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Facilities Change Management

Article  in  Construction Management and Economics · July 2013

DOI: 10.1080/01446193.2013.787487

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Facilities Change Management

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Hans Voordijk
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Twente University , Netherlands
Published online: 08 Apr 2013.

To cite this article: Hans Voordijk (2013) Facilities Change Management, Construction Management and Economics, 31:7,
789-791, DOI: 10.1080/01446193.2013.787487

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 Book Reviews 789

(with some adaptation) to stakeholder engagement in who are reasonably familiar with (or are involved in)
other aspects of design and construction. construction informatics research from both academia
However, the framework and the way it was devel- and industry. The many references cited throughout
oped are not without limitations. The authors’ the book will also serve as a valuable resource to the
declared aim to develop a ‘constructed and ready-to- research/academic community.
use RE method for both commercial and research-
based future developments …’ (p. 153) implies that
the intended audience for the book is both industry References
and academia. In this regard, it is not clear how
‘ready-to-use’ is the framework, since no illustrative Augenbroe, G. (2002) Integrating directions, in Turk, Z. and
example is provided on how to use the framework in Scherer, R. (eds) eWork and eBusiness in Architecture, Engi-
practice. For example, who will commission and pay neering and Construction, A.A. Balkema, London, pp. 3–8.
Blyth, A. and Worthington, J. (2010) Managing the Brief for
for such developments, given the sensible need to
Better Design, 2nd edn, Routledge, Abingdon.
involve a wide group of stakeholders in the process? If Eastman, C.M. (1999) Building Product Models: Computer
the methodology is ‘targeted at CIEs for developing Environments Supporting Design and Construction, CRC
collaborative, distributed integrated information Press, Boca Raton.
systems for multidisciplinary work environments’ Fiksel, J. and Hayes-Roth, F. (1993) Computer-aided
Downloaded by [Universiteit Twente] at 06:13 10 October 2013

(p. 205), how might the different perspectives be requirements management. Concurrent Engineering:
incorporated in this process? Another aspect of the Research and Applications, 1, 83–92.
framework’s limitation is that no commercial software Howard, H.C., Lewitt, R.E., Paulson, B.C., Pohl, J.G. and
products were evaluated as part of the study; all the Tatum, C.B. (1989) Computer integration: reducing
case studies used are research-based prototypes, which fragmentation in AEC industry. Journal of Computing in
were not software development projects per se, but Civil Engineering, 3(1), 18–32.
Royal Institution of British Architects (RIBA) (2008) Plan
academic research projects that resulted in (mostly
of Work: Multi-Disciplinary Services, RIBA, London.
‘proof-of-concept’) software prototypes. The critique Turk, Z. (2006) Construction informatics: definition and
of these systems (e.g. their focus on technology rather ontology. Advanced Engineering Informatics, 20, 187–99.
than on users in some cases) is therefore rather unfair. Turk, Z. and Scherer, R. (eds) (2002) eWork and eBusiness in
It would have been helpful if commercial CIE systems Architecture, Engineering and Construction, A.A. Balkema,
that started out as research projects (e.g. ADePT London.
Design Software Suite: http://bit.ly/10TjdnM; Project Zave, P. (1995) Classification of research efforts in require-
Extranets, etc.) were considered in the evaluation of ments engineering, in Proceedings of the IEEE International
existing CIE systems. Furthermore the justification for Conference on Requirements Engineering, 27–29 March,
the need for CIE appears to suggest that the lack of York, UK, IEEE Computer Society Press, pp. 214–16.
uptake of CIE systems in construction is due to the
lack of effective RE in the development process. This JOHN M. KAMARA
fails to recognize that other factors which relate to risk Newcastle University, UK
associated with the unreliability of technology, con- Ó 2013, John M. Kamara
tractual liabilities (e.g. with respect to ownership of http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2013.787489
shared building models), etc. also contribute to the
lack of uptake of new software systems in construction.
Admittedly, since the book is the outworking of a PhD Facilities Change Management
(doctoral) thesis (and some of the writing style and Edward Finch (ed.), Wiley-Blackwell, London, 2011
organization still reflects this), one would expect its 218 pp, ISBN 978 1 4051 5346 1, £44.99
achievements to be limited in scope; the above limita-
tions should therefore be viewed from that perspective. In various Western countries there is a need for inte-
Overall, I strongly recommend this book, as it repre- grated management of real estate (property assets)
sents a unique attempt to clearly describe a process for and facilities management (supporting services) in
developing user-centred systems for computer inte- which current and future demands within an organi-
grated environments in construction. The potential zation are met from the viewpoints of the asset owner
application of the framework beyond the discipline of and the asset user: the investor and the operator
requirements engineering into wider stakeholder/user- (Alexander, 2003). A result of this development is
centred activities in construction is an added benefit of that the worlds of facilities management (FM) and
the book. The £79.50 price tag is in line with similar real estate have begun to converge.
research-based books. It thus represents good value for This integrated approach of FM is also the first
money and will especially be a real benefit to those interesting starting point of the study by Finch.
 790 Book Reviews

