Search results
1 – 10 of over 47000Pernilla Gluch, Ingrid Svensson and Jan Bröchner
This study aims to investigate practitioners’ perceptions of strategic work in municipal facilities management: how public facilities management is changing, what is included in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate practitioners’ perceptions of strategic work in municipal facilities management: how public facilities management is changing, what is included in strategic public facilities management and who leads the strategic work.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review begins with mainstream studies of strategy management, ultimately concentrating on municipal facilities management. Findings are based on a 2020/2021 questionnaire targeting 356 practitioners in municipal facilities management across Sweden (50% response rate). The statistical treatment includes factor analysis.
Findings
Most respondents indicated changed ways of managing facilities in the past five years; most reported that they were in an organization with an explicit goal of working more strategically. Respondents associated strategic facilities management with governance, facilities, sustainability, technology change and communication. Frequently, it was the management team of the facilities management department that led strategic work.
Research limitations/implications
Research into municipal facilities management is dominated by studies in Northern Europe, and more studies from other regions are needed. How strategies and work roles evolve in parallel appears to be a fruitful direction of further research.
Practical implications
Facilities managers need stronger competences and more resources to engage in strategic facilities management. Findings indicate a need to integrate sustainability aspects better into long-term strategic work.
Social implications
More strategic municipal facilities management is of obvious social value.
Originality/value
This is the first study of practitioner perceptions of work on strategic facilities management in municipalities.
Details
Keywords
Hikmot Adunola Koleoso, Modupe Moronke Omirin and Femi Adejumo
The literature propounds that facilities management (FM) differs from other building support services (BSS) because it features a significant strategic content. However, research…
Abstract
Purpose
The literature propounds that facilities management (FM) differs from other building support services (BSS) because it features a significant strategic content. However, research indicates that this deep seated strategic and value-adding practice is mostly unavailable except in the most matured markets. The purpose of this paper is to compare the strategic content of the functions performed by FM practitioners with that of other BSS providers in Lagos, the commercial hub of Nigeria. This is to determine if the content of the FM functions is comparatively more strategic and invariably more value-adding than that of other BSS providers as indicated in literature and also to identify required areas of improvement, both for practice and training.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was carried out through self-administered questionnaire directed to a sample of 123 BSS providers that work with office buildings in Lagos, Nigeria. The data collected were analyzed using frequency counts, means, χ2 test and Wilcoxon signed rank test.
Findings
Rather than the strategic tasks, the FM group as with the non-FM group were more regularly involved with the less specialized facilities operations/maintenance and facilities support service tasks such as, security, fire, emergency management, cleaning and waste management. Specialized FM support service tasks such as mail services, reprographics, catering and travel services, were least often performed by both groups. The study found that facilities managers were slightly more involved than the non-facilities managers in performing the strategic group of tasks. This was indicated by the higher cumulative mean values and ranking of the level of involvement. The facilities managers also ranked higher in their involvement in the individual strategic tasks. The study also shows that FM practitioners use the more strategic ways to determine the needs of users. These findings imply that FM presents a slightly more strategic edge, which is, however, insufficient.
Practical implications
Although the FM practitioners may feature a slightly more strategic content of functions than their non-FM counterparts, the edge is insufficient to add significant value to clients’ business as postulated in literature. Lagos FM practitioners must become more involved in strategic functions in order to enhance FM’s value-adding edge and hence distinguish it better from other BSS practices.
Originality/value
The study positions the Nigerian FM practice in the light of expectations in literature and re-affirms the supposition that the practice is relatively strategically immature. It also identifies the contingent needs of local and multinational organizations that may require or intend to provide FM and other BSS in the Nigerian context, invariably allowing for international comparisons.
Details
Keywords
Nicola Brackertz and Russell Kenley
Strategic management of facilities is now generally accepted best practice. Appraisal of facility performance has developed correspondingly and financial measures are no longer…
Abstract
Strategic management of facilities is now generally accepted best practice. Appraisal of facility performance has developed correspondingly and financial measures are no longer seen as the prime indicator of success. Holistic models that include the processes supporting fulfilment of an organisation’s strategic aims are now considered to provide more appropriate measures. Recent focus in the service‐oriented context of local government authority (LGA) facility management has particularly turned toward such models. This paper discusses the issues and inherent tensions arising from the strategic measurement of local government facilities in a service delivery context. It is argued that outwardly the strategic objective of service delivery is common to the private and public sectors, but fundamental differences in the desired outcomes and responsibilities of the two sectors require different solutions. Even if one accepts the current trend in ‘balanced’ performance measurement, differing parameters in the private and public sectors impact on the design and evaluation of performance measures, especially in relation to process, efficiency, strategy formulation and responsiveness of the organisation to customer needs. If a facility is considered to be an enabler of processes that lead to desired outcomes, these differences must necessarily affect the design of facility performance measurement tools. The research with eight LGAs, reported here, supports the need for a new model for the evaluation of community facilities applicable in the local government context. Using stakeholder‐based focus groups, the need was identified for a service‐oriented model, where the facility is understood as the intersection of aspects of service provision, physical building substance and the community utilising the facility.
