If Price, Fides Matzdorf, Louise Smith and Helen Agahi
Despite rhetoric of added value, facilities management suffers a dearth of objectively researched, publicly available information concerning the impact of facilities on businesses…
Abstract
Despite rhetoric of added value, facilities management suffers a dearth of objectively researched, publicly available information concerning the impact of facilities on businesses at the level of market sectors or individual organisations. This paper aims to correct that situation for UK higher education institutions. A survey of undergraduates starting university in 2001 has confirmed, to high levels of significance, earlier research with the 2000 intake. For many institutions, facilities factors, where provided to a high standard, are perceived as having an important influence on students’ choice of institution. Year‐on‐year comparisons show strong agreement at the global level and, where data could be gathered, at the institutional level. Individual institutions show marked differences, significant at levels of confidence of over 95 per cent. A comparison of “reputational pull” and “facilities pull” is suggested as a means of differentiating the “brand” of different institutions.
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Fides Matzdorf, If Price and Mike Green
Organizational learning is seen as a source of competitive advantage in modern business, but in many organizations it is difficult to nurture and encourage. This paper discusses…
Abstract
Organizational learning is seen as a source of competitive advantage in modern business, but in many organizations it is difficult to nurture and encourage. This paper discusses barriers to organizational learning, with a focus on professionals and professionalism. It derives from a research project which investigated organizational learning across the chartered surveying profession in the UK. Barriers identified include: an emphasis on individual learning; “learning‐equals‐training”; “learning‐equals‐lack‐of‐knowledge”; a not precisely defined but all‐pervading notion of “professionalism”; competition; the complex – or even contradictory – nature of the professional bodies; “unwritten rules” within the profession; the traditional hierarchical structure within the profession and in surveying firms; learning as a cost factor rather than an investment; and individuals’ prior experiences of learning. The paper argues that these barriers have their reasons for existing, however, and cannot simply be ignored or condemned: rather, they need to be made explicit and “worked through” by each organization to find its own way forward.
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Facility/facilities management’s (FM) continuing struggle with its search for a strategic identity is attested by publications of many leading authorities in the field. Some…
Abstract
Facility/facilities management’s (FM) continuing struggle with its search for a strategic identity is attested by publications of many leading authorities in the field. Some advocates of the alignment of strategic management with the real estate of facilities resource argue for new terms, for example infrastructure management or real estate asset management. This paper argues a different approach. FM is considered as a replicating memetic discourse; one that has traded the original strategic vision of the discipline’s founders for wider spread. To close the gap between strategic business alignment and operational management FM must learn to consider its performance with language and measures relevant to a particular business sector. While one can argue that core businesses should change the language in which they speak of FM, the blunt assertion is that most of the effort must be the other way. The alternative is that some other discourse will capture the strategic niche.
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Simon Huston, Arvydas Jadevicius and Negin Minaei
The purpose of this paper is to sketch the UK housing backdrop, review the student private rented sector (PRS) and assess the experience of post-graduate university student…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to sketch the UK housing backdrop, review the student private rented sector (PRS) and assess the experience of post-graduate university student tenants in the PRS.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review puts the issues of student-PRS responsiveness into context and helps to untangle some UK housing issues. The private sector’s size, growth and performance is assessed by reviewing secondary data. In-depth interviews were then conducted at a regional university campus.
Findings
The study confirms accumulating evidence of an unbalanced UK housing market. The study identified four main PRS issues: first, rapid university expansion without accompanying residential construction has sparked rampant PRS growth with, second, quality issues, third, in tight letting market conditions, rented agent service levels fell and fourth, part of the problem is complex PRS management procedures.
Research limitations/implications
The research has three noteworthy limitations. First, the macroeconomic analysis integrated secondary research without independent modelling. Second, the views of letting agents, university property managers, planning officers or landlords were not canvassed. Finally, the pilot interviews were geographically restricted.
Practical implications
When they expand, universities, local authorities and industry players need to give due consideration to plan for, design and develop quality student accommodation. Over-reliance on the PRS without informed oversight and coordination could undermine student experience and erode long-term UK competitiveness.
Social implications
The lack of quality student rented accommodation mirrors a general housing malaise around affordability, polarisation and sustainable “dwelling”. Standards and professionalism in the rented sector is part of the overall quality mix to attract global talent.
Originality/value
The preliminary investigation uses mixed-methods to investigate PRS service delivery. It illustrates the interplay between professional property management and wider issues of metropolitan productivity, sustainability and resilience.