Prof Chaminda Pathirage | University of Wolverhampton (original) (raw)

Papers by Prof Chaminda Pathirage

The importance of knowledge as a key determinant of organisational competitiveness and better per... more The importance of knowledge as a key determinant of organisational competitiveness and better performance is increasingly appreciated by both academics and practitioners. The UK construction industry is perceived as one of the knowledge based value creating sectors of the economy; however, it faces many challenges, especially in terms of performance, due to its intrinsic nature. Different knowledge based solutions to overcome this problem have been proposed in the past. Previous work on knowledge management in the construction industry has focused heavily on the delivery of technological solutions. Therefore, this study argues that personalisation strategies supporting the process-based view of knowledge, to enhance generation and utilisation of employees' tacit knowledge, would be much more relevant to overcome performance problems in the construction industry. In this context, the following research problem is articulated for empirical investigation: What is the role of tacit knowledge in achieving better performance, and how could tacit knowledge be managed in construction employees? The research problem was investigated by developing a conceptual framework, drawing from the literature and pilot interviews, addressing the process of tacit knowledge management. The social constructionism philosophy with the case study approach was adopted for this study. The conceptual framework was refined and validated empirically through a single longitudinal case study, comprising two phases: an exploratory phase and an explanatory phase. Interviews and structured surveys were used as the principal data collection techniques. The primary data analysis techniques used for the study were content analysis, cognitive mapping and descriptive statistics. The case study findings challenge the prevailing focus on codification strategies of knowledge management in construction organisations, which do not recognise the process-based view of knowledge. Further, it reveals the main sources of tacit knowledge generation and acquisition, both internal and external to an organisation, and factors affecting tacit knowledge utilisation at individual, group and organisational levels. The study introduces a systematic process and five stage maturity approach for tacit knowledge management. It concludes by stressing the importance of strengthening the sources of tacit knowledge acquisition, addressing the factors that affect tacit knowledge utilisation, and evaluating performance of process and outcomes of tacit knowledge management in construction organisations.

Sustainability, Jul 8, 2023

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

... perception that both public and private sector corruption is rife in Sri Lanka. ... environme... more ... perception that both public and private sector corruption is rife in Sri Lanka. ... environmental impact assessment stage, when getting approval for public construction projects, contractor ... A study by TI Bangladesh (2002) has uncovered corruption in procurement contracts in three ...

... Construction Management and Economics, 18, 161-172. Alarcón, LF, Muturana, S., and Schonherr,... more ... Construction Management and Economics, 18, 161-172. Alarcón, LF, Muturana, S., and Schonherr, I., in: O'Brient, WJ, Formoso, CT, Vrijhoef, R., and London, KA, 2009. ... 19 (2001) pp. 295-303. Atkinson, 2009. Falling Profits at Keller and Travis Perkins. ...

A vast majority of the construction projects suffer from cost and budget overruns and constructio... more A vast majority of the construction projects suffer from cost and budget overruns and construction organisations continue to incur losses, reduction in profit and many of them often become heavily debt ridden and eventually go out of business. Therefore, drastic improvements are required in the current practice. BIM integration can bring the much needed improvement in the area of cost monitoring and control practice. There have been progressive developments in terms of BIM-enabled tools, costing techniques and standards that are becoming mature, but there has not been considerable change in the actual practice. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the most important factors affecting the BIM implementation cost monitoring and control in organisations in the UK in order to develop a practically feasible BIM implementation strategy. For this purpose the study uses the existing literature and empirical qualitative data collected through interviews from carefully selected practitioners from a large construction organisation in the UK and quantitative data collected through survey. This paper is focused on the identifying the key issues affecting BIM implementation in cost monitoring and control practice. Research findings indicate that there are a number of factors related to people, process, information and technology that influence their decision to implement BIM. These factors have been segregated as drivers and barriers for BIM implementation.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the views about community on their participation during d... more The aim of this paper is to investigate the views about community on their participation during disaster recovery and how they can be empowered. The community participation from the beginning to end of the project, and future maintenance of the community is essential for a successful recovery in an efficient and effective manner. Little, or token, participation by the community has proved to be fatal through schedule delays in recovery or public uprising. This article will outline a global literature review of community participation complemented with some interview preliminary data from San Francisco and Christ Church, New Zealand. The outcome is a framework of community participation and empowerment. As "owners", the community will ensure a well-maintained community for many years ahead.

