Knowledge Management as a Critical Factor of an organization’s Sustainability
503
sustainability, improving the conditions for management, make decisions and create
incentives and control mechanisms (Veiga Ávila et al. 2019). However, it is possible
to find in the literature some studies that seek to apply or investigate how KM can be
used to facilitate sustainable development within organizations, with a special focus
on higher education institutions.
One of these studies, prepared by Pascu (2015), shows that universities, at first,
need to be efficient and effective in managing their knowledge assets. This is because
they are knowledge-intensive organizations whose purpose is to “train” human
resources and “transfer” them to the market. The author argues about using a knowledge management system that is used to create, gather, organize and disseminate
knowledge, as well as provide a competitive advantage. It states that the capture,
sharing, and use of internal knowledge are fundamental to the university’s ability to
implement an integrated sustainable management system.
Regarding the implementation of this system, Pascu (2015) states that different
structures and levels must speak the same language and be synchronized. For this, it
is necessary, besides the development, the documentation of the processes related to
the system.
Another study found by Thomson et al. (2010), the authors have as their object of
study the sustainability assessment within a university campus construction project.
In identifying project sustainability issues, the KM was initially used through the
knowledge exchange of the individuals who participated in the project, so that the
sustainability criteria needed for the project were identified and defined and then
formalized these criteria in a report. One of the individuals involved with the project
was a sustainability consultant hired to assist with the project.
In addition to the implicit criteria obtained from the project individuals, several
documents shared by those involved, such as environmental regulations, the master
plan, and the university’s sustainability strategy, were also used to prepare the criteria
report.
In the remaining stages of the project, meetings were held for the definition of
criteria and decision making, and the provision of knowledge by the sustainability
consultant, as well as the use of tacit knowledge obtained by the project board with
project experience previous university studies. At the end of the process, some documents were prepared by the teams involved in the project, such as reports, which
were intended to communicate stakeholders effectively.
The third study found focuses on greening campus operations. The authors, Tan
et al. (2012) state that KM is generally considered as a necessary basis for innovation
in sustainability, and to contextualize their research proposal they present that KM
has already been studied, together with information systems, as a means of promoting
creation and capture of sustainability knowledge.
However, they expose that collective learning and the advancement of sustainability issues are still hampered by the inability to identify, capture, manage and
reuse knowledge in construction domains, however, claim that KM has the potential to assist sustainability performance in building within universities, becoming a
powerful tool to support building projects on sustainability issues.
503
sustainability, improving the conditions for management, make decisions and create
incentives and control mechanisms (Veiga Ávila et al. 2019). However, it is possible
to find in the literature some studies that seek to apply or investigate how KM can be
used to facilitate sustainable development within organizations, with a special focus
on higher education institutions.
One of these studies, prepared by Pascu (2015), shows that universities, at first,
need to be efficient and effective in managing their knowledge assets. This is because
they are knowledge-intensive organizations whose purpose is to “train” human
resources and “transfer” them to the market. The author argues about using a knowledge management system that is used to create, gather, organize and disseminate
knowledge, as well as provide a competitive advantage. It states that the capture,
sharing, and use of internal knowledge are fundamental to the university’s ability to
implement an integrated sustainable management system.
Regarding the implementation of this system, Pascu (2015) states that different
structures and levels must speak the same language and be synchronized. For this, it
is necessary, besides the development, the documentation of the processes related to
the system.
Another study found by Thomson et al. (2010), the authors have as their object of
study the sustainability assessment within a university campus construction project.
In identifying project sustainability issues, the KM was initially used through the
knowledge exchange of the individuals who participated in the project, so that the
sustainability criteria needed for the project were identified and defined and then
formalized these criteria in a report. One of the individuals involved with the project
was a sustainability consultant hired to assist with the project.
In addition to the implicit criteria obtained from the project individuals, several
documents shared by those involved, such as environmental regulations, the master
plan, and the university’s sustainability strategy, were also used to prepare the criteria
report.
In the remaining stages of the project, meetings were held for the definition of
criteria and decision making, and the provision of knowledge by the sustainability
consultant, as well as the use of tacit knowledge obtained by the project board with
project experience previous university studies. At the end of the process, some documents were prepared by the teams involved in the project, such as reports, which
were intended to communicate stakeholders effectively.
The third study found focuses on greening campus operations. The authors, Tan
et al. (2012) state that KM is generally considered as a necessary basis for innovation
in sustainability, and to contextualize their research proposal they present that KM
has already been studied, together with information systems, as a means of promoting
creation and capture of sustainability knowledge.
However, they expose that collective learning and the advancement of sustainability issues are still hampered by the inability to identify, capture, manage and
reuse knowledge in construction domains, however, claim that KM has the potential to assist sustainability performance in building within universities, becoming a
powerful tool to support building projects on sustainability issues.