Editorial

Citation

Finch, E. (2012), "Editorial", Facilities, Vol. 30 No. 7/8. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2012.06930gaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Facilities, Volume 30, Issue 7/8

Performance evaluation remains a major challenge in facilities management. The complexities of interacting and interdependent factors continue to confound researchers. In this issue we see a number of papers dealing with the general evaluation framework or specific issues therein, including age dependency and speech intelligibility.

Culture has a profound effect on the preferred workplace solution as evidenced by the diversity of workplace solutions adopted worldwide. In the research by Heeroma et al., the authors suggest that the concept of culture does not justify a “loose” approach to workplace strategies. The authors go on to suggest that facilities managers should continue to focus on the linkage between work patterns and the successfulness of a specific workplace strategies.

In a related paper by Pitt et al., the issue of the multigenerational work environment is highlighted. The authors suggest that understanding these age divides could go some way to avoiding job dissatisfaction, alienation,low productivity, low morale, and high attrition rates. The work points to the arrival of Generation Z or “generation me” for those born after 1992, creating yet another (fifth) generation in the workplace, with differing expectations and work styles.

Change is a “constant” in facilities management – yet little is known about its impact on employees in the workplace. Using discourse analysis, Airo et al., sought to understand the impact of such changes. The authors suggested that workplace managers, through such an analysis, can discriminate between justified and unjustified resistance to change. In so doing, they can come to understand the rhetoric and behaviour of employees’ during a workplace change.

The paper by Weilin Shen et al., proposes the adoption of a user activity simulation model to enable clients to better understand design issues. The authors go on to suggest that feedback interface in the proposed model can enable clients to specify requirements and give comments relating to the design. Thus it may provide a much-needed tool to improve the efficiency of designer-client communication.

One challenging environment worthy of investigation is the design studio. The study by Hassanain et al. presents a post occupancy evaluation framework applicable to such environments. It is based on a multi-method approach involving four discrete phases which the authors contend can significantly improve the efficacy of the evaluation process. At a time when higher education institutions are scrutinizing the cost of studio space, this study may provide welcome insights.

Edward Finch