Better guidance on career options is essential in an era when many young adults are rethinking the value of a higher education degree. This issue’s book review looks at the first general book on facility management to be reviewed in the coming year. Several others, including many well-known books, will be available through APPA’s bookstore.
Facility Management for Complete Beginners
Reed, Aishax M., 2023, 350 pp., paperback $18.95.
The facility management industry always needs workers at all levels, including management. Despite that, too many institutions and organizations don’t support the need with introductory materials demonstrating the value, benefits, and basic ropes. Many Gen Z’ers and growing Gen Alphas are interested in making the world a better place, but they often don’t receive exposure to careers that will allow them to achieve their goals. While it isn’t said directly, that appears to be true with Facility Management for Complete Beginners.
It may be bold on my part to say that facility management is a mile wide and is, at times, a mile deep. But when you think about it, the industry encapsulates a lot of topics and professions—from architecture and engineering, economics and finance, people management and leadership, and likely several other areas. It is a great industry where one can work with people of all backgrounds, skills, talents, and education. Writing a book about an industry that is so all-encompassing is a challenge, particularly a book focused on the beginner.
Reed has organized the book well, moving from general introductory information to planning, then operations, design, construction, and ending with leadership. It is a reasonable organization that matches APPA’s Body of Knowledge (BOK) and is focused on a different audience. Beginning with planning lays the groundwork for everything to follow, and it really starts with the big picture of facilities and identifies how to “zoom in.”
Zooming in to some of the details, there is considerable information about project management for beginners, which is likely a good thing because so much of project management can be applied to operations and maintenance (O&M). The concepts of network scheduling and critical path analysis, initially developed for new construction, can also be applied to maintenance—particularly preventive maintenance. Also presented is earned value analysis, which is familiar to projects but less so for maintenance despite its value in managing a budget when it is frequently difficult to predict what maintenance tasks may arise in six to nine months. Several other tools that are not addressed in the BOK are presented.
There are two sections dedicated to leadership. The first is about leadership behavior, while the second covers leadership development. Both cover over 25 percent of the text, a good fraction considering the importance of leadership in facility management.
While Facility Management for Complete Beginners may not directly apply to most readers of this column, it is a good addition to one’s library of books and a very good reference and read for young people considering career options. It is light where it needs to be and answers many general questions an outsider might have about a very rewarding field that helps people and works to make the world a better place.
APPA Fellow Theodore (Ted) Weidner, PhD, PE, RA, NCARB, DBIA, CEFP, is professor of engineering practice at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. He can be reached at [email protected]. If you would like to write a book review, please contact Ted directly.
Bookshelf
Book reviews on current publications relevant to the profession, trends, and working environment of facilities and educational managers and professionals. To contribute a book review, contact Ted Weidner, field editor of this column.
See all Bookshelves.
