FM policies and standards as a knowledge management system

Deployment and effectiveness of a series of property and facilities management (FM) policies and standards is examined from a knowledge management perspective. Does that give a better basis for effective deployment than a view of policy as driven by experts interpreting business need? A survey of the perceptions of users concerning the need for, and the deployment in practice of, standards reveals four factors which appear to correlate with the steps of the knowledge creation process suggested by Nonaka and Takeuchi. The authors believe this to be the first demonstration of FM conceptualised in such a manner. Adopting a more socially orientated approach which maximises the individual’s input to the knowledge creation process, should lead to improved quality of codified knowledge, and improvement in both customer satisfaction levels and deployment in practice of standards.