Management Battlegrounds in the 1990s, a report commissioned by Rank Xerox Facilities Management and produced by the Henley Centre, predicts an accelerating trend towards contracting out non-core activities. The study discusses how economic and demographic patterns will focus managers’ time on core activities, which means that responsibility for peripheral activities will be delegated or passed on. The Henley Centre reckons that while facilities management is currently misunderstood, it will become more prevalent and widespread for a number of reasons. Economics and cost savings will play a part, but freeing senior management time and reducing stress will be equally important. Shrinking profits and growing labour costs over the next 18 months will be a major preoccupation in the short term, but long-term strategic planning will become more important during 1993. At that time, emerging demographic patterns will see a dramatic drop in the number of school-leavers, a trend paralleled by fewer graduates. The Henley Centre believes that as the increase in jobs in the 1990s will be in management and professional positions, quality management is going to be in short supply. Another factor that will make facilities management an attractive proposition is the shortening life-cycle of technologies. Companies will be less willing to buy expensive technology, and the leasing of equipment and services may become more viable. However, the growth of facilities management may be held back by inertia or conservatism, and a perception that it is disruptive. The report can be had free from Rank-Xerox Business Services Uxbridge.
