Examination of the relationship between organisational and facility management strategy and value added

Facility Management (FM) is a profession in which facility managers are employed to manage a diverse set of services, personnel, and built environments to accomplish organisational goals. The findings of this study showed that many organisations are focusing on achieving strategic goals and objectives without considering FM as a supportive function of the whole strategic plan. It is generally recognised that the stakeholders who are involved with the organisation should examine that there is a misalignment between FM and strategic management, and the associate need to minimise this misalignment with the contribution of facility management and strategy professionals. The aim of this research was to develop an alignment model in order to examine how value was added by FM services and how they can enable organisational effectiveness through perceiving business needs. Four objectives were set for the study: to examine the phenomenon of Facility Management in relation to alignment as a contributor to the organisations’ aim and objectives. This was to assess the role and position of FM and explore some of the challenges and dilemmas occurring within their organisational environment, to explore and analyse the complexities of FM processes and assets in various types of organisations, and finally to develop and validate an alignment model for evaluating the value added through the alignment between FM and the organisation. The methodology adopted for this research included a combination of literature review, three case studies (with semi-structured interviews) and a web-based questionnaire (WBS), This was in order to identify the alignment between FM and organisation. More specifically, the FM literature review evaluated some classification frameworks of various organisational models presenting an in-depth analysis. The associated web-based questionnaire was designed and circulated among facility managers from different organisations. The total numbers of respondents of the WBS was 60. In addition, data was collected from three semistructured interviews with associated decision makers. Three case studies were selected from different types of organisations based in the Middle East. The findings of the research revealed that there is a misalignment that exists in the organisation with the lack of acceptance of the facility management role in the strategic level of the organisation. This research has contributed to the existing body of knowledge on FM by identifying the misalignment between FM and organisation and the FM added value into the organisation. This thesis has contributed to knowledge in this field through its explanation of the background of the alignment models in relation with the organisational models. It has also contributed to synthesis of the organisation models with the FM alignment variables. A synthesis of the organisation models and the alignment variables revealed that most organisation models utilised the variable supply and demand, the management by agent utilised the organisation variable, and the FM-in house utilised the FM resource alignment variable. The findings of this research helped to develop a value added alignment model (VAAM) for the achievement of alignment in the organisation. This was done through the facility manager’s role which supported the development of the strategic plan in the organisation. Moreover, the alignment model also revealed outcomes that can enable the FM’s role in the strategic management, and this included awareness of the FM’s role in the organisation among executive management. Finally, this study draws the conclusion, that in order for the developed alignment model to work facility managers need to be involved in all the strategy phases of the organisation