A grounded theory approach to community-based facilities management : the context of Cape Town, South Africa

Michell, KA 2010, A grounded theory approach to community-based facilities management : the context of Cape Town, South Africa , PhD thesis, Salford : University of Salford.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the role that Facilities Management (FM) can play in assisting local government to achieve optimal and sustainable land uses. The focus of the study is on South African local government, and in particular Cape Town. Local government in South Africa is required in terms of legislation to promote, inter alia, social and local economic development and to encourage community participation. Particular emphasis is to be placed on communities that were disenfranchised under the apartheid system. The central premise is that a social constructivist perspective of FM is necessary in order to assist local government in the attainment of sustainable human settlements. FM literature lacks a coherent theoretical framework that guides the practice of FM in the public sector. In addition, a scrutiny of local government policy within South Africa points to a limited understanding of the role that facilities, particularly community facilities, can play in leveraging the social and economic outcomes that are required of local government. A grounded theory approach was adopted within a social constructivist paradigm. Field data were collected using unstructured interviews with 60 respondents from within government (local, provincial and quasi-); the private sector; non-government organisations; and the community. The data show that, while a socially-constructed view of FM has the potential to act as a mechanism for local government to achieve its constitutional mandate, it is constrained by the structure of local government and an inability to harness community resources. A key implication of the findings is that a social and community perspective of FM is necessary in the management of community facilities in the local government context in South Africa. The contribution of this socially- constructed theory to FM is twofold. Firstly, it introduces a change in the scale of the application of FM theory from a micro-level focus on the building, to a macro-level focus at an urban precinct scale. Secondly, it proposes a theory to the relationship between space, place and people within the context of public sector FM.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Contributors:	Kagioglou, M (Supervisor)
Schools:	Schools > School of the Built Environment
Depositing User:	Institutional Repository
Date Deposited:	03 Oct 2012 13:34
Last Modified:	04 Aug 2022 11:25
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/26816

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