Zofia K. Rybkowski, Mardelle M. Shepley, John A. Bryant, Cynthia Skelhorn, Alex Amato and Saleh Kalantari
This paper aims to identify the current challenges and opportunities faced by the facility managers (FMs) in Doha, Qatar.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the current challenges and opportunities faced by the facility managers (FMs) in Doha, Qatar.
Design/methodology/approach
Researchers queried 40 FMs about their experience working in Qatar, using interviews and workshops.
Findings
Comments gathered followed general patterns. Participants expressed appreciation for their work, but also concern about cultural challenges they faced managing facilities in the region. In general, it was agreed that the low cost of water and energy in Qatar is one of the largest obstacles to conserving resources; however, current consumption is not sustainable.
Research limitations/implications
The sensitive nature of this study made strict demands on the research team to maintain participant anonymity during data collection and reporting. This sensitivity also limited the sample size; a larger sample size for future research would support greater generalizability.
Social implications
Qatar is taking steps to reduce its per capita carbon footprint and energy use, which is among the highest in the world. However, there appears to be a disconnect between Qatar’s expressed intentions and its actions with respect to facility management. To ensure that Qatar manages resources more efficiently, participants recommended that reduced energy use standards be adopted and legally mandated. This action would address many of the challenges, incentivize increased qualifications and training of FM professionals working in Qatar and encourage improvement of the long-term performance of buildings which are energy drains and heavy contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.
Originality/value
Prior to this study, little has been published about current practices of facility management in Doha, Qatar, and the challenges and opportunities that FMs face in this region.
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Saleh Kalantari, Mardelle M. Shepley, Zofia K. Rybkowski and John A. Bryant
The aim of this study is to focus on the perspectives of facility managers in each region and the different challenges impacting collaboration in each geographical context. This…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to focus on the perspectives of facility managers in each region and the different challenges impacting collaboration in each geographical context. This research analyzed obstacles to collaboration between facility managers and architectural designers in three international regions.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi-method approach was used, allowing the researchers to triangulate data from in-depth interviews and a widely distributed survey instrument. The participants included a large cross-selection of facility management professionals in each of the regions under study. The interview data were parsed to identify recurring themes, while the survey data were analyzed statistically to test specific hypotheses.
Findings
Significant differences were found in the culture of the facility management profession in each region. These differences created unique challenges for collaboration, especially in the context of a non-local design team. While the facility management profession was perceived as most established and professional in the UK, rates of collaboration between facility managers and designers were actually much higher in the USA. Collaborations between facility managers and designers were almost non-existent in the Middle East.
Originality/value
While the importance of collaboration between facility managers and designers is increasingly recognized for improving the efficiency of building operations, crucial obstacles continue to limit the scope of this engagement. There has been limited previous research analyzing obstacles to collaboration that are specific to international contexts and non-local design teams. This study helps to fill an important gap in the literature by providing a comparative analysis of collaboration challenges in three international contexts.
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John A. Bryant and Kimberly Carlson
Engineers at the Energy Systems Laboratory at Texas A&M University conducted short term energy metering studies at a complex of offices in northern Texas and several buildings on…
Abstract
Engineers at the Energy Systems Laboratory at Texas A&M University conducted short term energy metering studies at a complex of offices in northern Texas and several buildings on the Texas A&M University campus. These studies typically consisted of installing electrical metering at the whole building level and included sub‐metering of selected circuits when possible. A staged shut‐down sequence was performed for all lighting, fan, and mechanical systems of interest in the facility. Lighting system load verification was the primary goal. The study was a follow‐up to an earlier lighting study that had been conducted by the campus energy office. Base electrical load data were also determined from these tests, and in both studies significant “base” electrical loads were found. This paper presents results of these studies and suggests that the method is attractive to both contractors and facility energy managers as well.
