Purpose Literature established that applicable parameters must be used in determining facilities management (FM) performance in any market; otherwise, findings could be confusing and misleading. This is particularly relevant to Nigeria where FM application is in its infancy and seriously constrained by particular socio-economic conditions which make it prone to crises situations such as frequent power outages and surges, abundance of fake and adulterated construction materials and equipment, heavy presence of unqualified artisans, poor transparency and terribly chaotic and unpredictable traffic to mention a few. Hence, this research aims to identify contextual parameters for evaluating performance of FM service in office buildings in Lagos, reflecting these peculiarities. Design/methodology/approach The research adopts survey design, using self-administered questionnaires that were served on building occupants. Means and standard deviation were used in the analyses. Factor analysis was used in identifying the important factors or constructs and to confirm the practical significance of the measures. Findings The study developed a multi-item scale of 41 measures for evaluating performance of facilities managers in offices in Lagos, Nigeria. The scale comprises three major dimensions, i.e. “financial”, “quality of service” and “crises response and management”. Using factor analysis, the study identified five important factors, two of which (comprising ten new measures) have not been featured in previous studies. Practical implications The developed performance measurement scales (PMS) can be applied to FM performance evaluation, management and control in the Nigerian context. The PMS and identified factors would also aid FM policy formulation, resource allocation and facilities review. Originality/value The research is considered the first to develop a PMS for FM in office facilities in Lagos, Nigeria. The new factors and measures that were uncovered in the study makes it possible to evaluate the Nigerian facility manager’s ability to manage the near-crises challenges imposed by the peculiar socio-economic context. Furthermore, the scale adopts simplistic financial success criteria, which makes it relevant and easy to use for the poor financial record disclosing and research-averse Nigerian audience. It is also more relevant to the less strategic and more operational task-based Nigerian FM context and by extension, to the context of other developing countries with similar socio-economic features.

Purpose – The paper aims to examine benchmarking challenges among Nigerian Facilities management (FM) practitioners. Design/methodology/approach – Data collection was through self-administered questionnaires sent to 120 FM organizations in Lagos metropolis, 50 in Abuja and 15 in Port Harcourt. Also, interviews were conducted on six facilities managers to ascertain challenges faced by organizations that use best practice benchmarking. The survey achieved a total response rate of 74 per cent in Lagos, 66 per cent in Abuja and 93 per cent in Port Harcourt, respectively. Grand mean scores and relative importance index were used to ascertain ranking of the challenges. One-way analysis of variance and t-test were used to establish whether organizations’ characteristics bring about significant differences in the types of benchmarking challenges encountered. Findings – Overall, the top four challenges of benchmarking were “unwillingness of employees to change”, “inadequate understanding of the exercise of benchmarking”, “inadequate access to data from other organizations” and “poor execution of-the benchmarking exercise”. Also, FM organization location result in a significant difference in benchmarking challenges. Practical implications – The implication of the study is that it will assist in identifying impediments to benchmarking and barriers faced during benchmarking and, thus, enable recommendations to be made to minimize such challenges. Originality/value – There are limited empirical studies on the problems of benchmarking in developing countries.

Purpose -This paper aims to examine common environmental practices and strategies for implementing sustainable FM among Nigerian FM practitioners. Design/methodology/approach -A review of the literature on sustainability and environmental management was undertaken. Data collection was through self-administered questionnaires directed to a sample of 150 facilities managers who are members of the International Facility Management Association (Nigeria Group), Lagos, Nigeria. Structured interviews with five top facilities management professionals were also conducted. The data collected were analyzed using frequency counts, means, z-test, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and relative importance index. The survey achieved a response rate of 30 percent. Findings -The survey revealed that many of the practitioners put a premium on achieving energy efficiency as a very vital environmental practice within their organizations. A strategic management procedure is more important for the implementation of environmental management in the Nigerian FM industry. Originality/value -There is a paucity of literature in sustainability within facilities management in Nigeria. An integration of sustainability considerations into FM practice is required to promote the development of suitable environmental initiatives and practices within Nigerian cities, as many facilities managers are employed by companies whose activities harm the environment.

There are noticeable gaps in aspects of Nigerian facilities management (FM) education and practice. Predicated by its relative infancy, one area where this gap is more apparent is in the measurement of performance. This paper is a systematic review of at least 22 performance measurement (PM) tools and concepts that are known and in use for assessment of performance of buildings / facilities and or performance of FM as a management process. Based on the literature, the research examined the essential features, strengths and weaknesses of each method generally and their specific applicability to the Nigerian environment, in view of her peculiarities as a developing nation. It also discusses the required attributes of a PM tool that will be applicable to FM in Nigeria. A major contribution of the study is the development of a table that presents a summary of the information on the tools or concepts at a glance. The paper is an extract from an ongoing PhD research; although it does not include details of the empirical survey, it nevertheless provides background work for a possible attempt at developing a PM tool that will be contextual and applicable to the measurement of building performance and effectiveness of facilities managers in the Nigerian FM practice and by extension, to most parts of the developing world.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine benchmarking barriers among Nigerian facilities management (FM) practitioners. Design/methodology/approach Data collection were through semi-structured interviews with 34 FM heads from three selected cities in Nigeria. Out of this number, 16 were from Lagos, ten from Abuja while eight managers were from Port Harcourt, respectively. These managers were selected using purposive sampling based on their experience in the field of FM across the various sectors of the economy. The interviews were analysed with Nvivo 10 software qualitative computer software. Findings Those that do informal benchmarking face challenges with data, employees lack of confidence in new initiatives and poor support of senior management, the companies that use best practice benchmarking face constraints of access to information and employees unwillingness to change and comply to company set standards, unwillingness of benchmarking partners to understand the usefulness of the project, and problems that emanate from the quality of data obtained. Practical implications The results therefore suggest that to improve the practice of best practice benchmarking there is need to improve both quantity and quality of data for the exercise and enhance standard practice. Originality/value The study established a new category of benchmarking barriers called the market category of benchmarking barriers and further distinguished benchmarking barriers based on two forms of benchmarking which is informal and formal benchmarking. Also there are limited studies on benchmarking barriers in developing countries.