Scenarios are tools for thinking ahead to anticipate the changes that will impact an organisation. Scenarios can be considered instructive simulations of possible operating conditions. This approach might be used in conjunction with other models to ensure planners truly undertake strategic thinking. Scenario planning may be particularly useful in identifying strategic issues and goals. Scenarios will guide decision makers and provide advance consideration of potential impacts of different facility decisions.
2. Systematic Layout Planning (SLP)
The SLP method was developed by Muther (1973) to create conceptual block layouts. The method successively adds a complex data category until a block layout has been generated, making it a strategic to tactical tool.
- Document the present operation (deliverable: flowcharts)
- Define the activities and planning horizon (deliverable: table)
- Develop activity relationships (deliverable: relationship diagram)
- Develop a square footage requirements spread sheet (deliverable: spread sheet)
- Develop block plan layouts (deliverable: block plan layout)
- Development an equipment layout (deliverable: equipment layout)
SWOT Analysis is another planning tool used to strategically evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in a project or in a business venture. SWOT uses business objectives and identifies both internal and external factors that are either favourable or unfavourable to achieving that objective. The four areas considered are – SWOT:
- Strengths: attributes of the organisation helpful to achieving the objective and describing how they can be leveraged.
- Weaknesses: attributes of the organisation harmful to achieving the objective and how they can be minimised or neutralised.
- Opportunities: external conditions helpful to achieving the objective.
- Threats: external conditions harmful to achieving the objective.
This technique better ensures that various views and aspects are represented, particularly if the individuals are chosen well. The downside may be too much input, which may yield inconsistencies. However, done properly, brainstorming provides opportunity for creative, innovative concepts that might otherwise be overlooked. As such, it is suggested that a professional facilitator should conduct these types of sessions.
5. Strategic Creative Analysis (SCA)
SCA is a process for strategic planning, decision making and analysing case studies. An example of a strategic planning technique that incorporates a SWOT analysis is SCA analysis.
Benchmarking is a useful tool for comparing and measuring a typical organisation against others in order to gain information on philosophies, practices and measures that will help the organisation take action to improve its performance. In summary, benchmarking is the practice of being humble enough to admit that others are better at something and being wise enough to learn how to match, and even surpass, them at it.
Benchmarking utilises much of the organisational understanding gained to compare practices and metrics to recognised leaders. Networking with peer organisations, competitors, and especially for facility organisations, visiting award-winning service organisations provides insight to bring back and adapt to the poganisation operations. Adaptation is the key—recognising a good process or practice and use it in your own specific way within your organisation is the essence of successful benchmarking.In order for SFP to serve as the right mechanism to analyse and improve current facility operations, a proactive approach to benchmarking practices and services of those organisations recognised as industry leaders is needed. Benchmarking may be undertaken as part of a broader process re-engineering initiative, or it might be conducted as a freestanding exercise (Steiss, 2004).
Organisational simulation is a prominent method in organisational studies and strategic management. This tool aims to understand how organisations operate. The organisational simulation can describe the coordination of facility operations based on understanding and analysing the impact of interrelated facility alternatives and activities. This method can measure organisational performance and support strategic thinking (Rouse & Boff, 2005).
8. PESTEL Analysis
PESTEL is a strategic assessment method that groups the strategic themes under six categories: Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological, Environment and Legal. These analyses examine the impact of each of these factors on the organisation. The results can then be used to take advantage of opportunities and to make contingency plans for threats.
- Political, analysing components such as the regulatory, tax and political environment, infrastructure and stability. When examining political factors, there is need to look at any political changes that could affect the organisation. What laws are been drafted? What global changes are occurring? Health and safety, environmental policy, should be considered.
- Economic, considering elements such as consumer confidence, economic growth, inflation and exchange rate. Often the political factors spill over into economic factors. For example, interest rates in many countries are decided by a central bank, but political factors may still be important. Other economic factors include exchange rates, inflation levels, income growth, debt and saving levels (which impact available money) and consumer and organisation confidence. The current state of world stock market is a typical example of the volatility of economic factors. These areas are global, but it is important to look at factors affecting individual organisations. Some countries are now using programmers for software development; this helps them keep costs down and leads to competitive advantage over organisations with higher cost.
- Social, factoring the demographics of the workforce and target customers or clients, lifestyles, culture, population growth and location elements. The elements that build society. Social factors influence people’s choices and include the beliefs, values and attitudes of society. So understanding changes in this area can be very crucial. Such changes can impact purchasing behaviour. Typical things to look at for each of these include:
- consumer attitudes to your services and organisation
- environmental issues
- role of women in the society- attitudes to health, attitude to wealth, attitude to age
Added complications when looking at social and cultural factors are differences in ethnic and social groups. Not all groups have the same attitudes and these impacts how they view products and services. Demographic changes can also play a major part.
- Technology, considering elements such as natural resources, automation opportunity, IT, outsourcing. Advances in technology can have a major impact on organisation’s success, with organisations that fail to keep up often going out of business. Technological socio-cultural attitude change impacts on socio-cultural attitudes. For example the way people spend their leisure the internet has changed dramatically over the last 30 years or so. As well as advances in your own organisation, think about the likely impact of new technologies- the internet, nanotechnology, mobile phones and the increasing advances in computing and computers. Look out for any technology that could make service delivery easier. And watch out the technology that could make your product obsolete.
- Environment, dealing with environmental regulations, green trends, recycling, climate considerations.
- Legal, analysing various laws such as employment, consumer, discrimination, international, health and safety.
References
Bodi Engineering LLC (2003). Facility planning methodology.
Cotts, D. G. (1999). Facility management handbook, AMACOM.
Gem-Up Consulting Inc (2009). Glossary. http://www.managementscorecards.com/ resources/glossary.htm
McNamara, C. (2006). Basic overview of various strategic planning models. Available online at: http://www.managementhelp.org/plan_dec/str_plan/models.htm
Rouse, W. B. & Boff, K. R. (2005). Organisational simulation. John Wiley & Sons.
Steiss, A. W. (2004). Strategic facilities planning: Capital budgeting and debt administration. Lexington Books.
Winer, L. (2008). MBA Toolbox, Chapter 1.2. Available online at: http://mbatoolbox.org/stories/storyReader$19