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James A. De Lapp, David N. Ford, John A. Bryant and Joe Horlen
Complete and accurate design is critical for construction project success. Manifesting design intent in the constructed facility depends on coordinated design documents that are…
Abstract
Complete and accurate design is critical for construction project success. Manifesting design intent in the constructed facility depends on coordinated design documents that are developed through design realization. This process evolves design intent from architects and engineers to contractors, through the production and review of shop drawings and other submittals. Information technology has been promoted as a tool to improve this process, but is not being fully utilized for this purpose. A case study investigates the impacts of computed aided design (CAD) on design realization. Comparative analysis between shop drawings prepared by hand and those done with CAD quantify notes, corrections and information transfer errors. Results support the hypothesis that utilizing CAD can improve design accuracy and lower project costs. Barriers to wider adoption, implications for practice and further research are discussed.
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Shernaz Bodhanwala and Ruzbeh Bodhanwala
The case is written based on publicly available data from primary sources such as the company’s annual reports, company website and the company’s presentations, as well as from…
Abstract
Research methodology
The case is written based on publicly available data from primary sources such as the company’s annual reports, company website and the company’s presentations, as well as from secondary sources comprising newspaper articles, research papers, research magazines, magazine articles, industry reports, research reports, etc. as indicated in the references. The company’s financials and peer data are sourced from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database.
Case overview/synopsis
The case examines the financial position of Macy’s, Inc., America’s largest and one of the oldest premier departmental stores, with a consolidated annual turnover of US$18,097m in the fiscal year 2020/2021 (FY, 2021). Over the previous few years, the company had been struggling with decreasing market share and profitability mainly due to increasing competition from online retailers and deep discounters, which was affecting the company’s share price. With the appointment of a new chief executive officer (CEO) in fiscal year (FY) 2017, Macy’s, Inc. undertook several changes to revive its financial health and improve its market share. However, it still registered heavy losses of US$3,944m in the FY 2020/2021, the company’s first time in the past decade. With many retailers filing for bankruptcy, was there more that Macy’s could do to improve the company’s position and regain lost investor confidence? Will its entry into emerging markets play a crucial role in its turnaround?
Complexity academic level
The case can be used in undergraduate and postgraduate courses such as accounting for managers, financial statement analysis, management accounting, introduction to accounting and advanced financial statement analysis. The case can also be effectively used to understand the primary fundamental analysis of the company that involves understanding the company’s positioning and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis. The case would also help business management and entrepreneurship students to get a preliminary idea about the change management process. Finally, the case can be used to familiarize students with using Microsoft Excel to build financial analysis worksheets.
Supplementary Material
Teaching notes are available for educators only.
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Asli Ascioglu and Kevin John Maloney
The purpose of this paper is to trace the evolution of the Archway Investment Fund (AIF) at Bryant University from its founding in 2005 as a portfolio focused exclusively on US…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to trace the evolution of the Archway Investment Fund (AIF) at Bryant University from its founding in 2005 as a portfolio focused exclusively on US equities to a multi-asset program that incorporates US equities, non-US equities, equity ETFs, REITs, individual bonds, fixed income ETFs and options. It also describes the explicit introduction of environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into the investment process.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper follows a case study approach.
Findings
The paper describes the programmatic changes that accompanied this evolution in these areas: finance department curriculum innovations; the investment guidelines and constraints that govern the AIF; the investment process utilized; the oversight and governance process; and the reporting, presentation, and publicity initiatives that keep critical constituencies (university administration, faculty, alumni and students) informed and engaged in this program to sustain its success.
Originality/value
The vast majority of student-managed funds are equity funds focused on individual stock selection. The AIF is a multi-asset fund with separate equity and fixed income sub-portfolios that explicitly incorporates ESG factors into the security selection process.
