Facoltà di Economia

Aggiornato A.A. 2015-2016

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
To understand the history and range of FM as:
1. An ‘enabler’ of business results
2. A business sector
3. A professional and managerial activity (for some)
To explore service ecologies in FM and the skills needed to contribute to them

TEACHING METHODS
A blend of
1. Lectures and seminars.
2. Case study discussions.
3. Group projects and class presentations.

MAIN REFERENCES/TEXTBOOK

For the introductory session on FM please read the paper (Brochner  2010),"Innovation and ancient Roman facilities management", Journal of Facilities Management, Vol. 8 Iss 4 pp. 246 – 255. We will be discussing it on Day 1.
Watch youtube Look at Life (from 1963) and this one (which brings up a lot more on FM). Think about what’s changed in that time and since ancient Rome.
Read the book The Goal, by E Goldratt. There is an Italian edition and it will be relevant to other areas of your course. We will be discussing it on Day 2.
Read at least the first three chapters of How to manage your slaves. It is actually constructed from authentic surviving texts from the days of imperial Rome. See how many issues you can find mentioned that are relevant to FM today.
The Thursday will start with a discussion of Marching to Different Drums: an extract from Shifting the Patterns by Price and Shaw (1998). A text will be available on the course’s website.

Other key references will be
- Research material available at http://shura.shu.ac.uk/view/divisions/fmgc.date.html
- Alexander K. and Price I. (2015) People make Facilities Management
- Alexander K. and Price I. (2012 Eds.) Managing organisational ecologies: Space, management and organisations. New York, Routledge
- Mari M., Poggesi S. (2014) “Facility management: current trends and future perspectives”, International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business, Vol. 6, n. 3/4, pp.177-192.

KEY TOPICS
See programme below.

The European committee on standardisation of Norms (CEN) has defined FM
Facilities management is the integration of processes within and organisation to maintain and develop the agreed services which support and improve the effectiveness of its primary activities. Facilities management encompasses multi-disciplinary activities within the built environment and the management of their impact upon people and the workplace.
We will explore that definition, and others but it combines two aspects:
FM as something organisations arrange or do to support and improve the effectiveness of their primary activities.
FM as a large, growing and international business sector specialising in supplying agreed services.
Graduates in business administration could find themselves managing primary activities or working in a business for whom supplying FM is the primary activity. We will spend the first week looking at the first option and the second looking at the FM supply industry.
Each week will incorporate group projects in teams of 2 or 3. In the first week teams will research how FM might support and improve the effectiveness of a particular set of primary activities. In the second each team will look at the history and strategies of one of the top tier of International FM companies; the Series A of the industry.
You will hopefully find yourself thinking about other business issues such as strategy, change, marketing, performance measurement and leadership applied in an FM context.