Browsing by Author "Moloi, Bekezela Maria"
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- ItemManaging knowledge in mega-infrastructure projects(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-12) Moloi, Bekezela Maria; Maasdorp, Christiaan; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Information Science.ENGLISH SUMMARY : The thesis focuses on the knowledge management issues that typically arise in large infrastructure projects. Mega-infrastructure projects are complex because they are largescale and very costly (typically over US$ 1 billion); have more complex interfaces; usually involve a broad range of public and private stakeholders with conflicting interests often impacting many people; are more risky as scope changes are inevitable as they run over a longer time horizon spanning many years of development and construction. They also attract greater staffing challenges as they are resource intensive and the same participants are less likely to be present due to the long time-horizons. This complexity means that knowledge transfer and integration challenges are greater. Moreover, because the technology and designs are often non-standard for mega projects, these projects are considered to be once-off or unique undertakings in the minds of most of the participants and standard industry benchmarking is more difficult impeding learning from other projects. The question is how one can effectively manage knowledge in mega projects given the above challenges. In order to investigate this issue, two large infrastructure projects undertaken by Eskom, namely the development of the project Medupi and project Kusile coal-thermal power stations, were selected as case studies. The thesis starts out with a literature review on the general management challenges of mega-infrastructure development, followed by a chapter describing Boisot's social learning cycle in the i-Space to be used as the basis for analysis of the cases. Then an overview of the Eskom build program is provided before describing the two projects and the knowledge management programs for these projects. Interviews were conducted with key participants on the projects and the findings from the interviews are presented, discussed and interpreted in terms of Boisot's theory. The findings include that management failed to lay the foundation for embedding the social learning cycle in projects; that the knowledge management custodians did not provide effective systems support to ensure effective scanning, codifying and abstracting of knowledge assets in the Eskom i-Space; and that the project teams were not effective in carrying out knowledge management process diffusion, absorption and impacting of knowledge assets.