The Grievance And Disciplinary Procedures

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction:

In this report we discuss about facilities manager behaviour and which share a site the local education system. Topics which are covered in this report are role of facilities manger , cleaning services security within about building. In this report we will discuss about different between room allocations and space planning and we will also study the people which are working in any organization. We will study people at work both as individuals and within work groups and how they impacted front office and reception activities.

Methodology

The objective of the paper is to analyze the facilities manager’s functions. This would entail a case study of education system and would include analysis of its operations the data required to make this study were collected from articles and materials related to the subject that were found online. The qualitative research method was used in this study because the purpose is to investigate the why and how of facilities manger work. The main method for gathering was the reading analysis of articles found in different journals and periodicals.

All organizations work in different ways and have different systems and procedures which they expect their staff to carry out in the coruse of their day to day duties. The operation of administration procedures is important since the organization’s activities must be coordinated and planned. If inadequate administration procedures are in operation, the organization may suffer from a lack of efficiency and effectiveness since it does not have access to all relevant information. Administration procedures obviously play a vital role. They are the means by which the organization is able to operate as a whole. Any organization can have good ideas and well motivated employees, but without procedures to ensure that functions are carried out, these may be unsuccessful.

According to Atkin and Brooks (2000) facilities management as; "an integrated approach to operating, maintaining, improving and adapting the building and infrasutructure of an organization in oder to create an environment that strongly supports the primary objectivesof that organization.( atkin and brooks,2000:1)

The facilities manager provides a supporting management fuction to the core business of an organization; concentrates on the area of interface between physical workplace and people and requires a kulti-skill approach to integrate people, place, process and technology in executing its support functions. the functions could be as complex as strategic planning to as menial as cleaning services and a range of services in between.

Business and organizations will have aseries of other procedures. These will include:-

Health and safety:-

This will need to follow the requirements of health and safety legislation and will provide guidenece to employees on ensuring that the workplace remains a healthy and risk –free environment. Making the work environment as healthy and relaxing as possible should be part of any emploer’s occupational health strategy. Feeling happy and safe at work can make employees feel less stressed and also improve performance.

Security and confidentially:-

Thses will include procedures to ensure that the building , the business or organization’s property and confidential information remain safe.security relates not only to the physical security of the building and contents but also to the intellectual property of the education environment. Some example of security procedures include;-

Entry to and exit from the building controlled by security guards, pin number and ID card

Password protection of staff computers and email accounts.

Physical security within the main building such as locked or restricted access rooms to protect computer servers and data that is stored in the organization.

Grievance and disciplinary procedures:-

These will also follow legislation but will state how employee can bring a complaint to the notice of the employer and the procedures to be followed to investigate that grievance. The disciplinary prodecure will state unacceptable behaviour and the sanctions that can be brought against the employee. It will also state the stages involved in the disciplinary procedures.

Fire regulations:-

The regulatory reform (fire safety) 2005 requires a five-step fire risk assessment to be undertaken and steps implemented to prevent hazards. Institutitions need to have adequate escape routes and equipment and all staff need good training in fire safety in the organization premises.

Role of Facilities manager:-

According to the british institute of facilities management, the facilities manager in any business has an important role.

" at a corporate level, it (the role) contributes to the delivery of strategic and operational objectives. On a day –to-day, effective facilities management provides a safe and effective working environment, which is essential to the performance of any businesss, whatever its size and scope.

Visit the british institute of facilities management website at www.bifm.org.uk for more information. Facility managers are responsible for particular facilities either for one organization or on behalf of a number of organizations and function largely at a strategic level.

The facilities manager should be easily identifiable in any business as they will be responsible for so many cross –organization functions. typical responsibilities of the facilities manager might include:-

Being the building manager, ensuring statutory compliance for health and safety matters

Being the first contact for all building maintenance and development matters

Undertaking risk assessments, organising emergency procedures and liasing with staff

Liaising with other managers to undertake specific health and safety audits

Ensuring that all legislative requirements are met

Liaising with reporting and mainting standers on departments such as maintenance catering and cleaning

Liaising with internal and external providers to obtain the best level of health and safety provision.

Co-ordinating all aspects of health and safety and fire safety in the areas of responsibility.

Ensuring that there are proper assessments of risks to health and safety and implementation of measures and arrangements identified as necessary from the assessments.

The role of facilities manager also has a very important part to play in linking the business strategy and objectives within the organization to high levels of health and safety.

Like facilities manager, the human resorces director is very senior position within the business.they too will have strategic training as well as health and safety responsibilities. Department heads are usually much lower down in the organizational structure of a business than facilities managers and human resorces directors,but they still have very important responsibilities concerning health and safety.

The fuctions of facilities manger could be expanded into four major divisions with multiple sub divisions to suit the particular needs of the insititutions.the four structures and their sub functions suggested by Barret and B aldy (2003) are show below:

Facility planning

Strategic space planning, set corporate planning standards and guidelines, identify user needs, monitor space use, define performance measure

Real estate and building construction

New building design and construction management, negotiation and management of lease, control of capital budget etc.

