An important challenge for facility management is to integrate the complex and comprehensive construct of different service processes and physical elements of the service facility into a meaningful and functional facility design. The difficulty of this task is clearly indicated by the present study that shows that different employee categories for interpersonal services have quite different perceptions of the facility design that stem from different but coherent needs and interests. Employees with management perspectives (i.e. top managers and facility managers) were significantly more positive about the facility design than frontline employees and their supervisors with providers’ perspectives. Also, providers attributed a more important role to facility design with respect to delivering interpersonal services than management did. We found strong indications for the need for cross-functional cooperation in decision making about the facility design, creating a more balanced setting and possibly empowering providers for the service encounter.
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Societal developments show that future demands for visualization can be expected to grow. In many areas of organized human activities organizations may turn away from textual and numerical flatlands, and rely on the convenient and multidimensional digital worlds. Virtual worlds for facility management, design, and planning are no exception, it has an enormous potential to help organizations finding the right spaces that fit the human activities they perform. However, a major take-up of virtual worlds in this context allowing a comparison between present and future, is yet to come. Perhaps such applications, interweaving virtual and real worlds in order to design better facilities are at its beginning stages. One thing is clear: sophisticated applications may have remained absent until today, but it will come to us. Digital worlds start to normalize and the design of organizational spaces can benefit from that development. In this current article the effects of the proposed integrationof visualization with facilities were studied in a case study design. It was assessed whether the participants would actually change the design, without data on the organizational performance, and to what extent this affected staff satisfaction. This study however showed no design changes and no statistically significant changes in the affective responses ofparticipants between pre-test and post-test stages. However, in this current case the sample size may have been too small for generalization purposes. The connection of virtualworlds with organizational data, which were not applied in this current case but were in fact applied in our earlier studies, may be vital for the efficacy of interactive facility management, design, and planning. It is concluded that data on organizational performance serve as a linking pin between facility management and virtual worlds. Interaction can thus be improved by using organizational data as ‘subtitles’ which stimulate a more active use of the visualization.
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Purpose– The present paper aims to explore to what extent the quality of facility services can be related to the differences in educational achievements in higher education.Design/methodology/approach - This paper is based on the first preliminary analyses of a national online survey among 1,752 lecturers of 18 Dutch Universities of Applied Sciences. Via explorative desk research, additional data were gathered regarding the educational achievements, size and religious identity of the institutions. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regressionwere used to test the propositions.Findings – The results seem to indicate that the perceived quality of facility services that are education-related and provide personal comfort to teachers have a positive relationship with study success. Layout, fitting out, and general facility services show no statistically significant relationship with study success, whereas (traditional) workplaces have a negative relationship. Also, we found that the size of the education institution strongly negatively relates to studysuccess, and institutions with a Christian identity outperform non-Christian institutions.Practical implications– These preliminary research findings suggest that a prime consideration in learning space design is the facilitation of social interaction, creating a (virtual) small-scale learning environment in large institutions.Originality/value - This paper suggests that facility services can assist the quality of higher education.
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Background and aim ʹ Many countries signed the Paris Agreement to mitigate global average temperature rise. In this context, Dutch government decided to realize a reduction of 50% using resources and raw materials in 2030. This paper explores how practice-based research into facility operations can contribute to this aim. Methods / Methodology ʹ Practice-based research which includes direct observations, desk research, and participatory action research. Results ʹ This explorative research presents principles and suggestions for facility managers and procurement managers on how they can embed sustainable materials management in the organisation and how to take control of waste. The proposed suggestions are derived from practice-based research and presented as topics of attention for facility professionals. Originality ʹ Within education of Dutch universities of applied sciences and daily professional facility practices, the phenomenon of materials management is underexposed. To contribute to the national and international climate objectives, (future) facility professionals need better support to reduce waste. Bachelor students were involved throughout this research. This approach gave refreshing insights into waste at the end of the supply chain (control separation units) that can improve informed decisionmaking at the beginning of the supply chain. Practical or social implications ʹ Facility management professionals have an important role to play in the mitigation of global average temperature rise, because of their leading role in procurement, service operations, and materials management. However, they struggle to find sustainable solutions. This paper seeks to inspire professionals with interventions that have proven effectiveness on the reduction of waste. Type of paper ʹ Short research paper.
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This paper aims to explain the influence of facility design on urban quality of life from an educational perspective. The outcome of this paper is to determine the influence of facility management (FM) on the quality of life of citizens in the city of The Hague by actively using a facility design to positively influence the livability.
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Professionals hebben naast onderzoekende ook ontwerpende vermogens nodig, ook diegene die geen designer zijn. Maar ontwerpenvaardigheden worden nog onvoldoende ontwikkeld in hoger onderwijs. Design research is een vorm van onderzoek waarbij ontwerpen een legitiem onderdeel is van het onderzoek en in deze boekbijdrage wordt een onderzoek (applied design research) besproken waarbij design research wordt ingebed in de onderwijspraktijk, samen met docenten.
