A review of facilities management performance measurement

Modelling the added value of corporate real estate on organizational performance

Purpose

This study aims to establish the statistical relationships between corporate real estate added value indicators of cost reduction, increasing productivity, risk reduction and flexibility and organizational financial and non-financial performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted a mixed methods approach which encompasses initial expert interviews and subsequent questionnaire surveys. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was applied to test the proposed hypotheses of the study.

Findings

The results highlight the significant influence of three added value indicators on organizational performance while highlighting the need for strategic corporate real estate risk management to enhance performance.

Practical implications

The results of the study are useful to identify relevant added value indicators that can improve organizational performance as well as potential added value indicators that deserve attention for performance improvement. Moreover, it presents knowledge on corporate performance indicators which is sparsely explored in corporate real estate management literature.

Originality/value

This study makes a novel contribution to corporate real estate management literature by presenting a parsimonious model to alert corporate real estate managers on essential added value parameters towards organizational performance. The model set the theoretical debates to exploit additional added value dimensions and organizational performance.

Assessment of facilities management sourcing approaches in hotels in Ghana: a study of selected hotels in Wa

Purpose

The study aims to assess the sourcing approaches used in providing facilities management (FM) services in hotels. It further explores the factors that influence hotels' choice of sourcing approach and the challenges.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used a case study design. Simple random, census and purposive sampling techniques were used to select the hotels and respondents. Data were collected using interviews and analysed thematically. The data were presented in narration and direct quotes from the respondents. The critical factors influencing outsourcing decisions were ranked using the relative importance index. This study is based on a single case. Therefore, further research should be conducted to expand the scope of study nationwide as a step toward making the results more robust.

Findings

Both in-house and outsourcing sourcing approaches were used to provide FM services. In-house FM services mainly focused on cleaning, security and aspects of maintenance. Internet and information technology related services and other maintenance activities were also outsourced. Outsourcing decisions in the various hotel categories were mostly guided by the cost of outsourcing, core business, lack of in-house skills and hotel size.

Practical implications

FM strategy can be developed to guide the management of FM activities in hotels. An approach that adds value and enhances the activities of hotels and provides convenience to customers must be adopted by hotels. Further studies should be conducted on the cost implications of the two main sourcing approaches, as well as the impact of sourcing approaches on customer satisfaction. An additional study should focus on the driving factors influencing the cost and quality of outsourced FM services in hotels. This will help provide comprehensive information on effective FM sourcing approaches and the operations of hotels.

Originality/value

The study focused on the sourcing approaches used by hotels to provide FM services. It also explored the influencing factors and challenges of FM practices in hotels.

Collaboration between researchers and practitioners on developing facilities management standards and guidelines

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the collaboration between researchers and practitioners on developing standards and guidelines for Facilities Management (FM).

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is based on a longitudinal case study on research on FM value adding and its impact on FM standardization and development of a FM Value Guide. The sources used are literature and documents on FM value adding and standardization, published and planned FM standards, the FM Value Guide, internal documents and participant observations and experiences. All authors of this paper have both research and practical background. Two of them have been – and one still is – actively involved in developing European and international FM standards, and all three have been involved in developing the FM Value Guide. The research methodology can be characterized as retrospective action research.

Findings

The literature review shows that even though there are many references to standards in research papers, particularly in relation to definitions of concepts, there are only few studies on how research influences standardization and how researchers collaborate with practitioners on developing standards and guidelines. This paper presents a case study showing how research can contribute to standardization and development of guidelines in collaboration with practitioners and makes suggestions on how such collaboration can be improved.

Practical implications

The results of this paper provide understanding and inspiration for how researchers and practitioners can collaborate in the development of standards and guidelines.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first study on collaboration between researchers and practitioners on developing FM standards and guidelines.

A review of green practices and initiatives from stakeholder’s perspectives towards sustainable hotel operations and performance impact

Purpose

The survival of hotel business in maintaining market competitiveness depends on the constant improvement of the quality of hotel facilities and services. The key to sustain hotel business is lean on the adaptability of the hotel management team towards current lifestyle trends and its surrounding context in fulfilling customer satisfaction. Because of hotel operating service complexity, the hotel contributes a higher impact on environmental degradation in performing their daily activities. Therefore, hoteliers need to determine sustainable strategies to minimize environmental impact and at the same time be able to provide satisfaction to their customers. However, green initiatives require a proactive action by the organizational management engaging both employees and guests in the environmental management process. Thus, this paper aims to review the concept of green practices, the implementation of green practices from the stakeholders’ perspectives (manager, employee and customers) in the hotel industry, the performance impact from the green practices on the sustainability pillars and to further develop a conceptual green practice to sustainable hotel operations and performance impact.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper identified relevant empirical research that published in the recent 10 years from January 2012 to December 2021. The articles are searched through reputable databases such as Emerald, Elsevier and Taylor and Francis. The obtained data were screened preliminarily from 108 research papers. The post-screening process has finalized a total of 57 articles as the findings for this paper, where the themes were delineated to the attributes that need to implemented by the stakeholder in hotels industry, that is, manager’s perspectives, employee’s perspectives and customer’s perspectives.