CIB eBooks, May 1, 2014

The reader should verify the applicability of the information to particular situations and check ... more The reader should verify the applicability of the information to particular situations and check the references prior to any reliance thereupon. Since the information contained in the book is multidisciplinary, international and professional in nature, the reader is urged to consult with an appropriate licensed professional prior to taking any action or making any interpretation that is within the realm of a licensed professional practice. Copies may be ordered by contacting:

Although knowledge management concept has grown noticeably during last few years, management of f... more Although knowledge management concept has grown noticeably during last few years, management of facilities knowledge has been little studies. Facilities knowledge is of crucial importance for organisational effectiveness and makes a proactive contribution to business to achieve competitive advantage. The research addresses the importance of managing facilities knowledge and to reveal the key knowledge variables by examining the current practice and gaps in application of knowledge management techniques in facilities management context. The intellectual capital framework is introduced as a conceptual model with which facilities users can identify and organise facilities knowledge in a purposeful way.

Located at a juncture of four tectonic plate has made Indonesia highly prone to earthquake disast... more Located at a juncture of four tectonic plate has made Indonesia highly prone to earthquake disasters. The giant earthquake magnitude 9.1 Richter scale which triggered tsunami on 26 December 2004 in Aceh and followed by Nias earthquake magnitude 8.6 Richter scale on 28 March 2005 have created massive damage to infrastructure at these two neighbourhood area. The reconstruction dealt with the construction of 120,000 new houses and rehabilitation of 85,000 damaged houses. This large scale housing reconstruction programme has been realised to be the most challenging and problematic activities during the disaster recovery phase. One procurement method that can be adopted on housing reconstruction is the community based approach. In this method, community is not only consulted as the beneficiaries, but has the power to control the construction phase.In this context, this paper highlights the importance of community based approach on post disaster housing reconstruction. It will present the trends of natural disasters in recent years, describe the rationale of the needs of community based approach, outline the advantages and analyse the problem it faces. A detailed literature review on Aceh and Nias in Indonesia reconstruction including literature on best practices was carried out in order to achieve these objectives.It was found that a community based approach could create better housing construction compare to contractor based approach in terms of quality, accountability and beneficiaries satisfaction. This method also could build the social capital of the survivors.

The Built Environment Innovation and Industry Council (BEIIC) Digital Modelling Working Group and... more The Built Environment Innovation and Industry Council (BEIIC) Digital Modelling Working Group and a group of industry sponsors engaged the Allen Consulting Group to undertake a study assessing the economic impacts of widespread adoption of Building Information Models (BIM) in Australia.

Skip to the content. You are in: University home; University of Salford Institutional Repository.... more Skip to the content. You are in: University home; University of Salford Institutional Repository. University of Salford - A Greater Manchester University. ...

Built Environment Project and Asset Management

PurposeDecision-makers, practitioners and community members have a need to assess the disaster re... more PurposeDecision-makers, practitioners and community members have a need to assess the disaster resilience of their communities and to understand their own capacities in disaster situations. There is a lack of consensus among researchers as to what resilience means and how it can be measured. This paper proposes a novel technique to achieve consensus among stakeholders on definitions, objectives and indicators for measuring a key dimension of community disaster resilience (CDR), physical infrastructure (PI).Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a five-step approach utilizing Q-methods to contextualize a resilience index for PI. Interviews, focus groups and Q-sorting workshops were conducted to develop a tool that ranked measures according to stakeholder preference. A total of 84 participants took part in the workshops across four countries (United Kingdom, Malaysia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka).FindingsThe initial set of 317 measures was reduced to 128 and divided into the three comm...

