Facility Management of Data Tech Plaza - Assignment Example

Facility Management Background The best work place facility is Datatech Plaza. This is a modern facility that houses the Data Technology Company operations. The complex is located at the city suburb a few km from an international airport and other major communication and transport facilities. Having being completed 3 years ago, the bridling provides some of the best facilities and facility design concerning energy utilization, lighting systems, office space utilization and design among other important designs that would mark an agile workplace facility. As Booty (2009:307) explained, the cost factor involved in running the business facility provides the best advantage and makes the complex a one of the best facilities. Cost in running a facility in terms of energy is the major expense incurred by business owners in running their premises, and the facility has been designed to reduce this to the optimum level. Data Tech Plaza Courtesy of synergyproperties.com The location of the business offers a superior advantage to the workers, clients as well as other stakeholders in the company. The transport system in the location has been well developed and involves the rail system, air transport as well as a reliable road transport system, since the building has been located at the suburbs of the city. The transport and communication network lowers the cost of doing business in the location thereby making the facility to be a strategic business premise that many investors have been struggling to get hold on. The council’s tree planting programs makes the location better since, a manmade forest cover has been created at the vicinity as a result of the tree planting program. This improves the location even better due to the forest cover, and the open leisure fields that customers and clients find too precious due to the relaxation provided. Management factors Flexibility in operations Several factors make the facility world class business facilities. These include the workplace design which makes the facility a world class facility and the management of the facility. Gareis and Barnnet (2006:21) explained that, an agile workplace accounts to flexibility that would enable the workers to work smart and perform better which in turn translates to the attainment the goals and objectives of the company. Gareis and Barnnet (2006:21) further explained that, the workers should have a control over their operations in planning and accomplishing the operations on time. The importance of employees having control over their operations would be that, the stress level of employees in their workplaces is reduced significantly as the employees would handle the operations at their own pace. Gareis and Barnnet (2006:21) explained the need to reduce stress in a work place. According to research, 78% of respondents explained that flexibility in work place that would allow them to report to work at different times rather than specific time schedules, leave earlier or late as per their own judgment and take offs in a certain workday as per their plans to cater for families has a very high effect in reducing care giving stress in the workplace. Fig 2: Interior Design of Data Tech Plaza Courtesy of victoriaoffice.com The company management has ensured that, the above polices are followed. Employees have been given the freedom in their work place to perform their duties and plans as per their expectations. The management of the company has made sure that, employee responsibility has been maintained by offering the freedom to employees to perform their duties as per their own plans and ability. The freedom has therefore proved very essential in reducing the stress levels in the employees. It has resulted to an increased productivity and quality performance by the employees. According to Phil Large, the general manager of DataTech Business Centre, the plaza is accessed by the all the city’s arteries (Victoria Office, 2010). The manager also notes that the locality of the building is a commercial hub with numerous restaurants and amenities, and has free client parking facilities. Employer- employee Relationship The employer-employee relationship has been very effective in the company. The understanding and harmony that exists between the employers and employees has contributed immensely in enhancing the communication feedback in the company. The facility management has ensured that all the views of the employees have been considered where necessary and gives the necessary guidance to the employees regarding their operations. DiRomualdo and Winter (2005:8) explained that, research has proved that a large number of employees have been dissatisfied with their work experience influenced by the work rating as given by the employer. The management of the facility has ensured that this chronic despair among the employees has been effectively addressed through appreciating the skills and output of each employee to the development of the company. DiRomualdo and Winter (2005:9) further explained that an agile work facility requires that, jobs be well defined, wells structured and as per the skills of the individual to ensure that the employees’ skills have been fully utilized. This as DiRomualdo and Winter (2005:9) explained would result into job fulfillment and the employees would find the job to be more fulfilling to their needs. The Reinsurance plaza employees have always portrayed the above characteristics in their place of work. The well defined roles and responsibilities have ensured that the growth and development of the employees are encouraged and the employees have used their innovations to the development of the company. This provides the company with a leading employee performance and services that meet the world class services in the data industry. Another factor in the facility management that has offered the