Real estate management : incentives for effort

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to examine how the real estate owner (decision maker) can ensure that the preferred tasks are prioritised. In particular, the incentives to ensure motivation to perform to accomplish the strategic goals of the decision maker are investigated. Design/methodology/approach: This research is based on an interview study of 19 firm representatives, 6 decision makers and 13 management representatives, all from the Swedish commercial real estate sector. Findings: The study concludes that the real estate management organisation in the outsourced management setting is governed by the contract, in detail constituting work tasks, and in the in-house management setting, there is freedom with responsibilities instead of regulations. Research limitations/implications: The research in this paper is limited to Swedish commercial real estate sector. Practical implications: The insight in the paper regarding how decision makers create incentives for the real estate management organisation in the different organisational settings can provide inspiration to design incentives for effort. Originality/value: It provides an insight regarding how the industry, depending on organisation setting, prioritise different work tasks and how incentives are created to enable effort