Facilities Operation Management: Challenges and Solutions

This report delves into the intricacies of facilities operation management, a critical function in hotel industries. It covers the responsibilities of managers, government regulations, and environmental factors to be considered. The document also emphasizes the importance of taking care of employees and communicating expenses/income to ownership. With an underperforming hotel scenario, the person must be an all-rounder with knowledge about various aspects to tackle situations effectively.

Facilities Operation Manager

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Responsibilities Of Facility Manager for Staff involved in Facilities Operation.................1
1.2 Responsibility of Facilities Manager for Operational aspect of Building.............................1
1.3 Responsibilities of Facilities Manager towards Customers using Facilities.........................2
1.4 Impact on Facilities Operation on Employers / Funding Agencies......................................3
M1 ..............................................................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Statutory Regulation affecting Facilities Operation in Hospitality Industry........................3
2.2 Health, Safety, Environmental Measures implemented by Facilities Manager....................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Effective System For Processing Information and Maintaining Communication................6
3.2 Control Systems required for Effective Facilities Operations..............................................6
3.3 Systems Needed by Facilities manager to support Effective Building Management...........6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................7
4.1 Evaluate the Quality and Effectiveness of Facilities Operation............................................7
4.2 Analyse Quality and Effectiveness.......................................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Facilities Management deals with the process of managing all the resources available
with the organisation in the most effective manner possible. The facility's manager is also
assigned to a task of incorporating all their knowledge and skills to efficiently manage their staff,
resources, customer and operational aspects. Resulting in them being the communicator of all the
services with people and managing everything as per the requirements. Facilities management is
as crucial as finance management, if the resources and facilities are not managed in proper
manner it could lead to wastage of funds and imbalance in functioning of organisation.
TASK 1
1.1 Responsibilities Of Facility Manager for Staff involved in Facilities Operation
As a Facilities Manager at Elmwood Hotel, London here are discussed some
responsibilities of staff attached to operation management :-
 Communication : there has to be effective communication within the people working in
staff with the facilities manager to ensure that the requirements and needs are fulfilled
and staff are able to deliver good services when needed.
 Emergency Preparedness : when the staff is well equipped with the information
regarding how to handle any emergency that might occur. Facility manager provides the
information to staff to meet each and every contingency.
 Taking care of the needs of Staff : the people working in staff might be employees but
facilities manager at Elmwood Hotel should take care of the needs of staff as well as
employee satisfaction would lead to client satisfaction.
 Guiding Them in uncertainty : even though staff at Elmwood is prepared for
emergency, but because of volatile economy and certain changes happening constantly.
People working at Elmwood Hotel should be guided by staff for any uncertainty that
might occur.
1.2 Responsibility of Facilities Manager for Operational aspect of Building
There are a few responsibilities attached to hotel building as well, discussed below :-
 Maintenance of Building : it is a very important aspect as if the building of Elmwood
Hotel is not effectively managed then would never appeal to its clients and people will
opt other place to stay.
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 Refurbishment : refers to the process of renovation of a building. It should happen in
every 5-10 years in order to make it look modern and according to the time which would
enable it to generate much more traffic in comparison to others.
 Decoration / Plastering / Plumbing / Glazing : facilities manager should make sure that
Elmwood Hotel's decoration is up to the mark. Plastering damages are not there if any
were there previously. Plumbing is perfect and no room is experiencing any difficulties
with this component. Making sure that all the glass windows are properly glazed that a
perfect shine is reflected through it.
 Security : another important aspect is the security arrangements within the hotel as well
on the gates. Making sure that proper security is provided to the customers all the time
and no incidents of theft, injury occurs (Krajewski, 2010).
These are a few responsibilities attached towards building of Facility Manager.
1.3 Responsibilities of Facilities Manager towards Customers using Facilities
The major aspect for survival of any hotel is their customers. Taking care of their
facilities is utmost important, some responsibilities attached to it are discussed below.
 Identifying Customer Needs : facilities manager at Elmwood has to analyse the needs
and requirements of customers then allot the room and make sure that all their needs are
fulfilled so that they revert back in the future.
 Providing Customer Care : if a customer experience some difficulty they should be
able to communicate that to the staff. The staff then should communicate that problem to
facility manager. The facilities manager should be able to then resolve the problem
ensuring that proper customer care is provided to people staying at Elmwood Hotel.
 Monitoring Sales & Bookings : the facility manager should effectively manage portal
ensuring that their sales are not lost. And proper rooms are allotted to offline as well as
online bookings. Effective management along with monitoring of bookings would result
in proper analysis of income generated through this activity (“The vital importance of
facilities management to a thriving business”. 2015).
 Maintaining Effective Communication System : the staff at Elmwood would have to
ensure that there is effective communication of their with customer and facilities
manager. Maintaining effective communication would mean that problems are solved
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easily and people are able to establish effective communication within the organisation as
well making sure the task is done in a much more proficient way.
