UAE Facility Maintenance: A Literature Review on Customer Satisfaction

This literature review examines factors influencing customer satisfaction in the maintenance of UAE government facilities. It emphasizes adhering to maintenance standards, incorporating fire-resistant materials, and ensuring professionalism in maintenance operations. Energy efficiency management, addressing aging infrastructure, and implementing reflective building designs are crucial. The review highlights the importance of facility management in controlling service delivery and meeting customer demands, while also stressing the need for well-trained maintenance personnel and the use of appropriate HVAC systems to maintain air quality and avoid health issues. Finally, the review concludes that a well-structured maintenance program, including inspection, scheduled maintenance, and corrective actions, is essential for enhancing building value and ensuring customer satisfaction.

1.7 Literature Review
In order to ensure that the customer satisfaction is protected and maintained the
maintenance services providers should ensure strictly conform to the standards associated with
the maintenance (Jadidoleslami et al, 2018). In relation, there are regulations that are aimed at
improving the performance of buildings in UAE.
The government facility maintenance services providers should incorporate the use of the
A2- standard panels that are capable of resisting fire. Already, factories have been established
with the purpose of producing these panels. On the other hand, the use of these panels is in the
process of being made compulsory under the UAE’s Fire and Life Safety Code (Jadidoleslami et
al, 2018). The manufacturing of these panels the use of a stone core. In this way, the panes are
less susceptible to igniting than any other existing panels.
One of the challenges is ensuring that the facilities are always in operation and they are
safe. Defective facilities are dangerous for use by the public which is also the forms the customer
base (Barbour & Schostak, 2005). The companies providing the maintenance services should
make use of incorporate professionalism in their activities. Unqualified personnel inclusion in
the maintenance operation of the facilities as well as the government buildings is not only against
the law and the set standards and regulation but also has an undesirable impression on the client
happiness when the disaster strikes (Lepkova & Žūkaitė-Jefimovienė, 2012). Involvement of the
professional workforce in the maintenance makes public to be loyal to the companies given the
responsibility of taking care of the government facilities.
Another issue that affects customer satisfaction is on the concept of energy efficiency
management. What is all about this? Generally, the energy crisis is the issue that has been
identified to be affecting each and every person in the world. The United Arab Emirates
government buildings maintenance services is not an exception. The equipment used in these
buildings should evaluate the best ones be used in the facilities (Barbour, & Schostak, 2005).
The criteria for selection should be based on the energy consumption rate. The equipment that
consumes the least energy should be preferred. This is because that the cost of the energy that
results due to the usage of non-efficient equipment.

Government assets and infrastructure aging is the other challenge that needs to be looked
on. The aging of the assets and the infrastructure is has a bad image to the public. Such facilities
have the effect of ruining the aesthetic values that have a negative influence on the customer
satisfaction (Lepkova & Žūkaitė-Jefimovienė, 2012). Apart from ruining the aesthetic value, the
aging infrastructure and assets of the governments are not safe for the people working or residing
in the governmental buildings (Jadidoleslami et al, 2018). The approach to this is that these
assets and facilities need to be replaced on time as well as the maintaining the facilities that call
for maintenance in time. Delays can ruin the image of the facilities, and that means that
satisfaction of the customer is compromised.
Buildings should also be capable of reflecting the solar rays. The concept is simple but in
reality, it is useful in controlling the internal condition of the buildings. Customers occupying the
houses will feel more comfortable if they stay in houses that have well-controlled conditions.
They feel satisfied and loyalty to the government and the architectural service providers. In
addition to this, the architectural designs need to be varying (Lepkova & Žūkaitė-Jefimovienė,
2012). The uniqueness of the designs will also add to the customer satisfaction.
1.7.1Facility management approach
The facility management concept is a well-known term by the organization. Its
misunderstanding and implementation are one of the causes of failure of customer satisfaction in
UAE. Most of the companies that provide maintenance services of the facilities find it hand in
generating the promised added value to the facility management.
The facility management is usually defined as the measures that are undertaken with the
purpose controlling the delivery services such as maintenance services of the buildings. The
customer is considered to be central to the supply of the facility services (Jadidoleslami et al,
2018). Instead of conceptualizing the idea of facility management should be replaced by
demand-oriented. By allowing the facility management to control the demand, means that it is
better to address the environmental requirements. The main aim is the creation of the cost-
effective and successful facility management, directed in satisfying the demands of the
customers (Jadidoleslami et al, 2018).

