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Svensson, I (2020) Change In Public Facilities Management Organisations: The Connection Between Emotions, Humans And Objects. In: Scott, L and Neilson, C J (Eds.), Proceedings 36th Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-8 September 2020, UK, Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 786-795.
- Type: Conference Proceedings
- Keywords: facilities management, institutional work, organizational change, sociomateriality, work practices
- ISBN/ISSN: 978-0-9955463-3-2
- URL: http://www.arcom.ac.uk/-docs/proceedings/da77e97166ce2ceffba91a3ebe9c09e1.pdf
- Abstract:
Following a call to combine institutional work (IW) with sociomateriality this paper investigates how human and objects together perform IW, in public facilities management organizations (PFMOs) undergoing change and the results of this for the institution of public FM. Recently, governmental sustainability directives, together with a large building stock in need of measures, particularly in less advantaged city areas, put pressure on PFMOs in Sweden to change. However, as local governments lack necessary overview of their building stocks as well as the organizational capabilities to manage them as to meet current challenges this change process is postulated to be challenging. Findings are based on analysis of eight interviews and a workshop with nine participants that either work in PFMOs or in organizations cooperating with PFMOs. Findings show that PFMOs in Sweden are moving away from organizing their operations focusing on maintenance and facility management to become ‘project-based organizations’, responsible for extensive re-building projects and new construction. This has increased organizational complexity and put pressure on individual employees, especially project managers, resulting in insecurity and feelings of stress. To reduce these negative feelings, findings indicate that humans use different strategies involving objects, when purposely (trying to) create new practices i.e. to change. Different types of objects and heuristics become “hooks” to “hang” the insecurity on. Three distinct strategies and types of objects are presented: ‘comfort blankets’, future objects and sweeping concepts. The strategies and type of objects identified are likely to reduce insecurity and anxiety but hamper change in practice, thus maintain current institutionalized practices. Complementing previous research that has shown how agents engage in creating new or disrupting old institutions if the current situational order threatens their psychological wellbeing, it is argued here that agents may very well also engage in activities that maintain institutions.when their psychological wellbeing is threatened.