A critical review on innovation in facilities management service delivery

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to define facilities management and innovation in generic business contexts and critically discuss the role of innovation in facilities management service delivery. Design/methodology/approach -The research adopts a comprehensive literature review from numerous published sources. All related references were discovered through electronic databases, journals and books. Findings -FM is capable of contributing towards organisational success if it is given the opportunity to exploit new ideas and perform innovative activities that are regularly measured and integrated within the overall business goals or an organisation. To achieve this, it is essential that innovation in FM is given appropriate empowerment and a platform within the boundaries of the organisation's total innovation agenda. Research limitations/implications -There are limited literature materials which focused on service innovation particularly in the context of facilities management and its service delivery. Some discussions that are related to multiple contract management are only mentioned but not extensively reviewed in accordance with the scope of the research. One of the constraints is due to the nature of services that are non-tangible and hard to perceive. Practical implications -The study provides in-depth knowledge on the importance and benefits to an organisation by embracing innovation in facilities management as well as in the delivery of FM services. By tying innovation in FM with the firm's overall innovation agenda, significant improvements are gained through total efficiency in business operations. Originality/value -The paper provides fresh literature updates on the needs of FM players to embrace innovative ideas and concepts to effectively deliver facility-related services. The findings indicated here can be used by relevant FM stakeholders to plan and re-evaluate the role of facilities management functions in their organisations.

Prioritising Facilities Management Services for Benchmarking in Selected Cities in Nigeria

“…FM is wide and covers in its scope the provision of many varied services (Barrett, 1995;Noor and Pitt, 2009). It is wider than building operations and maintenance (Best et al [2003] cited in Chitopanich [2004]) and its scope has been captured in varied ways.…”

Space and Species. Business School Exemplifications

“…Pitt and Tucker (2008) envisage that Facility Management constitutes the integration and alignment of the noncore services, including those relating to premises, required to operate and maintain a business to fully support the core objectives of the organization. In a similar vein, RICS (2009) emphasize that FM is a discipline that improves and supports the productivity of an organization by delivering all needed appropriate services, infrastructures that are needed to achieve business objectives as well as BIFM (2010) Additionally, Noor and Pitt (2009) highlight that FM supports creating an environment that is cohesive to carry out an organization's primary operations, taking an integrated view of the infrastructure services and use it to give customer satisfaction and value for money through support for an enhancement of the core business. Concluding, Kamaruzzaman and Zawawi (2010) prove that FM is focused solely on a balance between technical, managerial and business acumen that may be related to operational, tactical and strategic decision-making processes.…”

A review of sustainable facilities management knowledge and practice

“…The true importance of FM is in linking all services under its remit to organizational core objectives and creating value. FM nowadays is seen as the key link between organization or business support services to corebusiness, a vital service sector, charged with providing cost-efficient support services in a highly competitive and continually-changing business environment [10]. According to Barrett & Baldry [19], FM offers a holistic and evolutionary approach in realizing organizational optimization and total business solutions as regards other business tools available to business outlets and organization.…”

“…x Become the advocate of the strategy: championing and leading the strategy implementation. On the other hand, the BIFM proposes ten [10] steps to implementing a sustainability policy [13]:…”

“…Presently, FM is seen as the fastest emerging and most powerful sectors in many industries having gained recognition from the 1970s when outsourcing services became popular in radical costcutting initiatives [9,10]. Before seen in the operational sense of cleaning, care-taking, repairs and maintenance, FM now covers "real estate management, financial management, change management, human resources management, health and safety, contract management, in additional to building and engineering services maintenance, domestic services and utilities supplies" [11] p. 75.…”