1.4 Impact on Facilities Operation on Employers / Funding Agencies
There are a few responsibilities attached to the ownership as well which facilities
manager needs to ensure, discussed below :-
 Effects of Private Ownership : when an organisation is privately funded, the facilities
manager has to take into account that he has to submit an expense/ income report to his
top management or ownership stating the facts. Many times question are asked to the
manager regarding his spendings to which he has to provide perfect answers in order to
make sure that ownership is happy with their management.
 Local Authority : refers to various authorities regularly inspecting the food, services,
etc. they need to be also kept at bay and pleased in order to function continuously without
any restrictions.
 Funding Partners : there are various people to whom facilities manager keeps in touch
regularly in order to ensure supply of numerous things. They are also stakeholders until
their payment is made, so they should also be properly treated. Facilities manager should
ensure that he communicates with them effectively in order to keep organisation rolling
(Galindo and Batta, 2013).
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Facilities Management is not an easy task as the person involved in this has to deal with several
aspects from maintaining effective communication with his staff, customers, ownership. Till
establishing a regulated framework for solving problems. Taking care of security of premises and
ensuring that it is looking and functioning brilliantly. All these tasks are to be performed with
utmost dedication in order to make sure that organisation is on the right track.
TASK 2
2.1 Statutory Regulation affecting Facilities Operation in Hospitality Industry
There are various statutory regulations a hotel would have to abide in order function
smoothly in United Kingdom. Some of them are discussed below :-
 OH&S Act 2000 : which states that protecting health and safety of workers and visitors
all the time. With this regulation all the hotels along with Elmwood are bound to establish
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effective measures to ensure health and safety of people working with them and using
their services (Karlsson , 2010).
 Workers Compensation Act 1987 : The worker's compensation act deals on injuries
that occur to employees at work or whilst travelling directly to and from work. It
stipulates that all hotels must have insurance that will cover the injured worker’s medical
expenses and costs. All of this would ensure employee stability within the organisation.
 Food Act 2003 : it states that all the hotel in UK should ensure that people responsible
with handling food in their premises are doing it with proper hygienic way. The food
premises should be cleaned properly and all the equipments should be in proper state
ensuring hygiene in every which way.
 Disability Discrimination Act 1992 : no person should be discriminated on the basis of
any disability is stated in this law. Facilities manager should ensure that no discrimination
happens in terms of services provided to any ordinary person or a disabled person.
Elmwood Hotel ensures that all the customers are equally taken care and have special
provision for any person suffering from any form of disability who wishes to stay with
them.
2.2 Health, Safety, Environmental Measures implemented by Facilities Manager
At Elmwood Hotel it is ensured that the facilities provided are in compliance to the
health, safety and environmental measures. Facility manager takes into account all the aspect in
detail, discussed below :-
 Health Related Measures : all the hotels working in UK need to make sure that they
comply to health related measures established in the law framework. For that they need to
ensure the ways in which they will move forward in providing food and maintaining
hygiene of a place (Wong and Lai, 2011). Elmwood Hotel ensures that all the food
provided is hygienic and the way it is prepared it also according to the compliance.
 Checking Quality Of Food Served is amo“The vital importance of facilities
management to a thriving business”. 2015ngst the priority list of facilities manager at
Elmwood, as nobody should feel sick after consuming that food otherwise the whole
Hotel is put under scrutiny by the legal authorities. Ensuring Comfortable Stay is also one of the important aspect affecting health of any
customer. There are hotels that doesn't make sure its customer are provided with proper
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rooms then it might land itself lawsuit. Customer should be given all the room related
services as promised, making them happy and satisfied.
 Safety Related Measures : there are safety related measures which every Hotel ensures in
United Kingdom allowing the people working them as well customers, the protection and
security they deserve. There are various safety related arrangements which should be
done by Hotels, Elmwood Hotel UK ensures that :-
 Camera and Vigilance Team : there has to be a constant monitoring of customers
entering and leaving the hotel and if a person is caught with something prohibited in the
country, he should be handed over to the respected law authority.
 Fire Safety Arrangement : refers to establishing of several fire safety arrangements in
order to make sure that all the people working or living in the hotels are safe. Protecting the Database : the database of hotels contain the personal information and
well as payment details of all the individual that have boarded rooms. All of this data
needs to be protected leaking of which could result in depletion of image of hotel
amongst its customers.
 Environmental Related Measures : there are various environment related issue's within
the organisation which needs to be taken care of. Environment related aspects need to be
taken care of as government focus is also on stabilising environment, if hoteliers are not
able to contribute in it then government will take legal actions to get things done.
 Energy : Elmwood Hotel ensures that the consumption of electricity is as much less than
possible. This would result in building an energy efficient environment.
 Water : it is encouraged at Elmwood Hotel that people save water and the same message
is conveyed to their customers. The people residing in the hotel are constantly guided that
they should make sure they use as less water as possible (Nielsen, 2010). Saving and
preserving water for future generation is something Elmwood Hotel aspire for.
 Waste : effective waste disposal management is established in Elmwood, where
excretory waste is sent through underground pipes for treatment and raw waste is divided
into three Recyclable, Non-recyclable and Hazardous waste and disposed off in the way
they should be. Waste management is an important aspect which sets apart a hotel and
people also like to visit a hotel whose emphasis on reducing waste.
