Development of an industry maturity framework for facilities management

Abstract

Facilities Management (FM), as a profession, is relatively new and is often seen as fragmented in the eyes of existing traditional professions. In many countries economic activities associated with FM are still not recognised as a distinct professional sector by clients, senior management or the general public. However, in recent years, statistics relating to the size and scope of FM as a distinct economic activity within a national economy are starting to emerge. In terms of maturity status; FM has been variously described as 'emerging, developing or mature' at the same time within the same country. This is an indication of a lack of integrative tools to assess the maturity status of the industry. There have been various efforts intended to promote recognition and to elevate the status of FM. These efforts are mainly directed at the assessment of FM maturity within an organisation rather than industry wide. This research contributes a road map for assessing the developmental status of the FM industry using the 'Integrated Feeder Factors Framework (I3F). The framework is based on the 'progression' and 'integration' of six factors known in this study as 'feeder factors or feeders'. These factors are Organisation Practice, Business Environment, Supply Market, Professional Bodies, Education and Research. This framework is developed as an integrative tool to assess the maturity of the FM industry within a national economy. The overall proposition is that each of these factors contributes towards the overall maturity of the FM industry. The level of contribution of each feeder factor depends on its level of progression and the overall integration between the feeder factors. The framework categorised the FM industry into four levels of maturity. The levels varied from the Initial Formative Stage (IFS); Formative Transition Stage (FTS); Developmental Transition Stage (DTS) and Full Mature Stage (FMS). The proposed framework, factors and criteria were successful validated by fifty-five (55) FM experts from South America, North America, Europe, Asia, Australia & New Zealand and Africa. The testing of the framework was conducted for five countries, namely; Denmark, Hong Kong, Norway, Tanzania and the United Kingdom. The adoption of a multiple case studies approach was intended to test the validity of the proposed framework against countries within the proposed levels of maturity. Interviews were conducted with local FM experts in each of the case study countries. The distribution of the interviewees was Denmark (10); Hong Kong (11); Norway (14); Tanzania (11) and United Kingdom (7). The experts were requested to identify the level of the progression and integration of the feeder factors in their respective countries. The resulting patterns of the dominant level from the analysis of the interviews data were able to clearly position each of the five countries within the proposed FM maturity levels.