Beyond strategy: exploring the brokerage role of facilities manager in hospitals.

PURPOSE Seeks to explore the brokerage role of facilities manager in hospitals, based on the premise that facilities management (FM) is largely concerned with "strategic brokerage". Strategic brokerage is the term coined by Akhaghi to explain the integration of a wide range of support services to ensure the effective operation of the core business of an organization. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH The research was conducted in the health service sector using a single case study approach to examine the brokerage potential for FM in a hospital in the Sydney Metropolitan area. A social network analysis technique was used to identify and analyse the communication networks of players in a hospital environment. Two general questions guided the analysis. First, what is the brokerage potential within the FM process? Second, where are the opportunities for brokerage? FINDINGS The results indicate that identifying relationship linkages between different functional units can create potential brokerage opportunities. ORIGINALITY/VALUE The proposition is made that viewing FM from a brokerage perspective can add value to the delivery of health-care services.

[1]  Jean Hartley,et al.  Case study research , 2004 .

[2]  Marya L. Doerfel,et al.  Building Interorganizational Relationships That Build Nations , 2003 .

[3]  Robert B. Burns,et al.  Introduction to Research Methods , 2015, Research Methods for Political Science.

[4]  P. Lawrence,et al.  Differentiation and Integration in Complex Organizations , 1967 .

[5]  D. Then.  An integrated resource management view of facilities management , 1999 .

[6]  Roger V. Gould,et al.  A Dilemma of State Power: Brokerage and Influence in the National Health Policy Domain , 1994, American Journal of Sociology.

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

[8]  John Scott.  Social Network Analysis , 1988 .

[9]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  Toward healthier hospitals. , 1997, Health care management review.

[10]  Steven B. Andrews,et al.  Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition , 1995, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[11]  S. M. Gabbay.  Social capital of organizations , 2001 .

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

[13]  R. Burt.  The contingent value of social capital. , 1997 .

[14]  Franklin Becker,et al.  The total workplace : facilities management and the elastic organization , 1990 .

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

[16]  Andrew Parker,et al.  Knowing What We Know: Supporting Knowledge Creation and Sharing in Social Networks , 2001 .

[17]  Andrew B. Hargadon,et al.  Technology brokering and innovation in a product development firm. , 1997 .

[18]  Laurence Prusak,et al.  In good company: how social capital makes organizations work , 2001, UBIQ.

[19]  Sumantra Ghoshal,et al.  Building Competitive Advantage Through People , 2002 .

[20]  Vernon D. Miller,et al.  Downsizing and Structural Holes , 1998 .

[21]  Integrated portfolio strategies for dynamic organizations , 2000 .

[22]  J. Scott Armstrong,et al.  Long-Range Forecasting: From Crystal Ball to Computer , 1981 .

[23]  Jay R. Galbraith,et al.  Beyond the Business Unit , 2001 .

[24]  M. Okoroh,et al.  Adding value to the healthcare sector – a facilities management partnering arrangement case study , 2001 .

[25]  R. Cross,et al.  The people who make organizations go--or stop. , 2002, Harvard business review.

[26]  Andrew Parker,et al.  The Hidden Power of Social Networks: Understanding How Work Really Gets Done in Organizations , 2004 .

[27]  P. Barrett.  Facilities Management: Towards Best Practice , 1997 .

[28]  Kevin Crowston,et al.  The interdisciplinary study of coordination , 1994, CSUR.

[29]  Peter Barrett,et al.  Achieving strategic facilities management through strong relationships , 2000 .

[30]  Fari Akhlaghi.  Ensuring value for money in FM contract services , 1996 .

[31]  B. Erickson,et al.  Corporate Social Capital and Liability , 2002 .

[32]  Paul Carder,et al.  Knowledge‐based FM: managing performance at the workplace interface , 1995 .

[33]  R. Charan,et al.  How networks reshape organizations--for results. , 1991, Harvard business review.

[34]  Robert J. Genetski,et al.  Long-Range Forecasting: From Crystal Ball to Computer , 1981 .

[35]  Stanley Wasserman,et al.  Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications , 1994 .

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

[37]  Bob Grimshaw,et al.  Facilities management: the wider implications of managing change , 1999 .

[38]  Wes McGregor.  Facilities management and the business of space , 1999 .

[39]  D. Kuratko,et al.  Developing an Intrapreneurial Assessment Instrument for an Effective Corporate Entrepreneurial Environment , 1990 .

[40]  R. Cross,et al.  Six Myths About Informal Networks -- and How to Overcome Them , 2002 .

[41]  L. Freeman.  Centrality in social networks conceptual clarification , 1978 .

[42]  S. Ghoshal,et al.  Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage , 1998 .

[43]  B. Nutt,et al.  Facility Management: risks and opportunities , 2000 .