Following Williams (1996), the scope of FM includes improve FM strategies, it is critical to take a holistic
here premises or real estate (so-called hard FM), view and integrate the cost, design and process foci in
support services (soft FM), and information technol- order to address future challenges. Secondly, facilities
ogy. Hard FM is divided into three areas of activity: have to add value for a wide variety of stakeholders.
property, projects and operations. Property encom- Therefore, integrated FM strategies have to be
passes all activities involved in procurement and developed in collaboration with users, clients, facility
disposal of property assets and the development of a managers and other relevant stakeholders. Decision-
property portfolio that meets the needs of an organi- making tools are needed to identify trade-offs between
zation. Projects range from the movement of staff or impacts of facilities change for the stakeholders
departments to the design and construction of new involved. Third, to achieve sustainable buildings, it is
buildings. Operations in hard FM are related to the vital to adopt a lifecycle perspective when designing
day-to-day activities including cleaning, security and buildings. Sustainable buildings require lifetime plan-
maintenance of premises. Operations in hard FM are ning, considering not only initial building investment
interrelated with supporting services in soft FM. costs but also lifecycle costs. This requires FM com-
A second even more interesting starting point of petences to be involved in the design, planning and
this study is the focus on the process of sense making construction processes.
or, in Finch’s terms, understanding the nature of At the heart of this demand for integration in FM
Downloaded by [Universiteit Twente] at 06:13 10 October 2013

change. According to Finch, it is important to con- lies nowadays the ‘sustainability challenge’. Integrated
sider physical change because this type of change FM strategies have to be developed by considering
‘inevitably accompanies the change of “minds”’ the entire lifecycle, thus addressing sustainability
(p. 1). Physical change takes place in the form of requirements. Existing FM strategies are very
workplace designs and procurement of new buildings. fragmented. Current approaches used to optimize FM
It is assumed that ‘a transformation in what we see, are mostly ‘single solutions’ for design, construction
touch and experience is the only kind of change peo- or operation of buildings. When reading Finch’s study
ple within an organisation are likely to understand on facilities change management, it still remains
and internalise’ (p. 1). The context of how firms’ unclear what integrated FM strategies are and along
facilities management teams achieve such transforma- which dimensions integration has to take place. Dif-
tions in a complex environment is analysed from the ferent concepts and models are introduced for the dif-
perspective of the change management model of ferent stages of a facilities change management
Mintzberg and Westley (1992). process model. The model (p. 13) shows that these
In this review, the aim is to find out how and to stages are related to each other but through this
what extent the integrated approach of FM and the study, the focus of the concepts and models discussed
sense making concept are elaborated on in the study is predominantly on the different stages and not on
by Finch. The integrated approach to FM is dis- the integration between these stages.
cussed first, followed by a discussion on sense making A number of interesting examples are, however,
in relation to facilities change management. mentioned where a start is made with developing an
Integrated and robust FM strategies are aimed at integrated facilities change management strategy. In
both aligning building design to the needs of the cur- Chapter 7, Ornstein and Andrade discuss how to
rent core business as well as providing the flexibility integrate design, cost and process foci in the pre-
required to meet uncertain future demands and facili- design evaluation stage. They show how to integrate
tate long-term trends. Alexander (2003) has already physical designs, users’ needs, and financial issues
emphasized that organizations have to form FM strat- when an organization wants to construct a new build-
egies to cope with increasing competition, complexity ing or to select an existing one. In Chapter 9, Vischer
and uncertainties. In other words, to cope with these develops a consensus matrix as a way to align priori-
challenges developing integrated FM strategies is ties of different stakeholders involved in the process
highly needed. As stated by the European Committee of workplace change. In Chapter 3, Pinder et al. relate
for Standardization (CEN) (and followed by Finch) sustainability requirements to different types of adapt-
FM is defined as ‘the integration of processes within ability and flexibility and the lifecycle of a building.
an organization to maintain and develop the agreed Sustainability is also mentioned by Dettwiler (p. 48)
services which support and improve the effectiveness as one of the five factors influencing the needs of dif-
of its primary activities’ (p. 8). ferent stakeholders involved in FM. According to
Integrated FM strategies require integration of Smith and Love (p. 86) sustainability is one of the
different aspects on different levels. First, integrated five significant performance criteria of buildings to be
FM strategies are needed to develop cost efficient, considered in the early stages of a project when strate-
functional, adaptable and sustainable facilities. To gic decisions are made.
 Book Reviews 791