Details
Keywords
Paul Featherstone and David Baldry
This paper stresses the importance of the strategic integration of the organisational facilities management function as being an essential prerequisite towards facilities and…
Abstract
This paper stresses the importance of the strategic integration of the organisational facilities management function as being an essential prerequisite towards facilities and organisational effectiveness. The impact of both the strategic and operational facilities management function on community health‐care facility users is also documented. The value of the facilities management function in terms of other health‐care related organisational core deliverables is also observed. Mechanisms for general organisational facilities management improvement are identified and a number of facilities management performance measuring tools outlined.
Details
Keywords
Paul Featherstone and David Baldry
This paper stresses the importance of the strategic integration of the organisational facilities management function as being an essential prerequisite towards facilities and…
Abstract
This paper stresses the importance of the strategic integration of the organisational facilities management function as being an essential prerequisite towards facilities and organisational effectiveness. The impact of both the strategic and operational facilities management function on community health‐care facility users is also documented. The value of the facilities management function in terms of other health‐care related organisational core deliverables is also observed. Mechanisms for general organisational facilities management improvement are identified and a number of facilities management performance measuring tools outlined.
Details
Keywords
Facilities management has inherited the understanding of how organisations work as value creators from various management models such as Porter's, where value is created through…
Abstract
Purpose
Facilities management has inherited the understanding of how organisations work as value creators from various management models such as Porter's, where value is created through “primary” and “support” activities. The gap between the aspiration of strategic relevance and reality has prompted the facilities management profession to begin to address the question of whether facilities management is a legitimate discipline with attendant theories, research and practice. This paper attempts to bring an alternative theoretical perspective to such aspirations.
Design/methodology/approach
Facilities management arrangements and their value as a key organisational competence are outlined. Finally knowledge‐based functional competency is described that encapsulates the new perspective.
Findings
The paper provides an alternative perspective that will facilitate its acceptance as a strategically placed corporate function. A new knowledge‐based legitimisation for facilities management is proposed, marking a shift from facilities management's functional knowledge to an organisation‐wide knowledge base.
Practical implications
The way the discipline of facilities management is located within the business organisation sees its primary role in being fundamentally “supportive” to the parent organisation's primary function whether it is product provision or service delivery. This is problematic for a discipline that has been trying to align itself as strategically oriented. This orientation needs to be redefined to allow facilities management to be rather seen as a knowledge‐based core competency and a function that permeates the boundaries of primary and support functions.
Originality/value
The paper encourages wider debate and dialogue within the community on what appears to be a pivotal crossroads in the development of the discipline.
Details
Keywords
Facilities management (FM) as a strategic management tool has been an attractive research topic among scholars and practitioners alike for decades. The primary purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Facilities management (FM) as a strategic management tool has been an attractive research topic among scholars and practitioners alike for decades. The primary purpose of this paper is threefold: to assess the extent of use of FM roles (strategic, tactical and operational); to examine user satisfaction of service quality performance; and to analyse the influence of FM roles on service quality performance using data from Nigeria’s banking sector.
Design/methodology/approach
Relying on exploratory cross-sectional survey, 350 copies of a structured questionnaire were purposively distributed to senior management staff, bank staff, FM supervisors and bank customers in Lagos, Nigeria. One hundred and forty valid responses were returned to give a response rate of 40%. Data collected were analysed using descriptive, Spearman rank correlation and Kruskal–Wallis tests.
Findings
It was discovered that strategic facilities planning, IT planning strategy and real estate decisions are the most important FM roles at the strategic level; resource management, data control and planning change at the tactical level; and implementations, building operations and emergencies at the operation level. Findings equally revealed that visual appealing of materials associated with services (tangibles), insisting on error-free records (reliability), willing to help (responsiveness), having the knowledge to answer questions (assurance) and giving individualised attention (empathy) were the most important service quality performance indicators. Furthermore, the study revealed that strategic FM roles significantly influenced tangibles, reliability and responsiveness of staff and the services. Besides, tactical FM roles significantly influenced all service quality indicators except assurance, while operational FM roles had significant influence on tangibles, responsiveness and empathy.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study has provided first ever insight into the extent of FM strategic roles in the banking sector and influence of FM roles on service quality performance.
Details
Keywords
“Facilities management” (FM) has been described as a hybrid management discipline that combines people, property and process management expertise to provide vital services in…
Abstract
“Facilities management” (FM) has been described as a hybrid management discipline that combines people, property and process management expertise to provide vital services in support of the organisation. Attempts by academics and practitioners to define the scope and content of FM inevitably incurred the displeasure of some quarters of this emerging FM industry that has shown signs of rapid growth in North America, Europe, and Australia and New Zealand, and the Far East in the last two decades. This paper represents a personal view based on a study that covered a multi‐sector survey of five industrial and commercial sectors in the UK in 1996. The focus of the research is to provide a business perspective to the role of operational facilities. One of the objectives of the research is to explain the need for strategic business planning to incorporate and, indeed, integrate the facilities dimensions of business delivery. Whilst conceptual in its presentation, there is increasing evidence that the views and models contained within this paper are worthy of serious consideration by practitioners in the field
Details
Keywords
Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18;…
Abstract
Compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals published by MCB University Press: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.
Index by subjects, compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management…
Abstract
Index by subjects, compiled by K.G.B. Bakewell covering the following journals: Facilities Volumes 8‐18; Journal of Property Investment & Finance Volumes 8‐18; Property Management Volumes 8‐18; Structural Survey Volumes 8‐18.