Facilities Managers – A New Breed of Professionals?
| Date | 01 April 1990 |
| Pages | 16-17 |
| Published date | 01 April 1990 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000001427 |
| Author | Doug Hamilton |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
Facilities
Managers
—
A New
Breed
of
Professionals?
Doug Hamilton
16 INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT & DATA SYSTEMS 90,4
T
his details an investigation into the
meaning and existence off facilities
management.
My main aim in attending the conference on The Assets
of Facilities Management was to find out what facilities
management means, and what facilities managers
do.
As
a design consultancy, we need to work with these people,
and I wanted to find out if facilities management is a
profession, like law or accountancy, or a business, like
design. Is it an area that is well defined and understood?
I carried out some not too scientific research, amongst
the client and professional
sectors,
and asked the following
questions — What is facilities management? What do
facilities managers do? Have you got one? Who do they
report to? Can anyone do it? Is it worth it?
Within the professions, I spoke to a quantity surveyor,
an architect, an associate within an architectural practice,
and an interior designer. The responses varied. Either
facilities managers had never been used, and there was
no idea about what they did, or they were only brought
on board by the client after the design had been
implemented. Conversely, facilities managers were seen
as being client-based, and an indication of the client
becoming more professional in its communication with
designers and architects, but were a group that were only
now beginning to receive recognition. Reporting to a
partner, or a director in charge of a building, the skills
they require are engineering-led disciplines, personnel
expertise, PR awareness and the ability
to
understand the
limitations of a building.
However, the reactions from client companies that I spoke
to were significantly different.
I selected accountancy firms and a property company as
being representative, and they viewed facilities managers
as essential within an organisation. Reporting to the
finance director, they require strong managerial capabilities
to provide a good working environment and maintain office
equipment.
I questioned two individuals within a major organisation
which
many hold
up
as a model, and the
point,
while
hardly
fair, is self-evident. The first response was that the
company doesn't
have
a facilities manager, as
all
functions
are made the responsibility of individual departments,
headed by a manager. The company operates on a tier
system, so the higher up in the system, the wider the
manager's responsibility to encompass other offices, with
each departmental manager reporting
to
the person above
him. The answers from another representative in the
organisation were music to my ears, as I was told what
facilities management is all about. Facilities management,
it appears, looks after five aspects of a company:
• The shareholders
—
by maintaining the asset value
of a company's property.
• The employees
— by
creating efficient, high morale
working environments, and aiding productivity.
• The customers
— by
maintaining and reinforcing the
good image of the company.
• The community
—
as the company's impact on the
environment and local community is an asset.
• The suppliers
— by
ensuring the quality of supplies
and services.
To summarise, the facilities management role is
represented by asset management, which includes space
planning, relocation, renovation and long-range planning,
and is demonstrated through return on investment.
I was also informed that the organisation does have a
facilities manager, who is trained in technology and
possesses management skills. Reporting to the finance
director, he offers
a
good return on investment
by
helping
to ensure that facilities add value to the company.
What I found interesting about
my
"research" is that, like
the design business, facilities management is in danger
of
being misunderstood, and of under-representing its case.
Possibly it is better understood by the client organisation
than by the professional team, and it seems to sit
somewhere between strategic planning and premises
management.
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