Facility Management: a literature review
GUIDO GUIZZI, DANIELA MIELE, RICCARDO DE CARLINI Dipartimento di Ingegneria dei Materiali e della Produzione
University of Naples “Federico II” P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples
ITALY [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
http://www.impianti.unina.it Abstract: - This work is an excursus on Facility Management (FM) and focuses on the importance of discipline as an opportunity for companies wishing to concentrate their resources on core business, without neglecting the management of facilities. In order to create a clear and organic framework of the theme in question, it was right to dedicate a brief digression to the figure of the Facility Manger, to the team of Facility Department and to comparison between the Facility Management in house and in outsourcing. All the work was made in view of future articles with which to identify management tools that facilitate the activities of facility managers and their teams work. Key-Words: - Facility Management, Facility Manager, Facility Department, Outsourcing, Global Service. 1 Introduction In the last years, the continuous increase in operating costs, the need to use not only spaces, but also a wide range of services, to make the space appropriate to the needs of the paperwork, have rendered more difficult and costly the real estate management. Organizations, therefore, express a strong need for quality spaces (equipped with all the traditional and innovative necessary equipment : the reference model becomes the intelligent building) and dynamic: that is, capable to transform themselves, adapting themselves to (a new computer, connection to the corporate LAN, a new phone, a new desk, etc..) the needs of the organization. This is not easy and immediate to obtain from a building. In this context, the Facility Management is introduced and can be considered a great way, for large organizations, to reduce operating costs, giving more attention to the main mission and to improve their competitive position (Timothy Maechling) [1]. 2 Facility Management The Facility Management, in the opinion of Brackertz and Kenley, [2] is increasingly recognized as an element of the value chain of a business through which an organization provides and maintains the quality of the work environment for its human resources and materials and ensures managers to achieve the objectives of the core
business [3]. At this point, it is imperative to clarify what is meant by this term, through a series of definitions that specify the objectives, the scope and the basic elements of FM. § Becker (1990): The Facility Management is
responsible for coordinating all efforts related to planning, design and management of buildings and their systems, their equipment and their furniture, in order to improve the organization's ability to compete successfully in an environment rapid changing.
§ Bernard (1996): Defines the facilities as "the premises and services necessary to accommodate and facilitate the core business." Considering this, the plant management has to encompass the three cost centers that include local, support services and information technology.
§ Alexander (1999): The purpose of discipline is to cover all aspects related to space, environmental control, health and safety and support services.
§ Curcio (2003): The Facility Management is the "Integrated Management of the plurality of services and processes(addressed to the buildings, spaces, people), which are not included in the core business, but which are necessary for the functioning of the organization."
§ IFMA – International Facility Management Association (2003): a profession that includes multiple disciplines to ensure functionality of
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the physical environment through the integration between people, places, processes and technology.
§ Pala e Pristerà (2004) [4] the process of design, implementation and control through which it is a possible to identify, find and deliver the facilities, in order to provide and maintain a predetermined level of service, that can meet business demands in terms of cost and quality.
From the definitions it is possible to derive the peculiar aspects of FM: • no core content; • typicality; • integration; • business support. In detail, as regards the content no core, the processes of FM include activities that do not constitute the main business of company, and, therefore, that do not generate profit directly and do not constitute elements of competition. Thus the concept of non-core may seem easy to use, but in reality is a concept difficult to apply, as it is not possible to discriminate core activities from non-core activities objectively. The typicality concept concerns the processes involved in the FM [5]: • Services to building: building maintenance,
operation and maintenance facilities (air conditioning, electrical, electrical, lift, hydraulic, etc..)
• Services to space: management of work safety, internal and external logistics, planning and setup of workspaces
• Services to people: cleaning, food service, waste management, document management, supervision, information desk, postal service, laundry.
