Understanding Facilities Management Practices to Improve Building Performance: The opportunity and challenge of the facilities management industry over the world

Hoxha²,

2021

Purpose While facilities management (FM) in Kosovo is a constantly growing discipline, the studies so far in Kosovo have been scarce and too general. The purpose of the paper is to discuss the current situation of FM in Kosovo, identify challenges and recommend new future development directions of the sector with regard to capabilities of facility managers, integration of technology in FM and FM standardization.Design/methodology/approach The present study uses qualitative method by using semi-structured interviews with purposive sample of 20 FM professionals with experience of more than 15 years that cover public, private sector and international organizations.Findings The present study finds that FM in Kosovo is in its infancy stage, and it is mainly perceived as maintenance and cleaning with the low level of outsourcing. Generally, it was agreed that FM industry in Kosovo faces several challenges such as lack of budget, resources and staff; inappropriate FM planning; absence of uniform KPIs and low sensitivity of FM to sustainability. The study finally finds that FM in Kosovo can be enhanced only through integration of novel technologies, development of adaptive capability of facility managers and adequate FM standardization.Research limitations/implications The present study helps researchers and practitioners to understand the current situation of FM in Kosovo in terms of planning, outsourcing and primary purpose of FM in Kosovo. The study also provides an overview of challenges of FM in Kosovo, which can be used by researchers and practitioners to identify future development directions for the sector and profession.Originality/value The study contributes to the current knowledge about the state of development of FM in transitional countries such as Kosovo. The findings will identify future development areas of FM in Kosovo especially with regard to capability and skills of FM professionals and integration of technology in FM, which can be used by other countries facing the same perceptional and developmental challenges in FM.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current situation, challenges and future development directions of facilities management in Kosovo

Hoxha²,

2021

“…In [38], the authors allege that the implementation of FM in South Africa is still plagued with barriers and relatively few studies have been conducted to analyze factors affecting FM. In [39], FM in developing countries in Asia was described as being at an infancy stage in comparison to developed countries. The authors summarized the lag behind as being due to monetary issues, knowledge, and awareness as well as lack of policies to guide FM implementations [39].…”

Section: Standalone Implementation Of Lc Bim and Fmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimized Integration of Lean Construction, Building Information Modeling, and Facilities Management in Developing Countries: A Case of Qatar

Musharavati

2023

Buildings

Over the past decades, the construction industry has benefited from implementing Lean Construction (LC) principles, extensive usage of Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools, and application of advanced Facilities Management (FM) theories as standalone packages. Recently, integrated applications of LC, BIM, and FM have attracted a lot of attention. While progress has been made, few researchers have attempted to develop a method for optimizing integrated applications of LC, BIM, and FM in developing countries. In addition, relatively little is known about the hindrances and challenges in integrating LC, BIM, and FM at various levels of inquiry. The current study contributes to these gaps by examining the challenges that hinder developing countries from adopting integrated applications of LC, BIM, and FM. Qatar, a rapidly developing economy, was used as a case illustration. In the present study, drivers for enabling optimized integration of LC, BIM, and FM were identified. A closed-ended survey was conducted to investigate and understand contextual and organizational factors that hinder the integration of LC, BIM, and FM at three levels of inquiry. Findings displayed that lack of communication skills, language barriers, and inappropriate training provided to low-level skilled workers were the most prominent hindrances. To this end, an integrated communication and collaborative environment for bridging the communication gap was outlined. Furthermore, the wide disparity in the levels of awareness, readiness, and implementation of LC, BIM, and FM across construction companies was identified as a major challenge in deploying and disseminating succinct knowledge on how to optimize the integration of LC, BIM, and FM. To resolve challenges, an integrated collaborative platform for disseminating differentiated knowledge and information on how to seamlessly integrate LC, BIM, and FM was developed. This integrated collaborative platform can be used by authorities to monitor progress and productivity in the construction industry. The significance of this study lies in providing a basis for organizations that intend to implement LC, BIM, and FM in an integrated manner.

“…Redlein and Zobl (2014) revealed that FM in European countries plays a very effective role in reducing costs. Sari (2018) and Potkány et al (2021) emphasize that there is a fundamental difference between the development of FM in Western European and Central European countries. The high level of competition in complex economic systems encourages the development of both FM culture and the market.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development trends and current status of facility management and professionalization of facility services in Turkey

Keskin

Tanrıvermiş

Salaj

2023

Purpose Facility management (FM) is picking up steam in Turkey. However, delays in creating standards and adopting FM as a profession by corporate and public institutions led to an unusual predicament, unlike in Europe and the USA. The purpose of this study is to take an inductive and constructivist approach to explore the extent of maturity in the FM industry within Turkey. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative understanding of the complexity of the Turkish FM sector drives the design used in the study. All data has been collected through an in-depth interview and semi-structured questionnaire with FM stakeholders. Findings The findings revealed the perceptions of stakeholders working in various businesses and research institutions in Turkey, including FM organizations, supply markets and educational institutions, regarding the key challenges and opportunities in the business environment. Practical implications The trend on Turkish FM revealed a slow growth in FM professionalization, which needs the authority’s attention as the professionalization reduces the unemployment rate, reduces cost and enhances the life cycle of the physical property. Originality/value This is the first study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, on Turkish FM that provides comprehensive studies on Turkish FM professionalization trends to draw the attention of policymakers to the need to enact policies that would improve FM professionalism.