Investigating the Facility Management Professional Shortage
Vol.4, No.3 – October 2013
Investigating the Facility Management Professional Shortage
Roscoe Hightower, Jr., Ph.D.
Professor of Marketing
School of Business and Industry
Florida A&M University
Tallahassee, FL 32307 roscoe.hightower@famu.edu and
James Highsmith
MBA Candidate
School of Business and Industry
Florida A&M University
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this manuscript is to investigate the importance of creating a collegiate educational program that focuses on attracting and training a new generation of Facility Management professionals. The sustainability of businesses and organizations in today’s global economy relies on Facility Management professionals with advanced business knowledge and technical skills (Hightower, 2013). Every year fewer and fewer college students are choosing the Facility
Management career path resulting in a lack of qualified personnel to fill the growing number of Facility Management job positions that are opening yearly. Two major reasons behind the qualified candidate shortage is; the lack of exposure to the profession as well as the discrepancy that exists between the skills needed by the employers and the skills that are taught in college. Educators maintain that their role is not to teach specific skills, but provide students with fundamental knowledge. As of 2013 there are relatively few International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Accredited
Degree Programs (ADP). American businesses (i.e., especially multi-national corporations MNCs) are at risk when one considers that Facility Managers play a huge role in MNC operations and overall profitability.
Design / Methodology / Approach: A convenience sample of MNCs, FM professionals, Educators responded to a number of items via an online questionnaire.
Findings: The initial findings indicate initial support for the hypotheses that 1) companies will be more profitable if there are more IFMA ADPs producing FM professionals, 2) IFMA ADPs that
Investigating the Facility Management Professional Shortage
Roscoe Hightower, Jr., Ph.D.
Professor of Marketing
School of Business and Industry
Florida A&M University
Tallahassee, FL 32307 roscoe.hightower@famu.edu and
James Highsmith
MBA Candidate
School of Business and Industry
Florida A&M University
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this manuscript is to investigate the importance of creating a collegiate educational program that focuses on attracting and training a new generation of Facility Management professionals. The sustainability of businesses and organizations in today’s global economy relies on Facility Management professionals with advanced business knowledge and technical skills (Hightower, 2013). Every year fewer and fewer college students are choosing the Facility
Management career path resulting in a lack of qualified personnel to fill the growing number of Facility Management job positions that are opening yearly. Two major reasons behind the qualified candidate shortage is; the lack of exposure to the profession as well as the discrepancy that exists between the skills needed by the employers and the skills that are taught in college. Educators maintain that their role is not to teach specific skills, but provide students with fundamental knowledge. As of 2013 there are relatively few International Facility Management Association (IFMA) Accredited
Degree Programs (ADP). American businesses (i.e., especially multi-national corporations MNCs) are at risk when one considers that Facility Managers play a huge role in MNC operations and overall profitability.
Design / Methodology / Approach: A convenience sample of MNCs, FM professionals, Educators responded to a number of items via an online questionnaire.
Findings: The initial findings indicate initial support for the hypotheses that 1) companies will be more profitable if there are more IFMA ADPs producing FM professionals, 2) IFMA ADPs that
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