Why It Is Important For the Security Manager and Facility Manager to Work Effectively Together - Research Proposal Example

Why It Is Important For the Security Manager and Facility Manager to Work Effectively Together Name: University: Date: Why It Is Important For the Security Manager and Facility Manager to Work Effectively Together Introduction When the facility manager and security manager work as a team, they not only become acquainted with one another but also facilitate effectiveness. The facility managers cannot effectively make critical decisions by themselves; they need support from security managers in order to achieve useful solutions. Preferably, both security and facility manager must have common goals to make sure they are compatible with one another. In the wake of increased security challenges, security and facility managers must work together to improve security performance and ensure the facility is protected efficiently. By depending on one another, they are inclined to develop a bond of trust which enables them to remain productive even during turbulent times. Clearly, facilities management has become crucially important for all types of organisations, and plays a crucial role in customer satisfaction and value. Collaboration between facility managers and security managers result in improved services that allows the organisation to function effectively and efficiently; thus, providing value improvements to the core business of the organisation. Furthermore, facilities management contributes to the business success and plays a crucial role in competitive advantage delivery. The objective of this piece is to critically analyse why it is important for the security manager and facility manager to work effectively together. Discussion According to Doleman and Brooks (2011), management of security services is a crucial factor of facility management. Therefore, security and facility managers must collaborate not just to safeguard the facility, but also its operation. The built environment can be described as cultural, spatial, as well as material product created by individuals for leisure, living and working exemplified by combining energy and physical elements in systems needed for occupants (Doleman & Brooks, 2011). The occupants must feel secure; therefore, facility manager and security management team have to work together to ensure that the occupants feel safe. As mentioned by Stewart (2015), the role of the security manager is to make sure that the facility is protected by maintaining ensuring that inappropriate and illegal actions are deterred. Some of these inappropriate actions can be evidenced by 9/11 attacks, subway gas attacks in Tokyo, Oklahoma City bombing, and other attacks which highlighted the essence of collaboration between people involved in facility management (Weidner, 2004). Collaboration makes it easy for facility manager to identify and address many threats and it become easier for occupants to point out potential security issue to the security manager. As mentioned by The Society (2014), when facilities are poorly managed, the occupants are likely to be affected. Therefore, when security and facility manager team-up they are likely to improve facility performance through provision of the optimal business and work environment. Basically, facilities management does not have a universal approach since the concerned organisations have different needs. Therefore, comprehending such needs results in improved facilities management based on offering best value. Enoma (2005) observed that team work and partnering are effective ways of enhancing the relationship between individuals involved in the facility management. Teamwork results in a secure and improved work environment. More importantly, it becomes easier to identify problems and come up with solutions. According to Enoma (2005), freedom of expression and good communications between the members of the team could result in improved customer satisfaction. A team can be defined as a collection of persons who are mutually dependent in their tasks tasked with managing their relationships across the boundaries of the organisation (Manjula & Senaratne, 2012). Working as a team in facilities management can lead to improved performance since the performance needs multiple experiences, judgments and skills. Therefore, when facility manager and security manager work together, they are inclined to generate high productive results as compared to working individually. A facility that is poorly-managed can lead to increased operating expenses and reduced efficiency. Therefore, Effective facilities management involves various activities under different disciplines, combination of resources and is crucial for organisations seeking to become successful. Facilities management can become effective, if security and facility managers’ work together to solve the hard issues like economic challenges as well as soft issues like managing personnel (Nik-Mat, Kamaruzzaman, & Pitt, 2011). In so doing, it would become easier to provide an efficient and secure facility. According to Mustapa, Adnan, and Jusoff (2008), when facility managers work individually they are inclined to face real challenges such as non-existing standards which could be utilised to measure the level of quality. The facility managers often require other professionals such as security managers to effectively respond to service failure. In 2001, facility management, especially in the sporting environment was changed. Facility managers became more concerned with making sure that the security management operations are effective. Normally, sports venues host a lot of people making them an easy target for terrorists. For instance, the Oklahoma bombing happened outside an 84,000 seat stadium (Hall, Marciani, Cooper, & Phillips, 2010). This created a need for facility managers to work together with security managers in order to address this predicament. In 1972, ‘Black September’, a Palestinian terrorist group killed some Israelis after forcing their way into the Olympic Village. In 1996, a terrorist detonated a bomb at Atlanta during the Olympic Games leading to one death and scores of injuries (Miller, Veltri, & Gillentine, 2008). Without collaboration, facilities are likely to become soft targets since there will be miscommunication and ineffective protection. Such catastrophic incidents demonstrate that facilities, such as sporting venues are exposed to terrorist attacks and other manmade disasters that could lead to loss of life and property damages. Therefore, facility managers have to act professionally and prudently by working together with security managers to offer a safe environment for the occupants (Schwarz, Hall, & Shibli, 2010). As mentioned by Hall, Marciani, and Cooper (2008), vulnerabilities reduction, risk assessment, as well as improved preparedness level would facilitate in reduction of potential threats to the facilities. Working as a team, would help both the facility manager and security manager to reduce exposure and risk to facility vulnerabilities. Security management