It isn’t possible talk to FM if there is no integrated management of its processes. Therefore, the FM is not necessarily the simple attribution of services to a single organization. The real FM takes place when the plurality of non core services of an organization is delivered as a unique complement to the primary processes. Moreover, the processes of FM are to support the business, meaning they are not strategically decisive, but they are required to achieve the objectives of the company. In fact, the non-core processes are born because they are useful to the primary processes of production and sale of principal products/services of a company. 2.1 Facility Manager
The Facility Manager's role is particularly complicated, since it must ensure the performance of a dual mission: § on the one hand, he must provide the company
the necessary support and appropriate for the conduct of the principal activity, so Facility Manager acts as a supplier for internal customers, listening to their needs and designing services that meet them;
§ on the other hand, he must also know the reasons for the existence of the company and be a part of its policies and strategies in order to be jointly responsible for implementation of organizational change.
It is for this reason that among the objectives of the Facility Manager it’s a possible to find a improvement of the organization and the work procedures, internal customer satisfaction, improved quality of service, the containment and reduction of costs of services, the redesign service on the basis of new business needs, the long-term planning of corporate facilities. The Facility Manager is not the manager of support services, but it is the central hub for information, decision-making and organizational activities between primary and support activities. The routine operation of a typical facility manager is a continuous cycle of the activities described below. § Analysis of business needs: communication
skills and analytical skills are essential to identify customer needs, rather than the specific services that the customer would like to receive.
§ Service design: it is certainly the most creative and complex component of the role of Facility Manager, infact it is necessary to have managerial, economic, financial, engineering, technological and organizational skills.
§ Commissioning and management of the service: he always acts as a client, towards his subordinates or in respect of external suppliers
§ Checking the results: his management is focuses on results rather than on specifications performance. He looks at the quantitative translation of results in the form of key performance indicators and observes, through them, customer satisfaction.
Therefore, a good facility manager must be [6]: § technically competent; § capable of good verbal and written
communication; § able to respond quickly and controlled; § service-oriented; § aware of the costs; § extrovert; § decision-maker;
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§ able to solve multiple problems; § confident and competent with quantitative
measures; § action-oriented; § able to conclude good agreements. Therefore, the Facility Manager must have the skills of a Project Manager when are ongoing projects of organizational change involving the creation of new workspaces, transfer of company headquarters, new construction and/or restructuring, planning and interior design, etc.. All the features described up to now, identify a "good facility manager," but "an excellent facility manager" must think and act like a leader. Friday [7] suggests the skills necessary for a Facility Leader: § He must take responsibility and communicate
organizational change. There is no fact more in need of leadership than that offered by an organizational restructuring of one or more units of FM. Is on this occasion that the Facility Leader must be able to create and articulate organizational "vision" of how will be the new processes FM, at the same time he must be able to communicate the organizational vision of how to be the new FM processes; at the same time must be able to communicate the vision in terms of human resources involved and their roles in the change.
§ He uses quarterly and annual indicators rather than focusing on very short-term goals.
§ He is aware that the leaders do not have all the answers. The effective leader knows that his job is to help others find the right answers. Instead of controlling and dominating the process, a successful leader leads to processes of problem solving and use of a decision.
§ He identifies the timing constraints and transform them into strategic resources. The facility Leaders know that compress into a small space of time too many deliveries can lead to disastrous effects operating in the valley. The leader chooses to do well the few smart things in a short period of time according to the known rule of 20/80: pursue the realization of that 20% of activities that ensure 80% completion of a project.
§ He feeds a healthy organizational culture. Of all the concepts associated with the Facility Leadership, the ability to create a comfortable and productive working environment is the most important. The ability to hold a position of leadership in the FM requires continuous diagnosis of the organizational culture in order to identify the good and the bad aspects.
Friday through direct experience adds a number of additional requirements that must submit a Facility Leader: § He must be a good follower. § He has built a solid reputation for integrity. § He must know analytically organizational
processes and their results. § He must learn from every situation. 2.2 Facility Department The Facility Department is the management structure of the Facility Management and is directed by Facility Manager. On the basis of the presence/absence of an internal Department Facility and the trust of management responsibilities to external personnel will identify three main cases: 1. There is no single figure responsible for a
facility or facilities department independent of the other business functions. Service management is divided between different structures (for example, administration, human resources, general services, etc..). They are mostly old-fashioned companies and public companies that still have to change the internal organization.
2. There is a responsible figure of services, who directs the Facility Department . The services are managed and delivered inside with outside personnel and / or internal. This type of structure is detectable in large companies that have integrated the responsibilities originally divided.