The maintenance personnel should be trained in such a way that the performance of their
maintenance tasks without interrupting the daily activities that take place in the building. The
advantage with the isolation of the conditioning system and having being centralized at one place
helps the individuals carrying out the maintenance activities, to minimize noise and in this way,
they enhance the building in terms of the aesthetic value.
The service reliability of the conditioning system has much impact on the level of the
productivity of the individuals occupying the buildings as well as their comfort. This is in
reference to the fact that the cooling and heating system are vital when installing in the buildings.
A building that has a faulty or poorly installed heating and cooling system would be difficult for
the individuals to stay in. The indoor air quality of a building is important in helping the
occupants of the building in avoiding health issues that arise as result of the faulty conditioning
systems. It has been found that humans spend most of their life inside the buildings.
An inappropriate operation, installation, inadequacy maintenance, and faulty HVAC
systems cause poor ventilation. This has been identified to cause what we call the Sick Building
Syndrome. This is the type of illness that arises as result of contaminants setting up in the
building. The effect of this syndrome is poor health and even decreased production. The various
symptoms of the effects of low-quality indoor air condition include throat, eye and ear irritations,
allergy of the skin, mental fatigue and failure of concentration on what one is being instructed to
do. This arises due to the failure of timely response to the maintenance of the building systems
that ensures that the indoor air condition is at the right level, that helps the occupants of the
building in avoiding the health issues that come along (Lepkova & Žūkaitė-Jefimovienė, 2012).
It is the reality that the inefficient operation, as well as the maintenance of the HVAC
system, has an effect of causing energy wastage. Energy loss means increased cost on the overall
usage by the individual as well as the population of the individuals occupying the building. In
addition to this, energy wastages due to the inefficient HVAC system triggers complain by the
customers. This also has an implication of the damage to the environment as the whole. In order
to avoid such situations, it is important the maintenance activities to be planned with a lot of care
and the activities in relation to the maintenance of the building to take place at the well-timed
periods in ensuring that the occupants or the customers using these buildings do not find

themselves in difficulties that arise due to slow or inappropriate responses to the problems of the
building challenges. The plan for the maintenance of the buildings and the facilities should be
well designed to ensure that they are efficient as they serve the public as a whole.
The condition systems feature that affects satisfaction of the occupants of the building
includes the manufacturer’s recommendations on the maintenance of the building systems. The
manufactures also recommend on the operating environment that the systems should work in.
The maintenance service providers should ensure that they stick to these recommendations. If
they do so, they are able to relieve themselves with regular replacement of the systems as they
try to maintain suitable conditions of the buildings. The following are the main 4 categories of
the maintenance program that if well implemented can raise the value of a building, creating a
favorable condition for the efficient working purposes. These include inspection and testing of
the systems, a scheduled maintenance, condition-based maintenance as well as the corrective
maintenance.
With the changes in technologies and busienss environment factors, it is analyzed that
each and every organization should adopt proper maintenance program to increase the overall
outcomes of the organization. This maintenance program not only increases the overall client’s
satisfaction but also add on the value to the existing work process of organization. The
effectiveness of the maintenances work program is highly dependent upon the staff members
indulged in the work process of the designed maintenance program. Each and every organization
should indulge in developing a proper training program and improving the research and
development areas to strengthen the maintenance program of the organization. For instance, if
clients have any queries and issues in the work process, then the existing maintenance program
will assist clients to resolve their queries for their better satisfaction ( Shin, & Thai, (2015). The
primary goal of the company is to satisfy the clients need and demand. By using the proper
maintenances program, company could add value to the satisfaction level of clients at large. As
per the UAE rules and regulations, staff members hired in the maintenance program of the
company should be qualified enough to render the specified services. Therefore, after analyzing
all the detail and study program of maintenances program, it could be inferred that satisfaction of
the clients is based on the services and products rendered to them. The maintenance program not
only resolves client’s issue in effective manner but also add value to the offered services.

However, the work process of maintenance program should be based on the organization’s goal
and objective (Ennew, Binks, & Chiplin, 2015).
For the purposes of planning, organizing as well as the execution of the maintenance
program in an appropriate manner, it is very important that the functions and the components of
each and every system of the building are understood in details. The conditioning system should
be focused on the components that would improve the enactment and the charge helpfulness of
the systems. For the purpose of reducing the downtime, the counteractive upkeep should be
replaced with the correct preventive upkeep approaches all through (Jadidoleslami et al, 2018).

References
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