Citation
Tucker, M. (2007), "FM research: sophistication and development", Journal of Facilities Management, Vol. 5 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/jfm.2007.30805daa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
FM research: sophistication and development
FM research: sophistication and development
Within the competitive information age of property management, facilities management (FM) continues to serve a greater, integrative need. Parallel to this is the ongoing desire to provide cutting edge research in order to effectively apply such need, and it is to this final issue in the volume, that the research success and development in FM is acknowledged.
Themes of innovation, health facilities, and service quality and performance continue throughout the issue. Firstly from Hinks et al., where it is clear that there are still concerns about FM's future progress and sustainability, as they explore the nature of how FM is leading and managing innovation and innovativeness paradigmatically by drawing on key comparisons with military experiences. This intriguing military comparison emphasises the role of innovation in FM, and is neatly followed by Spencer and Hinks' examination of service quality in the form of the significance of cognitive dissonance and consumers' zones of tolerance within an acute hospital.
We then move to one of the pioneers of FM theory, Franklin Becker, as Becker and Parsons provide an insight into the enlightening research being conducted at Cornell University on health facilities, focusing on evidence-based design in hospital facility planning, which emphasises how the integral components of learning and growth can be practically achieved. Inter-linked is the work of Whitehead et al., where hospital facilities provide a case study to direct their attention to customer and staff satisfaction with the cleanliness of hospital facilities, and provides yet another layer to the increasing research within FM on perception and behavioural studies. To this, the volume is concluded by the work of the Centre for Facilities Management in Salford, as Qi Moss et al. deliver a good practice example in performance management through action research, implementing a new performance management system for a leading central government department.
Each paper exemplifies the sophisticated nature of contemporary FM research, illustrating the diversity and alternative methods of embracing innovative practices to ensure FM continues at the forefront of property management delivery.
Matthew Tucker