Barriers and commitment of facilities management profession to the sustainability agenda

Elmualim, Abbas; Shockley, Daniel; Valle, R. C. S. C.; Ludlow, G.; Shah, Sunil

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2009.05.002

Cited by 125 publications

(163 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Despite limited research regarding the drivers of sustainability policies in organizations, legislation and corporate image have been identified as the main drivers of organization's sustainability policies [2,25,26]. Therefore, the sustainability strategy must be formulated around the organization's overarching economic, social, and environmental goals [6] to deliver a rounded service [3]. This is to say that, an organization's overall sustainability policy forms the basis for formulating a sustainable FM strategy.…”

Section: 3mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There seems to be a wide recognition of the benefits and importance of incorporating sustainability into FM practice [2,3,13,22,23,25,26,[28][29][30], however, studies and literature focusing on the drivers of SFM are very few [2,25,26].…”

Section: Drivers For Sustainable Facilities Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is noted that the facilities manager is in a unique position and is often seen as the leader of an organization's sustainability policy [6]. Elmualim et al [3] opined that there is a pressing need for practical tools for sustainable facilities management as well as a need for the facilities manager championing the cause of sustainability within their organizations. Baharum & Pitt [5] demonstrated the need for green FM intellectual capital in achieving overall sustainability and profitability for an organisation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the increasing relevance of FM toward business success, the FM function has transformed from just a cost cutting option to a strategic link between organization's core business and support services. Facilities management professionals are seen as being "at the forefront of organizational behavior change and in a position to influence individuals working in business; government departments and public services" [3] p. 59. The concept of sustainable facilities management [SFM] has gained relevance recently in an attempt to integrate FM functions with sustainability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The facilities management profession is presented with this need in two perspectives. One, because of the negative impact of existing buildings over the environment [4], and on the other hand, the increasing demand for technical knowledge required of facilities managers to understand the complexities of intelligent buildings and their operation [3,5]. Aspects such as reduction in energy consumption, productivity increases, waste reduction, etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A review of sustainable facilities management knowledge and practice

2016

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Abstract. Sustainability is seen as a far-reaching issue now, and one which the facilities management [FM] profession cannot overlook. This paper explores current sustainable facilities management [SFM] knowledge and practice with specific focus on performance as part of a research focus toward proposing a sustainable FM performance management framework for sustainable healthcare waste management in Malaysia. This paper utilized a review of extant literature on the subject of SFM, FM performance and FM development in Malaysia as source of information. Findings reflect the increasing recognition of the need for the strategic FM function, and how facilities managers are best positioned to drive organizations' sustainability agendas. In Malaysian context, this recognition is barely evident as findings show FM practice is still immature and predominantly operational. Unlike developed FM markets, FM relevance in Malaysia is being driven by the public sector. Also findings show a disharmony between organizations' sustainability priority areas and the responsibilities for facilities managers to execute them where the sustainability policy of organizations prioritize one FM service and the facilities managers' responsibilities prioritize another. As most of SFM implementation is driven by legislation this seems to strengthen the position that, organizations continue to view support services as non-value-adding, as unavoidable liabilities. The implication of this is the pressure on the FM function to continually express its strategic relevance to organizations by tangible value-adding performance output. This creates a new perspective to measuring and managing facilities performance. This paper therefore elevates the importance of FM performance management in SFM context taking into account the peculiar position of the facilities manager. This is seen as a way forward for FM to better express its value to the organization .

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