Strategic Management of Built Facilities

Craig Langston, Rima Lauge-Kristensen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135138721
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

The effective management of facilities can significantly improve business productivity. In this textbook the authors provide an overview of facility economics and outline the way in which businesses and facility managers can get better value from their physical assets.Students on facilities management and property related degrees will find this an invaluable introduction.

Part 1

Corporate Goals

Business today is a competitive and customer-focused activity that must operate in an environment that is subject to continual change. Being successful means that the business has a clear vision and works towards identified goals while simultaneously improving quality, reducing costs and minimizing risk. Often this results in a concentration on core business tasks, with support tasks aligned to reflect overall corporate goals and strategy. More importantly, it involves empowering staff and enabling them to be productive through proper workplace design.

Facility management is about ensuring that infrastructure supports core business tasks. Infrastructure is not limited to buildings and floor space, but includes issues such as technology, communication strategy, workplace design and ergonomics, auxiliary services, security and environmental impact. In essence, facilities are the setting within which a planned activity can occur. Therefore the nature of facilities differs according to business function, industry, location, time and potential future directions. While facilities are important and in many cases represent significant capital value, they are secondary compared to human resources, despite being closely related.

The link between facility management and human resource management is worker productivity. Constructing a setting that can sustain planned activities is necessary, yet developing ways in which business processes can be more effectively performed is a higher order goal. It involves an understanding of human needs and practices from a range of stakeholder perspectives including investor, employer, employee and customer.

To be effective, all parts of the organization must be co-ordinated so that a common purpose is maintained. This is accomplished through a clearly articulated set of corporate goals and a team approach, particularly among upper management. Corporate goals usually are about core business tasks. For example, a goal is not to construct a new building but rather to introduce a new product or service to the market, which by implication requires supporting infrastructure. The role of the facility manager is to match corporate goals with the physical settings to support them, while the role of the human resource manager is to match corporate goals with the necessary skilled people for their achievement. Obviously the facility manager and the human resource manager must work closely together.

Strategic facility management represents higher order activities involved in the alignment of facilities with corporate goals. This includes a measure of anticipation and forward planning and demands access to boardroom-level discussions and/or effective communication between senior personnel. It is distinct from tactical and operational activities that have progressively reduced scope and corporate impact.

Tactical activities are essentially about monitoring and management of facility performance. For example, the conduct of an energy audit for a facility based on evidence of rising energy usage (and cost) that leads to an analysis of several new options and a recommendation for change is a tactical activity. They differ from strategic activities in that the direct link to corporate goals is absent, although the overall objective of improving quality, reducing cost and minimizing risk remains. Tactical activities are often smaller and tightly defined, and are akin to sub-projects within the greater business context.

Operational activities are more routine and are often viewed as custodial. For example, the regular schedule of filter cleaning in cooling towers, the recording of completion and the feedback of data for future planning purposes is an operational activity. They differ from tactical activities in that they do not involve analysis and judgement, but nevertheless are essential to the proper functioning of infrastructure which has obvious ramifications for business productivity. Operational activities are often likened to a caretaking role, although the emphasis here is still on management rather than the servicing trades.

At all levels facility management underpins corporate goals and is an essential component for their achievement. Properly designed and managed facilities lead to productive practices that add value to an organization's bottom line. Workplaces are analogous to ecosystems, so the term 'workplace ecology' reflects the health and prosperity of all its inhabitants. In this context workplace ecology is a key to business continuity and success.

This first part deals with the critical topic of corporate goals. Chapter 1 discusses the concept of workplace ecology in more detail and explores its relationship with broader business drivers. Chapter 2 looks at ways in which worker productivity can be improved through a better understanding of the impact of workplace design on performance. Chapter 3 explores the role strategic facility management plays in achievement of organizational goals and introduces the strategic facility plan.

Implicit in this discussion is the need for identification and analysis of key business drivers and the benchmarking of performance with other organizations involved in similar (often competing) activities. Performance trends from one year to the next are also critical to ensure that facility management is effective and seen to be so. Often tracking measures are goal-orientated and expressed in terms of overall profit and tangible stakeholder benefits.

1

Workplace ecology

1.1 Introduction

In business, decisions are made in the context of improving quality, reducing costs and minimizing risk. Organizations must operate in an environment of increasing competition, globalization and technological development. The workplace, whether it be an office, factory, hospital, hotel, theatre, TV studio, power station or space station, needs to enable effective performance of its core-business functions.

All workplaces comprise facilities that must be managed. At one end of the spectrum this involves cost monitoring and maintenance, and at the other end involves strategic alliances and integrated business processes. A 'healthy' workplace is one that performs at its optimum. Workplace ecology is the study of workplace performance, understanding the link between human resources (people) and physical resources (facilities). Productivity is this link. Measurement of productivity is the best means of quantifying improvements in workplace ecology.

