An examination of actors that impact technology introduction to FM

Developing and implementing a technology for Facilities Management (FM) can be a complex process. This is particularly the case when a technology impacts on an organisation as a whole. There are often a number of relevant actors, internal and external to FM, who should be engaged. This engagement is guided by the strategy of the organisation which is led by top management decisions. Indeed, it is top management who have the final decision to implement a technology. Actors of top management and other relevant actors will have their own discourses toward the implementation of the technology based on how they foresee the technology befittingly benefitting the organisation. This paper examines actors who play a relevant and necessary part in supporting and implementing a technology to FM. It examines how an actor’s discourse toward the project inhibits or speeds up the implementation of a technology. The methods used for this paper are based on a two year case study in a FM department where a technology development was observed and interviews with key participants were conducted. Critical discourse analysis is used to analyse the data. Prominent discourses that emerge from the data are emphasised during the process of introducing the technology. This research moves beyond focusing purely on project successes but examines the difficulties and the hurdles that must be overcome to reach a successful technology implementation.

[1]  B. Atkin,et al.  Total Facilities Management , 2000 .

[2]  Sonia Goyal,et al.  Determining the role of innovation management in facilities management , 2007 .

[3]  Edward Finch,et al.  Evidence of systematic approaches to innovation in facilities management , 2006 .

[4]  Abbas Elmualim,et al.  Pervasive technologies for workspace management , 2009 .

[5]  Michael Burawoy,et al.  Ethnography Unbound: Power and Resistance in the Modern Metropolis , 1991 .

[6]  Norman Fairclough,et al.  Discourse in Late Modernity , 2021 .

[7]  Jon Sundbo.  Innovation and Involvement in Services , 2008 .

[8]  T. Mudrak,et al.  Innovation process and innovativeness of facility management organizations , 2005 .

[9]  Jon Sundbo,et al.  The organizational innovation system: Three modes , 2005 .

[10]  Keith Alexander,et al.  Facilities Management : Innovation and Performance , 2004 .

[11]  Keith Alexander,et al.  Facilities Management: Theory and Practice , 1996 .

[12]  G. Pinchot,et al.  Intrapreneuring: Why You Don't Have to Leave the Corporation to Become an Entrepreneur , 1985 .

[13]  David Hillier,et al.  Radio frequency identification in the UK: opportunities and challenges , 2004 .

[14]  Robert. Grimshaw.  Space place and people: Facilities management and critical theory , 2004 .

[15]  J. Tidd,et al.  Innovation and Entrepreneurship , 2007 .

[16]  Derek Clements-Croome,et al.  Intelligent Buildings: Design Management and Operation , 2004 .

[17]  Jon Sundbo,et al.  Innovation as a loosely coupled system in services , 2000, Int. J. Serv. Technol. Manag..

[18]  J. Blommaert,et al.  CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS , 2000 .

[19]  N. Fairclough,et al.  Language and Power , 2009 .

[20]  Alexi Marmot,et al.  Understanding Offices: What Every Manager Needs To Know About Office Buildings , 1996 .

[21]  R. Jacobs.  What to research , 2009 .

[22]  Barry Varcoe,et al.  Implications for facility management of the changing business climate , 2000 .

[23]  Mohd Nazali Mohd Noor,et al.  A critical review on innovation in facilities management service delivery , 2009 .

[24]  Hanne Westh Nicolajsen.  Intrapreneurship - Differences in Innovations is a Matter of Perspective and Understanding , 2008 .

[25]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[26]  N. Fairclough,et al.  Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language , 1995 .

[27]  Robert G. Cooper,et al.  The new product process: A decision guide for management , 1988 .