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The aftermath of the recent Taiwanese earthquake revealed structural building defects and disaster management processes that were way below standard. During the boom decade of Asian growth, easy money and greed was most evident in the property sector where the potential for making profits was at times astronomical. The temptation was to construct with minimal thought to safety and long term factors. After all... Asia back then was very much a "short-time" place for all the get rich quick merchants both foreign and local. Though this week's review is very specialised, appealing mostly to structural engineers, property managers, construction professionals and architects, there are still some readable and useful articles available to most management professionals. Of course if you are in the former group, you will find a mass of relevant and specialised articles in the current and previous issues of Structural Engineering and Facilities. And this week we have a special bonus article on earthquake disaster management available from this page only. So let's get started on those articles that may appeal best to a general audience. Megan Walters in an article from Hong Kong examines Performance measurement systems - a case study of customer satisfaction in Facilities; 17: 3/4 1999; pp. 97-104. The abstract reads... This paper discusses the problems for facilities managers in measuring the contribution of property towards the primary task, taking into account the different goals of the various stakeholders within the organisation. It suggests that the types of performance measures used to measure the property resource should reflect the culture of the primary task, rather than reflecting traditional property measures found in investment property management. A case study of a project undertaken for the Estates Management Department of the Mass Transit Railway Corporation of Hong Kong is reviewed, where measures of customer satisfaction were devised to measure property performance, in accordance with the culture of the primary task of the organisation. Alternative workplace strategies are becoming more important these days, as the Internet, teleworking, traffic congestion, and professional specialization work together to make traditional concepts on workplaces increasingly redundant. Architects and building proffessionals need to be right up to date here. And not any less in Hong Kong, where John D. Gilleard , David R. Rees in Alternative Work Place Strategies in Hong Kong (Facilities; 16: 5/6 1998; pp. 133-137) report on the results of a questionnaire survey among facility management professionals. The paper reviews current and future applications for alternative workplace strategies (AWS) in Hong Kong and a survey indicates that the impact of workplace redesign and on-site/on-premises strategies is more favoured when compared with off-site/off-premises strategies. The survey indicates that the current and future impact of AWS in Hong Kong may be less significant when compared with the USA. The work also examines the role of telecommunciations technology and its likely impact on future office accommodation requirements. Finally, the paper concludes by reviewing a number of factors that specifically influence the application of AWS in Hong Kong. And another survey, this time from Australia, on the topic Evaluating user satisfaction: case studies in Australasia (David Leifer, Facilities; 16: 5/6 1998; pp. 138-142). This paper briefly describes problems in the methodology of a 1994 World Health Organisation Study of Building Health in office workers. The advantages of the Works Canada Office User Satisfaction Survey instrument are described. The Works Canada Survey's application to 16 regional Queensland Government offices is described in relation to its ability to target building maintenance and refurbishment related to occupant satisfaction and productivity. The article describes modifications made to the Works Canada instrument to adapt it to Australasian conditions, and also to introduce Building Health parameters. The paper describes its application to benchmark the performance of four of the University of Auckland's office accommodation buildings. The benefits that facility managers can make from such a survey methodology are discussed.Low Sui Pheng from Singapore reckons that the facilities management literature in Western-biased and could do with some good "cultural correctness" from a Chinese sage. Lessons from Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching for the Facilities Manager (Low Sui Pheng, Facilities; 12: 12 1994; pp. 6-14) takes the ideas of philosopher Lao Tzu and incorporates them with Western thinking to enhance the leadership effectiveness of the facilities manager. The article concentrates on the text of the book Tao Te Ching and relates the ideas to management. Provides a summary of the main points of the 37 chapters in book I of Tao Te Ching and provides lessons from the 44 chapters of book II. Concludes that Lao Tzu's teaching holds a wisdom for the modern team leader but suggests Western facilities management should take note as Western notions of ethics and leadership qualities have already caused erosion of Taoism and Confucianism in the East. The article is a little bit dated (1994) but we heve read it throughout and it has lost nothing in it's relevance in 5 years. In fact the normally mean-spirited article reviewers at Anbar and Emerald have given Low Sui Pheng a gong with the maximum rating of three stars for "Practice Implication" and two for "Originality". A great read for Asia Pacific Management Forum regulars. Finally, seeing this week's journals are very specialised, we have provided a free bonus article, available only from this page. We heard a lot about the aftermath of the Taiwan earthquake on the news, but little on how the enormous management task of clearing up the mess was carried out. Perhaps natural tragedies like this are the greatest test of any management system. This article is a whopper.. almost 1 megabyte but it provides excellent insight into the management aspects of earthquake relief, based on the recent 3 earthquakes in Iran. And yet again it's another three star for Practice implications from the earnest abstractors and reviewers tucked away in a dark room in Northern England... Gee.. they must think it's Christmas... With many thanks to Emerald for providing us with the free article, click on the title to download the 911 magabyte PDF file.