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Deze publicatie is als volgt opgebouwd. In hoofdstuk 1 wordt het onderwerp ingeleid en wordt uitgelegd hoe deze publicatie tot stand is gekomen. In hoofdstuk 2 wordt een impressie gegeven van de verschillen en overeenkomsten tussen de ateliers. In hoofdstuk 3 gaat Mathijs Rutten, directeur Facility Management, in op de vraag wat er nodig is om al die ateliers ook echt een plekje te geven in de gebouwen van de hogeschool. Daarna komt in hoofdstuk 4 Siebren Baars aan het woord. Hij is - naast zijn functie als docent-onderzoeker - een ervaren architect die verschillende schoolgebouwen heeft ontwikkeld. Hij gaat in op rol die de fysieke onderwijsomgeving van gebouwen ateliers speelt in het onderwijs. De 31 ateliers zijn beschreven in hoofdstuk 5 en worden voorafgegaan door een inleiding van Frank Scholten. In hoofdstuk 6 beschrijven Roelien Wierda en Ron Barendsen hun ervaringen tijdens de ontwikkeling van het InnovationLab. Tenslotte gaat Gerry Geitz in hoofdstuk 7 in op de relatie tussen ateliers en Design Based Education
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Most people live in cities and work in offices, two contexts offering many lifestyle-related and environmental health risks. To advance their health, an analogy between urban design and facility design is introduced to explore whether health-directed design interventions in cities and facilities are related and to look for applicable cross-overs and opportunities to develop the facility management (FM) profession on the urban level.The principles of abductive reasoning as a first phase of scientific investigation were followed, by introducing a new idea and attentively observing phenomena in the communities of facility management and urban design. The method was desk research, in the context of discovery.Many possible cross-overs exist which offer opportunities for urban planners and facility managers to reinforce each other, and interesting market opportunities for the further development of urban FM. However, more systematic research is needed on efficacious and effective interventions. Furthermore, experiences and capacities of the FM sector should be unlocked and applied within a city context, as the knowledge and experiences of facility managers and urban planners can create synergy.The findings are directly applicable to facility and urban design practices, and to FM education by involving students in city design practices.Cross-overs between facilities and cities are new and can inspire both facility managers and urban planners to work together more closely for the benefit of citizens and employees.
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Purpose - This paper aims to explain the influence of facility design on urban quality of life from the perspective of students' research. The outcome of this paper is to determine the influence of facility management (FM) on the quality of life to citizens in the city of The Hague by actively using facility design to positively influence the liveability. Methodology - This current explorative study has been qualitative in nature, including desk research, literature study in relation to urban environment, walk through, observations and interviews with local residents and officials from the local government. This paper indicates how urban FM is defined based on the student perspective. Findings - More than 2000 FM students of The Hague University of Applied Sciences have been conducting research on urban facility management over the last 15 years. This educational module have provided data on changes at neighbourhood level resulting in numerous small-scale improvements initiated by the department of Urban Development, Housing, Sustainability and Culture of The Hague. Intended impact - A better understanding of urban facility management and integration of people, places and processes within the urban environment, improving liveability in neighbourhoods and an entrance into global citizenship for young professionals. This study will support The Hague University of Applied Sciences in the evolving field of urban FM. It provides the school of Facility Management with the opportunity to perform additional research in order to deliver evidence to society on the influence and impact of urban FM.
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Purpose - This paper aims to establish the profile of an excellent facility manager in The Netherlands.Design/methodology/approach − As part of a large-scale study on profiles of excellent professionals, a study was carried out to find the key characteristics of an excellent facility manager. Three panel sessions were held in different regions of The Netherlands. Sixteen facility management (FM) professionals with various work experiences participated in the conversations, led by a non-FM moderator. All material was recorded, transcribed, and labelled independently by three assessors. The concept profile that was derived from these analyses was administered in a survey twice to FM experts following a Delphi method.Findings – Outcomes suggest a combination of the following five characteristics defines an excellent facility manager: he or she (1) possesses communication skills; (2) acts results-oriented; (3) is entrepreneurial; (4) is sensitive to the needs of the organisation; (5) demonstrates personal leadership.Paper_Profile Excellent Facility ManagerAll characteristics were consistent with the nine FM Bachelor competencies of the Dutch standard (LOOFD). However, regarding the fifth domain (personal leadership), the observed profile of an excellent FM professional seems more challenging than the Dutch Bachelor standard.Practical implications − The observed profile can be used to further strengthen the Dutch (Honours) Bachelor Programmes in FM. Exploring international (dis)similarities, possibly leading to an international profile of an excellent facility manager, is a future ambition.Originality/Value − This study describes the systematic design of a research-based profile of an excellent FM professional from a practice point of view.
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