SAFMA conference Midrand - Evidence-based reasoning, A new challenge for Facility Management
October 2005 | Wim Pullen
Facilities Management has been and will be a practical profession. Experience plays a major role in the life of the Facility Manager (FM). Key performance indicator is the reaction of the end user: will he continue to pay for the FM services? In a changing business environment the question is about always about the perceived value. Will FM continue to deliver value that is “to create the environment that enables the outcome rather then to specify how it will be done” (Price1999).
Organisations, like human being want to survive in the turbulence of the ecosystem, which is called market economy. Knowledge and the ability to apply it will be key. I believe that – as in medicine – the FM will need to move forward and develop the practice of evidence-based reasoning. Interventions in the physical assets – as suggested by the FM - will have consequences including all sorts of risks. The theme of the SAFMA 20005 conference: FM 2005 “what if....?” allows us to play mind games exploring challenges for the FM profession. Attention will be paid to reasoning strategies and to the 5D’s of the Evidence Based Approach: to Define, problemframing, Decide, consensus or not, Data, always welcome, Diagnose, what’s the matter and finally where the action will lead us: Design, or creating options of
possible futures: workable solutions.