1.2 Facilities

Workplace ecology is concerned with enabling effective business practice through the provision of appropriate facilities. It embraces issues of organizational reform, worker productivity, information technology, sustainability and occupational health and safety. Facilities need to be designed which are flexible enough to adapt to changes in the above issues without unnecessary waste and cost.

Bernard Williams Associates (1999) defines facilities as 'the premises and services required to accommodate and facilitate business activity'. In other words, facilities are the infrastructure that supports business. This is a wide definition and is intended to cover not just land and buildings but other infrastructure such as telecommunications, equipment, furniture, security, childcare, catering, stationery, transport and satellite work environments (home, car, client office, airport lounge, hotel lobby, etc.). Facilities should not be seen as an overhead, but rather as an integral part of an 'ecosystem' necessary to enable people to perform at their best. The most valuable asset of the organization is its people. The two main support activities for any organization are therefore human resource management and facility management.

1.3 Human resource management

Human resource management is responsible for aligning the critical functions of recruiting, staffing, training and development, and performance management so that they support business strategy. This means that the role of human resources is to work as a strategic partner within the organization to maximize the value of its employees (Bobrow, 1998). Building from the organization's strategic tactics, human resources can plan how its major functions can help the organization carry out its strategy.

To maximize the value of an organization's employees, one of the first steps is to develop a list of the core competencies that individuals need to possess for different positions within the company. This step is a building block for all of the other human resource management activities. Once human resources understands what the core competencies are for a job, it is in a position to actively seek people for the position, and then continue to build upon the core competencies through career development and promotion. Hiring decisions based on these competencies ensures that job openings are filled by the best possible candidates. Human resources should try to attract candidates who have a strong sense of purpose or value system aligned with the company's mission.

Training is a critical component of human resource management, and has the greatest value when it is improving the performance of existing employees to match changing business needs and anticipates future trends. Of all human resource management functions, performance management offers the largest potential return for an organization. Performance management systems should also be linked to organizational objectives. A system that truly rewards excellent performance should:

1. Contain meaningful measures and standards within a specific time frame.

2. Be flexible with changing business needs.

3. Be linked to training and development opportunities.

4. Be related to organizational objectives. (Bobrow, 1998)

By having these measures based on the business strategy, success can be measured accurately and valuable employees can be justly rewarded. If these performance measures are not reached, they should be linked to training and development opportunities so employee performance can be improved.

Human resource management and facility management functions converge in many areas. Finding temporary accommodation during renovation works, setting up new staff so they can begin working productively as soon as possible, communication of complaints about indoor air quality (IAQ), and workspace design are some examples. Co-operation between human resource management and facility management is important, not just because it may solve a specific problem, but also when it comes to tackling larger and more nebulous issues like productivity and change in the corporate culture.

Facility managers have to work more closely with the human resources department to develop policies that reflect changing worker dynamics (McMorrow, 1995). Creating a more efficient, effective and creative workplace to better support changing business practices involves integrating office design, technology, working practices and workplace culture (Mackay and Maxwell, 1997). New technology has enabled the initiative to take place, encouraging a working culture that is status-free, creative, productive, based on knowledge sharing and effective communication. Employees are increasingly dictating what they want from a job, so organizations need to think imaginatively about attracting, retaining and rewarding people. This is where human resource management and facility management can work together to create an innovative approach to integrating people and technology in a way that is beneficial to everyone and to the organization.

There have been dramatic changes in how people occupy space, with 20% more people working in 30% less space (McMorrow, 1996). The focus of alternative work strategies should be on employee productivity and the ability to function in alternative environments, with rent savings as a bonus. The social re-engineering of the workplace involves merging electronic information access with the physical requirements. As people are now capable of working virtually anywhere, human resources has a role to play in making the location of work seamless to the customer. Between the physical and technological investments, human resource management has to help employees mesh with technology and adopt ways of working that empower them more than in the traditional workplace. The human resources department must work with the facility department and designers to ensure that all workers understand all implementations and how they affect each individual. Human resources may help to conduct a needs-assessment survey to identify the needs of each business unit (Anonymous, 1998).

Different i...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of contributors
• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction
• PART 1: CORPORATE GOALS
• PART 2: FUNCTIONAL PLANS
• PART 3: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
• PART 4: RISK MANAGEMENT
• PART 5: PROPERTY MAINTENANCE
• PART 6: FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
• PART 7: VALUE MANAGEMENT
• PART 8: BUILDING QUALITY ASSESSMENT
• Index