fact that 99 per cent of firms in the UK construction industry can be classified as SMEs. This...

The concept of knowledge is multiplex rather than singular. The most prominent classification of knowledge is that of Tactic and Explicit. Tacit knowledge as suggested by Nonaka and Takeuchi, is hidden and cannot be easily represented via 'electronics' whilst explicit knowledge is what can be captured and shared through information technology. In o...

Recent research undertaken within the UK construction industry has revealed a growth in the appointment of knowledge management specialists in response to two principal drivers: the UK government's prerequisite to achieve industry-wide improvements and the desire of individual organisations to seek competitive advantage. Interviews with twenty know...

This research proposes that to implement a continuous improvement type process in construction the following requirements must be met: create a performance based environment which differentiates performance and value, run a performance based process where the risk is minimized by high performance contractors instead of the client's professional rep...

This paper is based on an on-going postgraduate research study, which is aimed at investigating the role of knowledge management and intellectual capital assets on organisational innovations in project based industries. The central hypothesis to the study is that by effecting knowledge management (KM) and managing intellectual capital (IC) there is...

Knowledge is increasingly being recognised as a vital organisational resource that provides competitive advantage. Managing knowledge assets can be a challenge, especially in the construction industry, where short-term working contracts and temporary coalitions of individuals can inhibit knowledge sharing. The role of information technology (IT) in...

An appropriate body of management skills and knowledge for construction refurbishment is established: a skills and knowledge inventory. Of the 75 types of management skill and knowledge, the six most important are leadership, communication (oral/written), motivation of others, health and safety, decision making, and forecasting and planning. Refurb...

Using a case study approach involving four refurbishment projects from both the construction and shipping industries (hospital, warship, hotel and passenger ship), 36 semi-structured interviews with key functionaries from both sectors and 49 completed postal questionnaires, this paper attempts to shed light on the function of planning and control b...

This paper is based on an on-going study on innovation sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). It aims to develop a prototype training simulator that will provide experiential learning of the cultural aspects of the innovation process in organizations and the influence of uncertainty and resistance on innovation success. Based...