A guideline for strategic capabilities enhancement to support sustainable facility management practices

Facility managers can have a major influence on the sustainability agenda through operational and strategic management functions during the post construction phase. Sustainable practices in facility management can bring substantial benefits such as reducing energy consumption and waste, while increasing productivity, financial return and corporate standing in the community. Facility manager should be empowered with the necessary knowledge and capabilities at the forefront in facing sustainability challenge. Despite the potential, facility management practices have yet to embed sustainability ideas holistically. The lack of capabilities and skills and the existing knowledge gaps are believed to be among the barriers. Capabilities are vital to foster the competency of an organisation. To support sustainable practices, facility managers need to be empowered with the necessary knowledge, capabilities and skills. This paper aims to develop a guidelines for strategic capabilities to support sustainability in facility management practice. Starting with a total of 10 critical strategic capabilities factors identified from previous questionnaire survey, the authors conducted an interview with 7 experts in facility management to assess the perceived importance of these factors. The findings reveal a set of guidelines for the enhancement of strategic capabilities among facility managers by providing what can be done to acquire these factors and how it can support the application of sustainability in their practice. The findings of this paper are expected to form the basis of a mechanism framework developed to equip facility managers with the right knowledge, to continue education and training and to develop new mind-sets to enhance the implementation of sustainability measures in FM practices.