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TASK 3
3.1 Effective System For Processing Information and Maintaining Communication
A facilities and operation manager ensures that all the information in the system is
effectively stored in database. This ensures that all the data is protected and secure. Information
stored here could be utilized in the appropriate manner resulting in taking right decision at right
time. There has to be a proper structure followed in order to evaluate and save useful
information. Managing and communicating data allows the manager to establish a hierarchy in
which the information shall flow within the organisation. In a system the information is
exchanged while establishing the level of security as all the information if exchanged could
cause huge losses so most of the information is password protected, which enables the manager
to take accurate decisions (Alexander, 2013).
3.2 Control Systems required for Effective Facilities Operations
There are numerous processes which needs to be controlled and effectively managed in a
Hotel, for that various control system are established :-
 There are control systems established in the field of accounts. In order to know how a
Hotel is performing proper accounting had to be done and for that the requirement of
necessary software was there along with experts who could handle it.
 Then need for safety of people living and working in the organization was there, for that
establishing and maintaining proper CCTV & Security was required. This is the most
useful control system in Hotel industry.
 Along with that a proper system showing daily occupancy and maintaining charts of
empty and occupied rooms along with that future bookings is needed. For that
establishing a software and its articulate management is required.
3.3 Systems Needed by Facilities manager to support Effective Building Management
There are various systems needed in place, to orderly manage a Hotel building
effectively. Various facets of management of building are discussed below :-
 Ensuring continuous light and water supply.
 Maintaining the plumbing services 24/7.
 Effective customer service management.
 Continuous security and CCTV service management.
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 Proper accounting of various data.
 Enough supply is there with Hotel and constant replenishment.
 Maintaining all the bookings effectively.
TASK 4
4.1 Evaluate the Quality and Effectiveness of Facilities Operation
If evaluate the quality and effective of operations and installation then easily find is doing
great is about all the country of operations. It has a well managed system of worker and quality
relation in its operations. The explanation for this is in good order train worker for doing
operations. Moreover, it is also kept them happy to improve overall organisation performance.
This is to be focus on offering the balance between social life and work life. It is also booming in
managing its reimbursement by proper prediction and carrying out of its trading operations in
various parts of the planetary. It has a well managed economic process chain administration
system of rules.
For illustration, it goes in line with its domestic partner and provider. It runs through
concession system which not alone assistance to bring down reimbursement but to also be
geographic accessible. To be focus on proper technology which is to be give direct impact on
interpretability and productivity must be increase for improving market share (Brown and
Bessant, 2013). This is help to increase current market share as well as future change must be
adopt future outcomes.
4.2 Analyse Quality and Effectiveness
In this context, preoccupied, through becoming check and balances and assignment more
control to installation operations managing director, it is proper keep the choice and outcomes of
its operations. For example, through proper preparation and improvement, worker know how to
be well in operations. Organisation is to be focus on operation management to solve any kind of
problem and improve market performance. Some changes are to be improve for increasing
market share as well as future changes. It may be improve future outcomes and convert loss into
profit and rise market share. To be focus on employees are to be more loyal to company as per
the need of future change must be concern about it.
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CONCLUSION
Facilities Operation Management is a very tedious job specially in a hotel industry where
a hotel is underperforming. In this report a thorough analysis of all the aspects accruing to it are
discussed. From the responsibilities of manager till the regulation of government along with how
an effective system is established, all these points are discussed and attention is drawn towards
various environmental factors as well and how they have to be managed in order to see that hotel
are not violating any environment regulations. It could also be concluded that operation
management in hospitality industry does not only deal with the rising pressure of providing
excellent service but needs to make sure that it is taking care of its employees as well. Facilities
manager also takes care of the supplies within an organisation. They are also assigned with the
task of communicating all the expense/income to the ownership and are accountable for all the
expenditure they make. Therefore, it is a complex job and needs some executing even more so if
the scenario is of an underperforming hotel. The person needs to be an all-rounder and possess
the knowledge about various aspects in order to tackle any situation that comes his way.
REFERENCES
Books & Journals
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Krajewski, L.J., Ritzman, L.P. and Malhotra, M.K., 2010. Operations management: processes
and supply chains. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.
Galindo, G. and Batta, R., 2013. Review of recent developments in OR/MS research in disaster
operations management. European Journal of Operational Research, 230(2), pp.201-211.
Karlsson, C., 2010. Researching operations management. In Researching Operations
Management (pp. 20-55). Routledge.
Wong, B.K. and Lai, V.S., 2011. A survey of the application of fuzzy set theory in production
and operations management: 1998–2009. International Journal of Production Economics,
129(1), pp.157-168.
Nielsen, S., Chambers, C. and Farr, J., 2010. Method of using coded marking patterns in
underground facilities locate operations. U.S. Patent Application 12/764,164.
Alexander, K., 2013. Facilities management: theory and practice. Routledge.
Brown, S. and Bessant, J., 2013. Strategic operations management. Routledge.
Online
“The vital importance of facilities management to a thriving business”. 2015. [Online] Available
<https://www.talk-business.co.uk/2015/05/15/vital-importance-facilities-management-
thriving-business/>
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