company a world leading employee service base is the compliance with the standard and emphasis. DiRomualdo and Winter (2005:9) argued that, process management and emphasis have been used to demoralize and suppress the imagination and achievements of the employees. A world class facility management recognizes the impotence of the above factors and strives to ensure that, the freedom of employees has been encouraged towards creativity that would lead to career growth, innovation and development of the company in the competitive world. While too much emphasis on static standards by the employer leads to decreased passion, inspiration, daring and imagination and achievement as DiRomualdo and Winter (2005:9) explained, the facility management has ensured that, the contrary of this happens by giving room for innovations as described above. The employees have been allowed the room to make constructive mistakes in innovation and finding new ways of doing business. The flexibility and the room to maneuver in exercising their skills has enabled the employees to come up with new business methods that have been critical in giving the company a leading edge in the market and internationally. The workplace has been transformed essentially from the predetermined, standardized and stationery fixed units that marked the traditional workplaces into a well distributed and networked workplace, with electrical connections that accommodate new patterns of operations as well as continuity in operations. The above factors as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2003) explained are the essential features that describe an agile workplace, and are the major defining factors of a modernized world-class workplace features. The workplace in the company has been designed and arranged to accommodate various changes as pertaining to the operations in the work place. This has been necessitated by extensive computerization of the operations in the office that have been interconnected. It enables the clients to obtain any information from many offices instead of hoping from one office to the other, as was the case with the traditional workplaces. According to Janice Lecey, the building’s comptroller, those with businesses in the plaza enjoy a sense of community, a friendly and professional working environment (Victoria Office, 2010). Communication facilities The networking has drastically reduced the time the workers would have required to hop form one office to the other where information concerning several departments is required. The agility of the work place has been described as one of he most flexible in the arrangement of the work stations, and various centers that describe the work place. The flexibility as described by MIT (2003) has enabled the workplace to be maneuvered outside the static boundaries of the static traditional office setups. The employees have been able to work outside their office boundaries through field work operations but the communication networking has enabled he employees to effectively communicate and access their work stations through networking provided by the internet services and the LAN applications. The employees are not therefore limited to office boundaries but can be able to access their operations in the office while in the office. It has been able to expand the business operations to include several ways of operations at any time, place or with anyone as MIT (2003). This has revolutionized the workplace and has presented the business workplace with new thinking dimensions and portfolios. The modernized and flexible ways of working have enabled the company to reap massive benefits of extending their operations to any place where they deem appropriate without the limitation of distance, space or communication networking. Fig 3: The Data Tech Business Centre Courtesy of victoriaoffice.com The flexibility in the operations in the workplace has transformed from the leased real estates in terms of offices as MIT (2003) explained, to services facilitating set ups. The workplace has been characterized by short leasing of fully furnished office suites, where the operations have to be temporarily handled in the specific period instead of permanent office locations. Other services that the company has sought to extend in the workplace regarding the flexibility aspects include call centers, warehouses and other outsourcing facilities owned by specialized firms. These enable the workplace to be versatile flexible and cuts costs that could have otherwise been used in putting up such infrastructure as well as the time limits required. The workplace also includes other portfolios and holdings that the company has been leasing extensively to expand their operations. This has made the company to have a world class status in the workplace flexibility and coverage. Facility design Energy cost reduction Another factor that has world class leading properties in the facility is the property design. The design gives the facility superior services that it offers to the users. The green design of the facility enables the tenants to cut costs to a large extent that could otherwise be used on lighting and energy utilization. Booty (2009:307) explained that, energy efficiency is the most important factor while designing a facility for business purposes. The facility has been designed to effectively reduce the lighting needs in the facility. The green design enables natural lighting to penetrate to all the office spaces. The design has reduced the cost of electricity that could be used in the lighting process and other usage such as air conditioning. This has been due to the design facility allowing natural flow of fresh air thereby reducing air conditioning costs through electricity. It therefore offers an excellent working environment to the workers, and has made the environment encouraging working in. In addition, the building has been designed