Editorial

Citation

Finch, E. (1998), "Editorial", Facilities, Vol. 16 No. 7/8. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.1998.06916gaa.001

Editorial

This issue of Facilities brings together some of the key papers which have appeared in Facilities over the last few years. Each of them was either chosen as a winner of a Literati prize or was specially commended. Anyone who has ever produced a paper will know just how challenging it can be. To be faced with a blank piece of paper and a muddle of thoughts which have to be unmuddled. As a relatively new subject area, facilities management is perhaps particularly problematic. Ensuring that work is both relevant and yet contains a kernel of original insight is the challenge typically encountered. Most mature disciplines such as ergonomics, management science and production engineering have identified the cornerstones of their discipline. These cornerstones provide a foundation on which new ideas can be built and old ideas refashioned. Perhaps facilities management has yet to identify the cornerstones ­ all we can identify is the general "plot of land" where our discipline is to be staked.

In this issue we can see the variety of subject areas which are covered. There is also variety in the treatment of the subjects from the journalistic style of practitioners to the more analytical style of the academic papers.

Among the other Literati prize winning papers is the paper by Loesch and Hammerman, also from the USA. This case study paper was developed from a World Workplace conference paper presented in Florida. Increasingly, authors are using conferences as an opportunity to test their ideas in front of peers: from this they are able to take account of criticisms and publish a full paper in the Facilities journal. Facilities is also partnering with key facilities management conferences around the world to ensure that high quality conference papers reach a wider audience in the form of special issues.

Not all prize-winning papers are from the academic fraternity. The paper by Varcoe (1994) on disaster recovery planning articulates the expertise of someone who is very much a practitioner. The paper was particularly timely in the wake of the Baltic Exchange bomb in London and addressed many of the questions facilities managers were asking at the time.

The Literati club, designed for those who write and edit, is particularly important to the journal. It seeks to encourage new authors, providing online information on how to get published. Its awards for excellence are an important way of acknowledging the work and craft of authors. I look forward to seeing the candidate papers for the next Literati prize.

Edward Finch

( http://www.mcb.co.uk/literati/)