Effect Of Facilities Management On Maintenance Culture Improvement In Ghanaian Real Estate
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Researcher: K. N. W.
Introduction
Facilities management (FM), over the years, has undergone a lot of
transformation from being a narrowly defined set of functional tasks delivered
in a mechanistic manner to meet a specific requirement to an integrated
management approach (Pathirage et al., 2008). As an integrated
management approach, facilities management is now seen as a significant
determinant of the achievement of corporate goal (Pathirage et al.,
2008) and a key driver for the development of a maintenance culture in a
people.
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The prosperity of a country can be measured
by the state of its physical and its built environment. In Ghana, it is common
knowledge that the performance of successive governments is mostly measured by
the development of physical infrastructure such as roads, buildings, hospitals,
bridges and so on. Likewise, within the business community a company’s physical
assets such as office buildings, air-conditioners, elevator, and so on
represent a substantial long-term investment in its operations. Plant, property
and equipment make up a large part of an entity's non-current assets. The costs
of these non-current assets are allocated over the number of years for which
the asset will be in use.
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Buildings and infrastructures are
therefore important assets whose management and
maintenance should not be compromised. Most often than not, that is not the
case in Ghana. Unfortunately, buildings and related infrastructure, which
are the measure of national wealth and capital formation, are not adequately
managed and maintained. This situation is probably because management and
maintenance of these assets are regarded as unimportant and often neglected. As
a result, maintenance works are carried out in a reactionary manner with few or
no records being kept; low budgetary allocation and prioritization.
Rationale
With the advent of facilities
management companies and the development of the facilities management industry
in Ghana, it is believed that there has been a shift, however small, in Ghana’s
maintenance culture, especially in the real estate industry, for the better. Nonetheless,
there is very little or no data in literature on the effect of facilities
management on maintenance culture improvement in the Ghanaian real estate
industry. There is therefore the need to fill this gap in knowledge. Filling
this gap in knowledge will help us to know the extent to which facilities
management has impacted on Ghana’s maintenance culture in the real estate
industry or how far FM is from significantly impacting on the maintenance
culture of Ghanaian real estate industry so that appropriate actions can be
taken and the right policies put in place.
Objectives
The broad aim of this study is therefore
to assess the effect of facilities management on maintenance culture
improvement in the Ghanaian real estate market.
Key Findings
Businesses do have a good working
knowledge of facilities management. However, there is some level of difficulty
in distinguishing between facilities management and property management. The
age of facilities management was viewed from two perspectives – short-term and
long-term.
Real estate businesses attach more
importance to managing their facilities than growing their business. The study revealed
that retaining corporate image was the most important reason that drives real
estate business to carry out maintenance activities on their facilities.
Outsourcing and contracting was a
primary strategy used by organizations to tackle the lack of maintenance
culture in Ghana. This was because most of these businesses may not have set up
internal FM departments yet, hence the need to outsource FM services.
Very
few innovations have been introduced into the Ghanaian real estate business
according to the data collected. Though all respondents declared their
organizations to be innovative, many declined to pinpoint those specific
innovations introduced, possibly because these innovations were either nonexistent
or they just didn’t know exactly what innovation was. One key innovation
introduced is a sophisticated property management software program that ensures
that customers were provided with the latest information on their property in
real time online.
Abstract
In Ghana, buildings and related infrastructure, which are the
measure of national wealth and capital formation, are not adequately managed
and maintained. With the advent of facilities management companies and the
development of the facilities management industry in Ghana, it is believed that
there has been a shift, however small, in Ghana’s maintenance culture,
especially in the real estate industry, for the better. This study set out to assess
the effect of facilities management (FM) on maintenance culture improvement in
the Ghanaian real estate market. Primary data was collected through
questionnaire administration. The questionnaire included both structured and
unstructured forms of questions. Majority of respondents believed that the
future of facilities management in Ghana was bright. Eighty six percent (86 %)
of respondents thought FM has found footing in Ghana and 75 % of respondents
said the future of FM in Ghana was “very good”. Most of the respondents
(66 %) considered maintenance of facilities more important than the growth of a
business, suggesting that 34 % of respondents felt that growth of a business
was more important than maintenance of facilities. One of the reasons proposed
by respondent for this stance was that an inadequately maintained business
cannot grow. Businesses do have a good working knowledge of facilities
management. However, there is some level of difficulty in distinguishing
between facilities management and property management. Based on the findings
and conclusions made, it is strongly recommended that staff of real estate
businesses be given regular refresher courses on facilities management (FM) to
help them keep abreast of new knowledge and trends in the industry to enable
them fully maximize the potential of buildings.
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Key Terms
maintenance culture in ghana
Ad: We offer a range of writing and research services. Find out more!
Key Terms
maintenance culture in ghana
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