Findings

The findings of this paper revealed that there are 27 attributes of green practices and initiatives for sustainable hotel operations from the manager perspectives (10 attributes – Green Marketing Strategy, Green Managerial Attitude, Eco-Innovation Investment, Marketing and Sustainability, Environmental Management Strategy, Green Supply Chain, Green Managerial Awareness, Green Procurement, Green Human Resources and Green Technology), employee perspectives (5 attributes – Employee Green Awareness, Employee Green Training and Educating, Employee Environmental Behaviour, Employee Green Performance and Employee Green Reward) and customer’s perspectives (12 attributes – Customer Perception, Customer Loyalty, Customer Awareness, Customer Behaviour, Customer Trust, Green Supply Chain, Green Value, Green Marketing Strategy, Customer Perceived Value, Service Quality, Brand Image and Hotel Design). All of the attributes are aligned to the performance effectiveness as the major concern in the hotel’s operations and impacted towards the sustainability pillars, environmental performance, economic performance and social performance. Sustainable practice in organization benefits the owners towards sustainable economic, environmental, socio-cultural and legal policy.

Originality/value

This review paper provides key elements of current green practices and sustainable initiatives for the hotel’s operations, as proactive measures. The novelty of the findings is to be able to convey valuable inputs to the relevant stakeholders (hotel’s owner, consultants, designers, maintenance officers, hoteliers, staffs, customers and end-users) in perceiving the elements of green practices into the preliminary planning of the hotel’s design. The review also helps to identify practices and measures to the performance impact to the hotel’s operations.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Performance Measurement Indicators Determining the Uptake of CPS for Facilities Management

With the use of cyber-physical systems (CPS) advanced computational capabilities, the delivery of facilities management (FM) mandates are efficiently and effectively conducted. Since performance measurement is an important yardstick in ascertaining the outcome of FM approaches, this study assesses the performance measurement indicators that influence the uptake of CPS for FM functions. Using a structured questionnaire, data were collected from built environment professionals in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Data collected was analysed using a five-stage process which includes: data reliability and validity, descriptive statistics, establishing a difference in groups’ opinion, principal component analysis, and model testing and fit statistics for confirmatory factor analysis. Results from the study indicate that three significant performance indicators are influential in determining the uptake of CPS for FM, which are operations efficiency, facility adaptation, and client’s satisfaction. The study contributes immensely to the body of knowledge. It unveils the significant performance measurement indicators that would help organisations, facilities managers, and policymakers guide their decisions hinged on the espousal of innovative technologies. Furthermore, the study serves as a solid theoretical base for further studies showcasing a roadmap for digitalisation for FM functions by unravelling the significant performance measurement indicators.

A practical framework for performance measurement of facilities management services in developing countries’ public hospitals

Purpose

Facilities management (FM) plays a vital role toward creating the hospitable environment that supports the core clinical business of rendering quality health care. To ensure optimal performance of FM, public hospitals require a performance measurement (PM) framework that could guide and assist facilities managers in their operations. This paper aims to respond to this need by developing a performance measurement framework useful to improve FM performance within the context of developing countries hospital FM services delivery.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper synthesizes knowledge from a comprehensive review of FM performance measurement literature and the results of an earlier PhD research on FM performance measurement in Ghana’s public hospitals.

Findings

The paper presents a simplified performance measurement framework which demonstrates four key performance measurement tasks: establishing performance goals; measuring the FM service delivery; evaluating FM outcomes; and performance review and reporting. The study suggests the establishment of a central coordination point to enhance performance measurement activities of public hospitals’ FM practices.

Research limitations/implications

Although reference is made to research on key performance indicators (KPIs), future study is recommended to develop appropriate methodology for selecting relevant KPIs. The author also intends to pilot the framework to a health facility in Ghana to leverage its usefulness, given the fact that it has not been tested empirically.

Practical implications

The application of the framework is expected to lead to the identification of performance gaps and weakness which when acted upon could lead to operational effectiveness and efficiency of the FM process, ultimately leading to improved FM performance.

Originality/value

The paper develops a novel performance measurement framework useful within the context of the nascent FM industry in the developing world.

A performance measurement model for the housekeeping services in healthcare facilities

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to develop a customised model to measure the performance of housekeeping (HK) services in Sri Lankan health-care facilities.

