Open-planning concepts and effective facilities management of commercial buildings

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the effect coefficients of the complex connections between selected open-plan office and effective facilities space management variables. Design/methodology/approach - Data on offices, management control and effective facilities space management measures were collected through questionnaires administered to 102 facilities space managers of 102 randomly selected open-plan offices in Sydney. Findings - Some open-plan attributes were found to have direct impacts on several effective facilities space management variables, while others exhibited indirect effects through management control aspects. In most cases, management control considerably reduced the effect coefficients. Research limitations/implications - While the study is limited to discrete effective facilities space management aspects of only selected open-plan commercial offices in Sydney, the research implications though far-reaching, may not be universally applicable. However, a better understanding of the associations provides directions to where attention would be fruitfully focused in future research replications and practice. Practical implications - The practical implication of this result is for re-engineering of work environments to consider aspects of management that invariably moderates and/or intervenes in the relationship of space, people and work process. This paper concludes that, with dedicated management control, the impact of open-plan on facilities space management may be less extensive. Originality/value - The paper's utilization of this quantitative approach is novel to understanding the connections between office attributes and effective facilities management. This approach offers a veritable alternative to examining and validating these constructs that are useful to space providers, designers, managers and users in understanding the interactions between space, people and process.