The Importance of Tacit Knowledge Integration within Traditional Project Environment: A Critical Review

Project knowledge mostly remains in minds of involved individuals of project team and is not captured and transferred across the project in order to be used in future projects, mainly in construction industry. The successful completion of a project requires a rigorous understanding of each stage that can be enhanced through integrating knowledge between all individuals involved in project, specifically between detailed design phase and execution (construction) phase. This is where there are issues about performances in terms of traditional procurement. The construction industry suffers from lack of knowledge integration between its phases especially in traditional procurement system, because many professional designers at design phase are not skillful in construction means and methods, and have little experience and tacit knowledge in construction practices. The fact that the design and construction process are separated means common disputes exist between design and construction phase. The construction industry will lose its knowledgeable and skilled workforce and there is no efficient strategy by which knowledge can be integrated across project and between team members. This paper aims to highlight the importance of tacit knowledge integration within the project environment. A critical literature survey and review of existing published data will be carried out to explain challenges within the traditional project environment, existing practices in terms of knowledge management practices and the way in which knowledge integration can be adopted for better performance.