Sheila Sheridan, CPM, CFM, CFMJ, current chairperson of the International
Facility Management Association (IFMA), heads the facilities and services department at
Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. During her 20 years at
Harvard, Sheridan has supervised the growth of the government school campus
front two to four buildings and numerous satellite locations. Under her
direction, four units in her department have been recognized with the Dean's
Award of Excellence during the past five years.
Sheridan has been an
IFMA member since 1989. An early proponent of the Certified Facility Manager
(CFM) designation, Sheridan was also recognized with IFMA's Distinguished Member
Award in 1995. Among her other contributions to IFMA are teaching roles within
IFMA's educational curriculum and numerous international speaking engagements on
behalf of the association.
While Sheridan was at the recent IREM IREM Institute of Real Estate Management (Chicago, Illinois)
IREM Institute of Real Estate
Managers
IREM Integrated Research, Evaluation, and System Analysis
Model
IREM Infra-Red Emission Microscopy Education Conference in San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō),
city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay;
inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and
Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. to lead the seminar "Facilities
Management The management of a user's computer
installation by an outside organization. All operations including systems,
programming and the datacenter can be performed by the facilities management
organization on the user's premises. in the 21st Century," she sat down
with the Journal to discuss the future of her profession and what it's like to
work at one of the most famous universities in the world.
Journal of Property Management[R]:
How has facility management changed
during the last 20 years?
Sheila Sheridan: Twenty
years ago facility management was the practice of
coordinating the physical workplace with the people and the work of the
organization. Back then it integrated the principles of business administration,
architecture and the behavioral and engineering sciences. Today facility
management is a profession that encompasses multiple disciplines to ensure
functionality of the work environment by integrating people, place, process and
technology.
JPM
JPM J. P. Morgan Chase & Co. (stock
symbol)
JPM Juan Pablo Montoya (formula 1
driver)
JPM Jabatan Perdana Menteri (Malaysia)
JPM Journal of Property Management
[R]: What are the major issues facing today's facility managers?
Sheridan: Environmental concerns and sustainable practices for facility
management are an important topic gaining growing interest among facility
professionals. Issues of particular concern are urban infrastructure, health,
environmental protection, transportation, communication systems, water and the
weather--as they relate to facility management.
JPM[R]: How will these
issues affect the way facility managers do their jobs?
Sheridan:
Facility management is constantly evolving and the boundaries of the profession
are becoming far less distinct, requiring professionals to become adept at a
wider array of core competencies. This trend is likely to continue well into the
future. Moreover, facility management professionals will also have growing
shared responsibilities with human
resources The fancy word for "people." The human
resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel
department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. ,
information technology and finance professionals within their companies and will
be required to collaborate with other functional areas.
JPM[R]: How are
current trends defining the facility manager's workplace?
Sheridan: The
"workplace" of the present is becoming less confined by physical attributes and
more defined by technology and virtual environments, offering a variety of
alternatives to workers. This trend is likely to grow stronger as technology
advances.
JPM[R]: What is the most critical element of this "workplace"?
Sheridan: The human factor and its interaction with the work environment
will remain crucial in the workplace. Providing the workers with an
infrastructure that will be conducive to productivity and an interface that will
increase satisfaction are and will remain of highest priority.
JPM[R]:
Are there any other factors affecting the changing workplace?
Sheridan:
The workplace of tomorrow will move from "cube
farm cube farm cube n
(inf) → Großraumbüro nt (mit
Trennwänden) " toward one that is personalized and flexible.
Physical location of an office is increasingly important in recruitment and
retention, and facility cost considerations have resulted in a revitalization of
small towns. Facility managers are responsible for the facilitation of
interaction, not distribution, of physical space. The workday will be directed
by responsibilities, resulting in 24/7 global business.
The workplace of
tomorrow will feature super community centers, which may negate the necessity
for home offices. These centers will include office space, healthcare
facilities, shopping options, recreation and entertainment. Home offices will
become merely touchdown space.
JPM[R]: What about global issues facing
the workplace?
Sheridan: Global demographics of both facility managers
and their customers are changing at a pace that is further accelerated by the
fading of global lines. Changes are occurring in age, expectations, lifestyles,
education level and field, experiences, gender, work style, international
travel, increased business process outsourcing
Business process outsourcing (BPO) is the contracting of a
specific business task, such as payroll, to a third-party service provider.
Usually, BPO is implemented as a cost-saving measure for tasks that a company
requires but does not depend upon to maintain its position in and
leasing of employees.
JPM[R]: What will Facility managers need to do to
address global issues facing the workplace?
Sheridan: As business
becomes more global, facility management professionals will have to accommodate
the expanding infrastructure, bridge the growing distances and facilitate
productive work that spans various geographic locales, addressing the
differences in the areas of mobility, communication tools, culture, languages,
laws, regulations, measurements, expectations and education.
JPM[R]: How
will facility management as a profession continue to evolve?
Sheridan:
In the coming years facility management will be a microcosm of the economy
complete with labor shortages, new waves of racially diverse customers and
changing customer expectations. In order to remain relevant, facility managers
will need a clear vision of long-term corporate strategy rather than a
short-term focus on tactics. Strategic facilities planning and budgeting will be
more complex and require longer-term scenario planning Scenario
planning or Scenario thinking is a strategic planning method that
some organizations use to make flexible long-term plans. It is in large part an
adaptation and generalization of classic methods used by military intelligence.
.
JPM[R]: As the profession changes, what will be expected of
facility managers?
Sheridan: Facility managers will be evaluated on
financial performance yet their jobs will also require soft skills such as
motivational training, communications, project team building, multi-tasking,
internal public
relations public
relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a
person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature,
public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them
to the public in the most , adaptability and sensitivity to cultural
diversity. Also, examples of new necessary competency skills include energy
management, productivity management, security, financial analysis, negotiation
strategies, out-sourced services management and strategic planning.
JPM[R]: How does the need for increased sustainability affect the future
of facility management?
Sheridan: We're seeing a paradigm
shift A dramatic change in methodology or practice.
It often refers to a major change in thinking and planning, which ultimately
changes the way projects are implemented. For example, accessing applications
and data from the Web instead of from local servers is a paradigm shift. See
paradigm. front operating costs to total cost of ownership over the
lifecycle. This maximizes return on investment for facilities. With regard to
sustainability, there's a certain expectation from workers and the community,
and in turn, these groups are engaged in planning processes. In 1987, the United
Nations Commission on Environment and Development, the Bruntland Commission,
defined sustainable development as meeting the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
JPM[R]: How has Harvard helped foster the vision of increased
sustainability?
Sheridan: The University has been very thoughtful to
preserve the buildings' exteriors, while adapting the interiors to promote
sustainability. As we build we must think about sustainable options. Harvard's
three-year old Green Campus Initiative is helping to educate faculty, staff and
students about sustainability. Winston Churchill once said, "We shape our
buildings and thereafter, they shape us."
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