Building operation and maintenance

Run and mantain plant, maintain building fabric, energy management

General/office service

Provide and manage suppot services, office purchasing, house keeping standards, health and safety (barret and baldry , 2003:48)

The list above is not exhaustive: it shows that the facilities managers performs different fuctions to suppot the core objectives of the particular institutions. The development , operation and maintenance of infrastruturre and techhnoogy are critical support services to the core functions of teaching and research in higher education institutions.

Cleaning services;- in an institutions staff utilizes the lateset equipment, porter services techniques and commercial cleaning supplies to meet and excedd high standards of cleanliness and building appearance. Keeping up a professional appearance and maintaining proper sanitation is an ongoing challenge for large facilities with a high volume of customers.

Space allocation:-

Burke et al. (2001)define space allocation as "the allocation of resources to areas of space such as rooms, satisfying as many requirements and constraints as possible"and Burke &D. B. Varley (1998)define space allocation as a process of allocating rooms or areas of space for specific functionality

Throughout the higher education sector the problem of space allocation is further complicated by the fact that no standard procedure is practiced. Many institutions have own standards and requirements which are very different to other institutionsDifferent levels of authority control the domains of rooms and resources in different institutions. The most common situation is where a central university office controls a number of faculties, each managing a number of departments. The allocation of office space in any large institution is usually a problematical issue, which often demands a substantial amount of time to perform manually. The result of this allocation affects the lives of whoever makes use of the space. In the higher education sector in the UK, space is becoming an increasingly precious commodity. Student numbers have risen significantly over the last few years and as a result, university departments have grown in size. In addition, universities have come under increasing financial pressure to ensure that space is utilized as efficiently and effectively as possible. However, space utilization is only one issue to take into account when measuring whether or not a particular allocation is of a sufficient high quality.

The problem of space allocation is further complicated by the fact that no standard procedure is practiced throughout the higher education sector. Most institutions have their own standards and requirements, which are often very different to other institutions. Different levels of authority control the domains of rooms and resources in different institutions. The most common situation is where a central university office controls a number of faculties, each managing a number of departments.. The processing power of computers and the repetitive search nature of this problem means that there is great potential for the automation of this process.

Relation between space planning and business needs:-

Space planning are those standards of accommodation which allocating and planning space. Planning spaces is functional requirements such as space per person, meeting rooms, reception, circulation areas, etc.business needs determine and shape the type of office space required such as work space, meeting space or support space.

Total ficilities management:-

In this system, the management and operation of the whole range of support services are packed together and entrusted to a single supplier. According to barrett and baldry: this approach demends considerable commitment on behalf of the client organization in entrusting the satisfaction of its support services needs to an exclusive supplier for a prolonged period of time. For its part the total facilities management is required to provide a high level of management expertise based upon a clear undersatanding of the primary business of the organization.( barrett and baldry 2003:144)This system of facilities management has been in practice in many private high schools and colleges and many universities are also adopting the system. The success rate of total facilities management in some institutions is not encouraging

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Risk assessments:-

Managing health and safety the workplace is a complicated and difficult task. The best employers will be able to assess risk through the effective use of risk assessments and manage risk in the workplace by monitoring risk and preventing harm. One of the best ways to manage risk in the workplace is by the completion of risk assessments. A risk assessment is a method of looking at work activities assessing what could go wrong and then identifying suitable prevention measures to minimise loss, damage or injury. They are now a legal requirement in the workplace. The management of health and safety at work regulations 1999 ensure that all employers and the self employed assess the risks from their work on anyone who may be affected by their activities. Businesses might use a generic risk assessment that is applicable to all risks, they might use ones for specific risks, and such as fire management or they might use one-off risk assessments such as for school or college trips.

Ethics play such an important part in the management of facilities:-

Ethics:-

Ethics are to do with what is right and wrong. Ethics plays an increasingly important role in business today. When a particular business seeks to achieve its aims, is it right that it might do so by paying low wages. Organizations ethics is therefore the application of ethical values to business conduct-from boardroom strategies and how companies treat their suppliers to sales techniques and accounting practices. Ethics goes beyond the legal requirements for a company and is therefore a matter of choice. Business ethics applies to the conduct both of individuals and to the organization as a whole. An ethical business has a broad agenda and focuses on making a positive contribution to the community.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR):-

Corporate social responsibility refers to the extent that a business considers what it does in relation to the wider world. All organizations are expected to think about what they do. The U.K.government encourages CSR as seen in the following passage from the government‘s gateway web:

"The government sees CSR as the business contribution to our sustainable development goals. Essentially, it is about how a business takes account of its economic, social, and environmental impacts in the way it operates- maximising the benefits and minimising the downloads."