A first conclusion is that in Finch’s study, for cer- As mentioned before, a number of interesting FM
tain elements of FM a start is made with the develop- concepts and models are introduced by Finch.
ment of an integrated facilities change management However, arguments FM practitioners use to choose
strategy but integration and the sustainability chal- certain facilities change management strategies, and
lenge are still not at the heart of the debate. how FM concepts fit within practice are not investi-
The focus of sense making or understanding the gated. No insights are provided on reasons mentioned
nature of facilities change management is a second by FM practitioners regarding conditions for applying
very interesting starting point for Finch. The sense certain FM concepts in certain contexts. Insights into
making concept of Karl Weick (1995) is a potentially these conditions are needed to create heuristics and
useful approach in researching how practitioners make make approaches in facilities change management
sense of FM. In the context of FM, sense making is applicable to practice. Consequently heuristics can be
the process needed to turn awareness of needed FM developed to be used by other practitioners. In terms
strategies into concrete FM strategies, and ‘involves of Flyvbjerg (2001) we are searching for techne and
turning circumstances into a situation that is compre- phronetic knowledge on integrated facilities change
hended explicitly in words and that serves as a spring- management. This knowledge is closely related to
board into action’ (Weick et al., 2005, p. 409). Sense praxis and cannot be encapsulated by universal rules:
making appears in four forms: belief driven, divided it is pragmatic, variable, context-dependent, and ori-
Downloaded by [Universiteit Twente] at 06:13 10 October 2013

into arguing and expecting, and action driven, divided ented towards action.
into committing and manipulation (Weick, 1995). Sense making is a very promising concept for analys-
Arguing might result in sense making since FM ing facility managers and other stakeholders and their
managers and other stakeholders then challenge each practices in relation to existing structures and efforts to
other with their beliefs and in that way clarify new change these structures. It is interesting to find out
ideas: ‘Organisations evolve shared models in the way how external uncertainties of firms, such as long-term
they interpret reality and learn’ (p. 8). Beliefs can also developments in governmental policies, as well as more
be embedded in expectations that guide interpretations short-term developments inside organizations and
of certain past events or decisions taken. Sense mak- characteristics of FM decision makers influence
ing as committing starts with action for which the per- decision making on facilities change management.
son is responsible. Action that makes a visible change Finch made a very interesting start with this
in facilities management requires explanation and jus- analysis but still a lot has to be done.
tification, in Weick’s (1995) terms, manipulation.
Approaches, concepts and models in the field of facili-
ties change management are means to create concrete
actions and to justify them. References
Based on Mintzberg and Westley (1992), Finch
also starts with a very interesting framework contain- Alexander, K. (2003) A strategy for facilities management.
ing elements of change. As in Weick’s study, in this Facilities, 21(11/12), 269–74.
framework a difference is made between the abstract Flyvbjerg, B. (2001) Making Social Science Matter: Why
Social Inquiry Fails and How It Can Succeed Again,
thinking level (‘belief driven’) and the concrete doing
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
level (‘action driven’) of change. Using the contextual Mintzberg, H. and Westley, F. (1992) Cycles of organiza-
model of Mintberg and Westley, ‘change is seen as tional change. Strategic Management Journal, 13(S2),
taking place form the broadest conceptual level (i.e. 39–59.
in the minds of organisational thinkers) to the most Weick, K.E. (1995) Sensemaking in Organizations, Sage,
concrete and tangible level (facilities and people)’ Thousand Oaks, CA/London.
(p. 6). Using this view of change, it would be interest- Weick, K.E., Sutcliffe, K.M. and Obstfeld, D. (2005)
ing to analyse how FM decision makers reason from Organizing and the process of sensemaking. Organization
belief to action or in terms of the framework: how Science, 16(4), 409–21.
does change move from the abstract thinking to the Williams, B. (1996) Cost-effective facilities management: a
concrete doing level? What type of reasoning takes practical approach. Facilities, 14(5/6), 26–38.
place among FM decision makers in practice and how
does this reasoning enhance sense making on actions HANS VOORDIJK
for changes in FM? From these findings, heuristics Twente University, Netherlands
could be derived which could be presented in a struc- Ó 2013, Hans Voordijk
tured way to FM decision makers. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2013.787487

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