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In 2020, Sports Illustrated proclaimed its “Sportsperson of the Year” as something dubbed “the activist athlete,” choosing five athletes – LeBron James, Breanna Stewart, Patrick…
Abstract
In 2020, Sports Illustrated proclaimed its “Sportsperson of the Year” as something dubbed “the activist athlete,” choosing five athletes – LeBron James, Breanna Stewart, Patrick Mahomes, Naomi Osaka, and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif – that represented the term. Like so many athletes who came before them, these athletes vividly demonstrate the potential of sport to shine a spotlight on critical issues in society, yet again solidifying how sport does not exist merely as some kind of escape, but is a major stakeholder in global campaigns for social justice.
This chapter historicizes the contemporary resurgence of athlete activism, largely connected to the reawakening of Black Lives Matters (BLM) in 2020, within what journalist Howard Bryant has called The Heritage, with athletes who acknowledge and accept the charge to use their spotlights for those who have none. From the turning point of the Mexico City Olympics in 1968, which saw collective movements of African-American athletes culminate in the powerful Black power protest by Tommie Smith and John Carlos, a protest that built upon the legacies of so many, to the ongoing debates that surround the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Rule 50, athletes have long understood how sport serves not only as an integral part of society but also as an agent for change. Contemporary cries for athletes to “shut up and dribble” echo past claims that sport takes place on a level playing field that transcends politics. The history of sports demonstrates otherwise, as athletes embody every imaginable, intersectional, classification of political actor.
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We school administrators, like “practical” men everywhere, claim to have little use for theory. In this we delude ourselves, for we all theorize. The real distinction lies not…
Abstract
We school administrators, like “practical” men everywhere, claim to have little use for theory. In this we delude ourselves, for we all theorize. The real distinction lies not between theory and practice, but between good theory and bad theory. Good theory is a hypothesis which has undergone verification and which has potential for explaining and predicting events, and for the production of new knowledge. The development of theory, with its constant demand for semantic accuracy and simplicity, is essential as a guide to research, and as a guide to action (e.g. in administration) where it should be regarded as a relational map rather than as an itinerary. The work of Halpin, Guba and Getzels, for example, illustrates that no theory is likely to be the theory. The development of a science of administration is dependent upon such theories. The alchemist described his observations in a half‐mythical language full of metaphors and allegories, not In scientific concepts. Today we appear to live only in an age of educational alchemy.
John R. Darling, Victor L. Heller and Bennie J. Wilson
Socioeconomic stress has been a major influence on organizational development during the past decade, and will continue for the foreseeable future. This treatise aims to focus on…
Abstract
Purpose
Socioeconomic stress has been a major influence on organizational development during the past decade, and will continue for the foreseeable future. This treatise aims to focus on The Key and its importance for effective organizational development via leadership responses to communication challenges during the present era. It is a conceptual paper based on an actual case.
Design/methodology/approach
The Key is a concept that refers to the thoughts and feelings (based on attitudes) that a leader reflects in communications and interactions with his/her universe, a universe that exists both internally within an organization as well as externally to it. The case focuses on communication challenges encountered by Judith Campbell, executive vice president of Creative Innovations, Ltd, and her interaction with Jonathan Bryant, president of Bryant and Associates, Ltd, an organizational development firm. Communication challenges that had arisen primarily due to socioeconomic stress, were seven in number: tendency to rely on only logical thinking; negative responses to external influences; lack of expectations for positive results; tendency toward reliance on sensory input; actions that ignore an inclusive perspective; failure to value and trust in change; and lack of commitment to interactive relations.
Findings
Following Bryant's counsel, Campbell chose to address these communication challenges with a training seminar that focused on a paradigm of seven leadership responses related to The Key. These were: Paradoxical thinking; Controlled reflecting; Intentional focusing; Instinctive responding; Inclusive behaving; Purposeful trusting; and Relational being. The training program, as described herein, proved to be very enlightening to the participants and quite effective for the continued organizational development of the firm.
Originality/value
The paper reveals the results of a training program based on seven communication challenges the results of which can be used to aid in continued organizational development of a firm.