Project Briefing and Change-Responsive Facilities Management

Abstract

The paper explores the potential for project briefing to serve as a catalyst for organizational change, and describes the development of a briefing procedure for a university student services facility intended to be used in this way. Effective involvement of facility end users is identified as a key feature, and impediments to achieving this in the context of workplace change are then examined. A model for the briefing process is proposed which seeks to minimize these impediments and to promote opportunities for innovation and change in both workplace practices and the work environment. The application of this model in the development of a two phase process for project briefing is outlined. The paper then identifies the role of the facilities management discipline in change management processes within work organizations, and concludes that facility managers are ideally positioned to initiate and oversee project briefing procedures that promote changes in work practices.

Keywords:

• Project briefing
• user participation
• workplace change
• facilities management