3. There is a facility manager in charge of a Department Facility, consisting of external resources. This organization is present mainly in multinational companies that have replicated the structure adopted several years before by the head office.
At this point, it is a possible to describe the main figures that make up a Department Facility: § Administration Figure: is responsible for
administrative management of contracts with service providers. He carries out accounting and control invoices received and shall, where necessary, to authorize payment, according to company procedures. He Controls costs and calculates the deviations from the budget by providing, where appropriate, plans of correction of gaps.
§ Site manager: is responsible for services in one or more locations in the area. He checks the availability of resources, program activities, and he defines the procedures. He supervises and controls the technical and other professional
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figures, involved in the management and / or delivery of service
§ Building Coordinator: is a figure with mainly technical skills, is primarily responsible dl proper functioning of the building and equipment and is representative for all major issues relating to building services. He coordinates the actions of the maintenance team and establishes work priorities.
§ Workplace Manager (or Tactical Planner): is responsible for defining and implementing projects of Space Planning and Space Management. He offers solutions and participates in the evaluation of solutions, provided by outside professionals. He controls the timing and mode of management of space projects in accordance with business needs and with the goal of minimizing downtime.
2.3 Comparison between in Outsourcing and In-House FM Atkins [5] observes that some organizations might be described as a mixed economy which retain some services in-house whilst contracting out others. These observation show that some organizations favour a totally in-house option, while others contract out every service possible and other to use a combination of both. The decision should be made having regard to the path that leads to long term best value for the organization. Table below [8] shows the comparison between in-house and outsourcing facilities management. In House In Outsourcing Definition 1.The
maintenance team that being appointed by the company itself and using its own manpower to carry out the maintenance work. 2.Uses its own employees and time to keep a division or business activity (i.e. cleaning works, maintenance
1.Contract out support services by appointed outside contractor in doing all the maintenance work. 2.To control and deliver the quality and service standard 3.Usually for major works 4.Outsourcing offers wide range
works etc). 3.Need to maintain the flexibility in those operations by keeping them in-house. 4.In-house usually for daily operations and minor works. Using own staff & own resources
of benefits to organization such as cost reduction, better access to superior quality, flexible in responding to market change, opportunity to focus on core competences and facilitate the development of product diversification.
Advantages 1.People who are in-house own their work, perform better than outsourced employees who make decisions based on how they will affect own employers. 2. Results of long-term financial analysis usually support in-house rather than outsourcing option. 3. Founded that employees are improved as well as customer satisfaction at the same time. 4.The company the opportunity to grow people instead of hiring from outside, and provide career prospects
1.Outsourcing your non-core activities will give you more time to concentrate on your core business processes. 2.Outsourcing can give you access to professional, expert and high-quality services. 3.With outsourcing your organization can experience increased efficiency and productivity in non-core business processes. 4. Outsourcing can help you streamline your business operations.
5. Offshore outsourcing can help you save on time, effort, manpower,
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operating costs and training costs amongst others.
Dis-advantages
Atkin and Brooks, provide further insight on the disadvantages of in-house provision of FM functions [5]:
1.Poorly defined scope will lead, almost inevitably, to problems in the management of the services with higher supervision cost and lowering of customer satisfaction.
2.Without delineation of roles and responsibilities, it can be difficult to measure the performance of in-house personnel.
3. Weakness in maintaining a consistent level over time for external service provision as it needs arises time to time. iv. Threats of complacency, which is easily noticed by customers.
1.While outsourcing services such as payroll processing services and tax preparation services, your outsourcing provider will be able to see your company’s confidential information and hence there is a threat to security and confidentiality in outsourcing.
2. Outsourcing, though cost effective, might have hidden costs, such as the legal costs incurred while signing a contract between companies. You might also have to spend a lot of time and effort in getting the contract signed.