Quality Assurance in Education

Purpose This study aims to assess “learning opportunities” provided to undergraduate students, fr... more Purpose This study aims to assess “learning opportunities” provided to undergraduate students, from level three to six, in higher education (HE). A knowledge gap was identified within the current practice relating to learning opportunities for built environment (BE) students in HE. The study focussed on the themes under section two of the national student survey (NSS): how students explore ideas or concepts in-depth, bring information and ideas together from different topics and apply the learned content in a real-life context. The study aimed to provide recommendations for enhancing “learning opportunities” to the BE students within HE. Design/methodology/approach Data collection focussed on section two of NSS “learning opportunities” and documentary analysis, and a qualitative survey were adopted for this study. A documental analysis of 334 mid-module reviews was carried out. The qualitative data was collected from level three to level six students and academics from architecture,...

Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology

Purpose This study aims to investigate two public private partnership (PPP) road projects in Nige... more Purpose This study aims to investigate two public private partnership (PPP) road projects in Nigeria for exploring factors that can motivate end-user stakeholders for contributing towards sustaining a PPP project in the long-term. Design/methodology/approach Using a case study methodology approach, this study adopts two-way data collection strategies via in-depth interviews with PPP experts and end-user stakeholders in Nigeria host communities and a questionnaire survey to relevant stakeholders. Findings The study identifies an eight-factor structure indicating critical success factors for ensuring end-user stakeholders support PPP projects on a long-term basis in their host communities. Originality/value Results of the study have huge implications for policymakers and project companies by encouraging the early integration of far-sighted measures that will promote long-term support and sustainability for PPP projects amongst the end-user stakeholders.

International Journal of Disaster Response and Emergency Management

The purpose of this study is to explore and identify the factors for empowering the community dur... more The purpose of this study is to explore and identify the factors for empowering the community during the Disaster Recovery phase. It is very important to recognize the community (decision makers) as being empowered of their fate but not to inform, consult and having others to decide their fate. The study investigates the important role of the project manager who coordinates and communicates with the community members in order to empower them to achieve a long-term sustainability. The findings obtained from the literature review and the case studies allow identifying the factors for empowering the community during Disaster Recovery, such as: participation in decision-making; use of social capital within the community; thinking and doing SMART; recognizing community power; building capacity; and helping your neighbors. The results of this study provide guidelines for Project Managers to empower the community as decisions makers in the disaster recovery phase.

Knowledge and Performance Management

The purpose of this study is to explore and identify the challenges and Critical Success Factors ... more The purpose of this study is to explore and identify the challenges and Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of Knowledge Integration (KI) in terms of capturing, sharing and transferring knowledge within construction projects based on the Traditional Procurement System (TPS). On the basis of available studies on KI and TPS within the industry investigated, multiple case studies were developed to reach the aforementioned objective, involving two case studies to reflect the building sector within construction industry. Furthermore, an Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) approach was used to summarize and identify the relationships between the identified challenges. ‘Culture of Organization, ‘Contractual Boundaries’ and ‘Knowledge Management System’ (policies and strategies of organization) are identified as the main challenges. Having an ‘open environment’ and ‘clear liability of project members for sharing knowledge at different phases of project’ are two of identified CSFs, which wil...

Economies

Although agriculture in Nigeria is the major source of income for about 70% of the active populat... more Although agriculture in Nigeria is the major source of income for about 70% of the active population, the impact of agrarian infrastructure on boosting productivity and supporting livelihoods has increased. Climate change and the increasing trend of climate-related events in Nigeria challenge both the stability of agrarian infrastructure and livelihood systems. Based on case studies of two local communities in Plateau state in Nigeria, this paper utilizes a range of perceptions to examine the impacts of climate-related events on agrarian infrastructures and how agrarian livelihood systems are, in turn, affected. Data are obtained from a questionnaire survey (n = 175 farmers) and semi-structured interviews (n = 14 key informants). The study identifies local indicators of climate change, high risks climate events and the components of agrarian infrastructures that are at risk from climate events. Findings reveal that, changes in rainfall and temperature patterns increase the probabili...

International Journal of Construction Management

Built-Environment Sri Lanka, 2016