to offer spacious and well organized working spaces that encourage integration and performance. While the traditional designs used single rooms, the facility has been designed to allow open spaces where the working spaces are designed as per the requirements of each office as DiRomualdo and Winter (2005:28) explained. Therefore the open spaces have been recognized as being instrumental in encouraging and motivating the workers in performing their duties. The management and performance The management of the premise has enabled higher performance in the facility that has attracted many stakeholders to be involved with the company. This has been due to the physical arrangement, performance and services that the company has portrayed for the last few years. The management has been able to reduce major costs which have increased the profitability of the company in a short time. The cost reduction has resulted from cutting operations through leasing facilities and outsourcing as explained by MIT (2003). The profitability of the company has resulted into a higher pay out to the stakeholders in a short time and the management of the facility have been credit for enabling a rapid growth rate in the facility. Moreover, the management has been able to ensure superior services to the customers and other stakeholders, as a result of the arrangement of the facility into compact units unlike many single office spaces as DiRomualdo and Winter (2005 p28) explained has ensured that the clients get services form centralized locations instead of moving into different offices. The management has been able to eliminate queues of customers waiting to be served due to the efficient management systems as well as the ease of retrieving the required information as Roy (2010) explained. The superior services delivery as well as rapid growth that have increased the returns to investors has been the major factors that the management has been credited for in the facility. The high performance levels as explained above have been maintained through establishing a corporate culture that encourages both performance and innovation. As described earlier, the management has encouraged the culture of innovation by giving the employees the room to think outside the box, thereby innovating new methods of operations. These innovations have enabled the company to claim a large share in the market today. As Gareis and Bernett (2006:21), explained, the culture of giving freedom to employees to make their work plans, not restricted by working hours limit, has been very successful in ensuring that the high performance of the company has been maintained and surpasses the expectations of the stakeholders. The sensitivity analysis in areas such as sales forecast, flows of materials as well as he transportation and communication carried out by the company as Benjamin (2009:225) explained, have enabled the company to maintain its market share as well as attaining a high development record. Summary The building facility has been very crucial in developing the core business of the company. The building as earlier described has been strategically located in the suburbs of the city, where communication and transportation facilities are superior. The location ensures a strategic point for the clients and customers and the above explained infrastructure that they have to use in their operations. The green design of the building as described earlier has ensured that the company reduces its costs of operations by a large margin. The use of natural lighting and air conditioning results into cutting costs that would otherwise eat into the profits of the company. The green design in addition to reducing costs has enabled the company to receive more funds through carbon credits, which have improved the capital base of the company. The company space arrangement through the design has created a motivating atmosphere to the employees leading to improved performance and hence better results to the company. This is due to the inclusion of free spaces that enable arrangements as per the requirements of a particular office. The distributed networking that enables the company to operate outside the office boundary limits has also improved the business operations which lead to growth and profitability. Recommendations on facility use To enhance the uses of the building, the distributed systems could be integrated with video conferences that would ensure more effective communication between the various stakeholders. Since the video conferencing would allow employees to communicate from different areas, the company may employ more professionals who would be required to operate from their homes while still communicating with the rest in the offices. This would expand he employee base while still maintaining the facility size and arrangements. This might lead to reduced office spaces used which might as well be rented out to other businesses at an income to the company. The open spaces design would also suit the team working operations which are a major method of improving performance in the business environment. References Benjamin, O., C., 2009. Engineering for Business: Theory and cases. Boulevard: University Press of America Booty, F., 2009. Facilities Management Handbook.MA: Elsevier Ltd Gareis, K. and Barnett, C., R., 2006. After school worries, tough on parents, bad for business. Boulevard: Catalyst Inc. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003. The agile workplace. [The MIT School of Architecture.] Available at [Accessed 16th Dec. 2010] Roy, A., 2010. Workplace design. [Gaebler Ventures]. Available at [Accessed 16th Dec. 2010] Victoria Office. 2010. The Location of the DataTech Business Centre. Available at http://www.victoriaoffice.com/about_us.html [Accessed 16th Dec. 2010] Winter and DiRomualdo, 2005. Manifesto for the new agile workplace, Oxford: Career Innovation Company. Read More