3.Your outsourcing provider might not be only providing services for your organization. Since your provider might be catering to the needs of several companies, there might be not be complete devotion to you and your
company Table 1 - Comparison between in Outsourcing
and In-House FM 2.4 FM and Global Service The concept of Global Service reports a practice tending, through the joint responsibility of the provider on the result, to minimize the commitment of the client on the management of non-core activities, subject of the contract. In other words, the Global Service is a contractual formula related to multi-disciplinary services, in which the assumptor designs, manages and delivers tasks with full responsibility, to achieve the objectives. It talks about the maintenance activities, because more than any other, today they are the object of a real conceptual revolution: from a traditional view of maintenance, considered solely as an expense, it has gone to an idea of maintenance as possibility for optimization and improvement of a organization. When a process of Global Service was established, the internal organization of the client company must reconfigure itself to accommodate management of its assets in partnership with the service provider. In particular, the customer must make a series of preventive activities needed, including: § Definition of objectives and, consequently, the activities to be outsourced; § Identification of service provider(outsourcer), which will become a real partner of the company, through the evaluation of offers; § Definition of roles and key competencies; § Definition of tools for performance monitoring. It is clear that the organizational, technical, economic, contractual and preliminary activities require, for both the customer and for the Assumptor, at the base of a Global Service contract, a commitment of time and resources are not indifferent, however, justified because it is at this stage that the foundations for cooperation are outlined in full satisfaction of both parties. After the Global service contract has been concluded and has spent a period of startup, required to bring the system up to speed, some parameters must be evaluated, both qualitative and quantitative, capable of measuring the service rendered, or rather the plurality of services. Obviously, the necessary condition to the satisfaction of joint responsibility is that assumptor is given the possibility of intervention on the entire management process. 3 Conclusion
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The importance of focusing on its core business is now well recognized and, consequently, conducts to the need to manage in a non-direct support activities to core business. This paper has shown, therefore, the need of the FM and its connotation, such as coordinated management practices, or marked by an overall view of no core and its needs, in order to optimize the ratio between quality, satisfaction of needs and costs. At this point, can be used as a basis for the improvement of the research process in FM. Additionally, the findings should encourage open discussion of the current state and future needs of FM research. Such discussion could result in more rigor in the FM discipline and, consequently, a better understanding of FM and the FM research process. A limitation of this paper is that it does not include all the empirical research that has been done in FM. One type of research that is lacking in this review is research that is in the pipeline, including papers that are already under review by the journals and conferences conference publications included in this study. In addition, gaining access to some data was difficult and thus some conference proceedings were not taken into consideration in this paper. In summary, this research shows that FM, as a scientific discipline, is maturing little by little. Respectively, the number of academic journals and conferences in the field is growing [9]. However, the developments of the ongoing research portend in-depth studies, in relation to decision support tools, useful for Facility Managers, who wish to evaluate and prioritize projects for the rehabilitation /replacement of facilities and intend to make the process inspection/testing / maintenance of facilities more streamlined. References: [1] Timothy Maechling and Jeffrey Bredeson, Discovering value in outsourcing Facilities management, BioPharm International, Vol.15, issue 5, 2005. [2] Becker, F. The Total Workplace, Van Nostrand Reinhold. New York,1990. [3] Linda Tay and Joseph T.L.Ooi, Facilities management: a “Jack of all trades”? Vol.19, no.10, 2001, pp.357-362 [4] Pala F., Pristerà P., Facility Management e Creazione del Valore, IFMA Italia, Milano, 2004 [5] Brian Atkin & Adrian Brooks. Total Facilities Management. USA. 2000. [6] Cotts D. G. e Lee M., The Facility
Management Handbook, AMACOM, New York, 1992. [7] Friday S, Thinking Like a Facilities Leader, Building Operating Management, 2007, September. [8] M. K. Kurdia, A.H. Abdul-Tharim,N. Jaffar, M.S. Azli, M.N. Shuib, A.M. Ab-Wahid Outsourcing in Facilities Management-A Literature Review, The 2nd International Building Control Conference, Procedia Engineering 20, 2011, pp.445- 457. [9] Tomi Ventovuori, Tero Lehtonen, Anssi Salonen, Suvi Nenonen,"A review and classification of academic research in facilities management", Facilities, Vol. 25 Iss: 5, 2007, pp. 227-237. [10] Guizzi, G., Gallo, M., Zoppoli, P., Condition
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