Garcera, F C (2008) The rationale behind a small school district's decision to hire a facilities manager. EdD thesis, University of Pacific, USA.
Abstract
This study investigated the rationale behind a district superintendent's decision to hire a facilities manager to perform the facilities management function. Two main research questions guided this study: (a) If hiring a facilities manager is not an option, how can smaller school district superintendents maximize utilization of resources in facilities management? (b) What is the rationale behind a school district superintendent's decision to hire a facilities manager? In order to achieve this purpose, a qualitative approach was utilized to collect opinions and data from smaller school district superintendents. A group of school administrators, ten school district superintendents and one director of facilities planning participated in the interviews. The interviews conducted were a combination of one-on-one and a focus group interview. Triangulation, both data and methodological, was employed to validate raw interview data. All interviews were video and audio taped to record both spoken and non-verbal responses. The findings of the study indicate that the facilities management function or the facilities manager position was viable and was growing into an even more important function. The need for educating the school board of trustees, the final decision maker in a school district, was clearly expressed by the majority of the superintendents interviewed. The need for more awareness of the facilities management function on the part of the superintendents was also clearly stated. The superintendents recognize the need and the importance of the facilities management function. They also understand the benefits associated with the establishment of a fully integrated facilities management department in the school district. The interview results revealed that for smaller school districts, the school superintendents always think of the facilities manager function to be directly connected only to construction activities, thus, a cyclical need rather than an integral part of a centralized school district operation performing the nine major functional areas of facilities management as outlined by the International Facilities Management Association (IFMA).
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Brennan, D |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction activities; facilities management; facilities manager; focus group; interview |
| Index terms: | focus group, interview, facilities manager, facilities planning, triangulation, facilities management, construction activity, qualitative approach, option, school district |
| Subjects: | design process, research methods, construction operations, practitioner, decision analysis, management, educational management, data collection methods, research design and methodology |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Site Management, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Roles and Professions, Education, Risk Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here