can also be effective if is applied across the organisation lifecycle and making sure that security practises do not overlap other organisational practices (Kim & Sakurai, 2008). As mentioned by Hayes and Ebinger (2011), many facilities are not within the direct domain of government since they are privately owned. Such facilities represent critical vulnerability points whereby terrorists can directly or indirectly inflict harm to the occupants. Furthermore, critical energy facilities can also be affected by natural disasters and accidents. In 2003, oil logistics in many parts of Spain were stopped after an accident in Spanish Repsol's refinery whereby an explosion affected the production units severely (Espona, 2016). The cause of the accident was attributed to an electric fault that led to the escape of gases, like butane. Such gases resulted in unit deflagration nearly seven tanks that were filled with petrol. This demonstrates lack of communication between facility manager, maintenance team, and security team can lead to a catastrophic disaster. Communication can have a direct and indirect effect on the organisation’s safety and security. When the security manager and facility manager collaborate, it would become easier to optimise building utilisation and other security processes (Bomers, 2014). As indicated by Marco and Mangano (2012), poor facility management can lead to inadequacy in the facility functioning and become difficult for the facility to support the organisation’s mission. Therefore, without collaboration, facilities management can result in inadequacy, cost inefficiencies, as well as the facility unavailability for the future needs. On the other hand, collaboration leads to a facilities management approach that offers the needed organisation’s mission support for realising the future requirements of the facility and improved cost efficiency. Fraser, Gunawan, and Goh (2013) posit that working as a team has become common in the majority of organisations across the globe. Teams are widely acknowledged as being a suitable technique for structuring organisational labour, but there are still some problems. These problems, according to Fraser, Gunawan, and Goh (2013), are attributed to interactions between employees which happen in a collaborative environment. In the majority of socio-technical environments, like facility management focus more on the hard elements despite the fact that social factors are more crucial than physical factors in terms of organisation’s performance as well as employee satisfaction and productivity. Still, Fraser, Gunawan, and Goh (2013) observed that there was a connection between effective facilities management outcomes and team working. The existing literature in facilities management highlights the growing significance of social and social factors in facilities management. It has been established that when members of the facilities management work together they are inclined to become more efficient and productive as compared to when working alone. It is more advantageous when facility and security managers work as a team because they become proficient at dividing tasks based on their roles and responsibilities. The two managers are inclined to perform well when working as a team. Basically, teamwork generates synergy, whereby the two managers’ combined efforts are higher as compared to their efforts while working individually. Furthermore, when the two managers’ work together they can easily use individual skills, experience, and perspectives to solve various problems associated with facilities management; thus, generating new ideas and solutions that could be past the scope of any manager. Furthermore, collaboration would facilitate mutual learning and support, and could bring about a sense of commitment and belonging. As evidenced by Repsol's refinery disaster, safety features must be regularly tested in order to make sure that they are operational. Furthermore, the facility and security managers must work together to ensure that regular drills are undertaken to ensure that the employed evacuation and emergency procedures work efficiently. Working together is important because both managers are in charge of the safety and security issues. Together, they should set up systems that allow for cost-effective and easy maintenance and improved security as well as retaining effectiveness (Tladi, 2012). As mentioned by Lavy and Dixit (2010), facility’s security planning involves circulation of traffic in the facility’s routes heading to the sensitive areas and supervising the parking. The security manager cannot maintain psychological and physical barriers or install devices for calming traffic devoid of collaborating with the facility manager. When the two managers work together, they will be able to coordinate facility activities towards the main objective of improving security and effectiveness as well as giving the occupants a sense of belonging. More importantly, working together would lead to improved communication and allow the managers to learn from one another. Collaboration would also generate commitment. Conclusion In conclusion, this piece has critically analysed why it is important for the security manager and facility manager to work effectively together. As mentioned in the essay, working together is crucial for facilities management for the safety and wellbeing of the occupants. In the wake of catastrophic disasters, working as a team has become a crucial factor in facilities management in term of managing facility services and assets effectively and efficiently. Effective facilities management can be achieved through improved communication processes and collaboration between the concerned individuals. These factors are not just crucial to facilities management, but also for operators, team leaders, and managers alike. Facility and security manager must work together to improving the service level and deliver improved performance. As indicated in the essay, engaging and effective communication has been identified as an important factor for facility and security managers. Facilities management effectiveness depends on how the communication is formalised and if it is clear and open. For facility managers to successfully fulfil their responsibilities they must work as a team with other individuals in order to ensure improved performance and security. When they work as a team, both security and facility managers accomplish tasks quicker as compared to when they are working individually. When the facility managers’ singlehandedly manage everything in the facility, they definitely take long to finish the tasks. However, when they work together with other people, like security managers, they share responsibilities leading to reduced workload. As a result, the output becomes faster and efficient. References Bomers, N. (2014). Converging physical security and IT. Security Journal, 8-47. Doleman, R., & Brooks, D. J. (2011). A strategy to articulate the facility management knowledge categories within the built environment. 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