Knowledge management practices in facilities organisations: a case study

Purpose – The paper's purpose is to identify the key knowledge variables within a facilities management (FM) environment and to develop an understanding of how FM knowledge is generated and utilised within FM organisations. Design/methodology/approach – The paper includes a review of literature on, underlying trends in FM, knowledge management (KM) in general, and current status of KM in FM and outcomes of three expert interviews with two academics and a practitioner who had extensive knowledge and experience with FM organisations. A case study approach was followed in order to apply the intellectual capital framework to map the knowledge variables within the FM context. Findings – This paper highlights the main findings of the literature, expert interviews and the case study. The research recognised the intellectual capital framework as the means of identifying KM variables within the FM context. It reported the current practices of the case study organisation, strengths and weaknesses in relation to management of facilities knowledge. Literature, expert interviews and case study findings provided the basis in developing the KM maturity stages: recognition of importance, formulation of strategy, implementation of techniques, and evaluation of performance; relating to three components of the intellectual capital. Originality/value – FM knowledge is at a primitive stage of development and its terrain is largely unexplored. While the relevancy and potential value of KM is recognised, its application to the specifics of facilities operations is poorly developed. This study explores the management of knowledge within FM considering the strategic importance of facilities operations within the core organisational setting.