Design/methodology/approach

An exploratory sequential mixed approach was adopted in the study to collect and analyse data. A case study strategy was adopted in the initial phase to explore the current HK practices, and to determine the applicable key performance indicators (KPIs) found through literature. Semi-structured interviews were used as the data collection method in the selected case studies. A questionnaire survey was conducted in the next phase to verify the validity of case study findings. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics. One sample t-test was used to identify significant KPIs and to formulate the customised performance measurement (PM) model.

Findings

The study identified and ranked 46 KPIs, which can be used to measure the performance of HK divisions of health-care facilities, in balanced scorecard perspectives. The findings also revealed that the KPIs determined using the model have a significant impact on implementing effective health-care HK services and could be used to measure both real and subjective cleanliness.

Practical implications

The developed model can be used for numerous PM requirements in health-care setups in both developing and developed countries. The KPIs determined using this model can be presented in quality audits and government inspections as proof of effective HK management. The HK managers of the health-care sector can effectively monitor the performance of their divisions using the proposed PM model and this model can be customised to match the other facilities management service divisions.

Originality/value

Many studies focus on overall health-care PM. This study expands the knowledge on HK PM in the health-care sector by presenting a collection of performance indicators centred on HK function.

FM and clinical employees' involvement in the design of eight Norwegian hospital projects

Purpose

This paper aims to gain insight in how the involvement of facilities management (FM) and clinical employees are practiced in new Norwegian hospital projects and to study the benefits and lessons learned from the involvement.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is conducted by cross-sectional case studies of eight hospital projects by using a literature review, interviews and document studies of FM and clinical employees and project leaders (PLs) among Sykehusbygg.

Findings

The service design approach with a structured interaction between the PL’s of Sykehusbygg, and the different disciplines of clinical employees and FM specialist was rewarding and efficient. The facilitator role of Sykehusbygg is essential to manage such a broad and complex involvement process using a wide range of various techniques at the different stages of the projects (dialogue meetings, review meetings, workshops, post-it notes, 2-D drawings, mock-up and 3-D models, as well as virtual reality (VR) and Building Information Modeling technology). The clinical employees’ framework is stronger and much more structured than the involvement of FM competences through the different stages of the projects. The property management competences were involved at the early concept phase and design phase, whereas the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) competences were getting involved through the construction and commissioning phase. The value of FM involvement in all stages of the project is seen beneficial, particularly when the FM specialist become a part of the design team and located physically at the same place. The main reported benefits of early FM involvement are cost-effective technical solutions and installations, less design flaws and improved functionality, as well as a stronger ownership and mutual respect between the clinical and FM disciplines. However, not all hospital organizations see the benefits of the FM involvement of all stages, as they are driven by reducing capital cost. In one of the new projects, other ways of involving the FM competences were tested. Additionally, particularly for the O&M competences, a dialogue meeting with a clear focus of sharing experiences with different technical solution was found rewarding in terms of cost benefits.

Research limitations/implications

This study does not consider the social impact of the choices made in the design phase. The findings also indicated a certain development of the FM involvement. This is not studied in two of the newest projects where they are still in the design phase and the FM role was not interviewed.

Practical implications

The PL role is important as a facilitator role of the involvement process.

Social implications

A dialogue meeting with a group of O&M people was found rewarding and valuable for knowledge sharing. This methodology can be further developed and tested, as this group of stakeholders is not always available for giving input in the project.

Originality/value

The value of this study is the description of the interaction between the PLs and the hospital organization in the eight projects and lessons learned by the involvement of FM competences and clinical employees.

Modelling the performance of waste management services in Ghana’s public hospitals

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore and establish key performance indicators that could be considered towards improving the delivery of waste management (WM) services in public hospitals.

Design/methodology/approach

An exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach was adopted for this study. This involved two phases of data collection and analysis. Specifically, interviews in selected case studies hospitals and a general questionnaire survey. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to model the relationships among the performance variables. An expanded balanced scorecard typology was used to categorize performance variables.

Findings

The results demonstrate that quality and internal business strategic indicators have a significant influence on WM performance. By implication, public hospital managers would be well advised to invest resources in improving internal business operations, learning and growths, as well as prioritizing finance in the process of managing healthcare waste.

Practical implications

The developed WM structural model can be used to identify performance indicators that can be incorporated into public hospitals’ WM strategy to improve performance leading to a decent healthcare environment.

Originality/value

The majority of studies have centered on the knowledge and practices of healthcare WM. This study extends the knowledge of healthcare WM literature from the perspective of FM performance measurement. The developed model of the study is invaluable to many developing countries that are faced with the challenge of improving WM practices.