Rescue operation and reconstruction of recent earthquakes in IranKeywords: Disasters, Disaster management, Iran Article Type: Survey, Case study Quality Indicators: Research Implication- *, Practice Implication- ***, Originality- **, Readability- * David P. Werner in Coping with Asian telecommunication liberalization in commercial buildings from Facilities; 17: 3/4 1999; pp. 91-96, looks at how Hong Kong Land Ltd. are improving their competitiveness and services: As Asian telecommunications markets become liberalized, there will be significant impact on the design and management of telecommunications space and pathways. Details of the impact will vary according to each country's unique approach to liberalization and according to tenants' expectations with regard to an increasingly competitive telecommunications market. This article explores via each element of telecommunications space and pathways how liberalization of the telecommunications market in Hong Kong is being used as a catalyst to improve services and competitiveness of commercial buildings owned and operated by Hongkong Land Ltd, a major developer of grade A office space in Asia.An article from Australia on The Life Cycle Economics of Buildings by John M. Hutcheson (Facilities; 12: 5 1994; pp. 11-15) reports on.. research into managing buildings (as assets) for continuous use, with a view to maximizing the short, medium and long-term returns on these buildings. The research arose from the needs of property owners to maintain a continuous positive cash flow (profit) rather than accepting a series of major disruptions in cash flows owing to complete refurbishment programmes throughout the economic life of the property. The critical areas of building defects are assessed. Particular attention is paid to the evaluation of building life cycles. Consequently maintenance programme(s) have been derived for buildings with a view to optimizing operating costs. Presents a break-even analysis model. Concludes with a model for managing buildings for continuous use commencing with design and progressing via construction through start-up and ongoing long-term cash flows.Then on to the lion city Singapore where Stephen Donahue in Contractual and statutory liability for building defects in Singapore, (Structural Survey; 17: 1 1999; pp. 32-35) notes: Singapore and the UK share the same common law heritage. English law was imported into Singapore through the colonisation of the island in the nineteenth-century. Singapore law developed in a similar manner to English law, subject to exceptions to reflect the different ethnic and religious identity of Singapore. It is not true to say that English law and Singapore law are identical, despite their common law roots. Since the passing of the Application of the English Law Act in 1993, English statutes are no longer automatically followed in Singapore; however, English common law principles reflected in case law continue to be important. This paper looks at applications in contract law of key areas relating to building defects, such as materials, workmanship and design, in the context of contract law in Singapore.The management concept of team building is now becoming more important to Asia where globalization, foreign investment, and restructuring means that business now needs to be run more along team lines. Not only in general management but also in the property sector, as D.W. Lomas points out in his article Team inspections of high-rise buildings in Hong Kong and the UK (Structural Survey; 15: 4 1997; pp. 162-165) His article Covers topics such as the method and order of inspection, use of checklists and inspection data sheets, team inspections and the roles of the various contributing consultants and duties of the team leader, condition consensus for team inspections and the requirements of both public and private sector clients. Uses case studies from Great Britain and Hong Kong to provide examples. The case studies have been selected because they are from condition inspections of high-rise buildings.And just for a "bit on the side" you may also want to see Orient Pacific Century's guide to Building Teams in Asia for one approach to merging individual strengths to create a synergetic team. (This article is available seperately from the above link.)
None this week! We figure its going to take you all week to read the article on earhquake management in Iran anyway...
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