The word Quackery has been a general phenomenon to all profession in the world. Quackery as it were is an act of unprofessionalism which usually brings setback to a recognised profession. The impact of quackery has been felt on most professions if not all. However, the impact of quackery on the profession of Estate Surveying and Valuation will be discussed below:
- Complicated and competitive business environment: No doubt, the preponderance of quackery has made the business environment a competitive and complicated one. It has gotten to the extent that a registered Estate Surveyor and a quack compete over a sale or a letting, which is abnormal. This issue is more complicated because the proliferation of quacks that appears difficult to curb.
- Lack of reputation in the profession: The infiltration of quacks in Estate Surveying and Valuation profession has brought down the reputation of the profession due to the adulterated services rendered by quacks sometimes mistaken for professionals. In fact, the general public most of the time refer to a professional as an ‘Agent’ just because quackery has become rampant in the profession, most especially in the aspect of Agency (selling and letting).
- Lack of professional recognition: As a matter of fact, quackery in Estate Surveying and Valuation has even made it so difficult for the general public to differentiate or recognize the professionals in the profession. More so, a quack’s service has been taken for that of a professional.
- Lack of regard to the profession: When a client is duped, cheated, deceived through the services of a quack as a result of his patronage to them, it will lead to lack of trust, confidence or even respect for the profession. The general public’s perception that anybody can practice agency- be it a farmer, commercial motorcyclist or anybody at all implies that, to an extent, the profession has lost its esteem or respect. Furthermore, they could even mock the upcoming surveyors for attending higher institution to acquire knowledge on the profession. This indeed could be disheartening.
Curbing the infiltration of quacks in estate surveying and valuation profession
When problems arise, possible solutions should be proffered to quit it and ensure continuity and progress. Obviously, with the current situation of quackery militating against the profession of Estate Surveying and Valuation, necessary solutions should be proffered if the profession will still retain its reputation. Below are some proffered solutions to curb quackery in the profession:
- Public awareness about quacks: This involves telling the Nigerian public that it is in their best interest to patronise professionals rather than quacks. The reason is that the dangers they face by patronising quacks are unimaginable.
- Plans to incorporate quacks in the profession: This includes the effort at registering the quacks. The professional body has been contemplating establishing a body or association for the quacks too namely; National Association of Estate Agents in Nigeria. The intention of this is to encourage and develop those who are practicing now, but who are not full-fledged Surveyors. However, they can come under the umbrella of the National Association of Estate Agents so that they can have access to some rudimentary training; then, they can comply with the rules and regulations. And where there is any infraction, such offending members can be sanctioned. The major danger faced by the public today is that if a quack defaults any member of the public, he/she have no fallback position and the law court is so cumbersome and time-wasting that a lot of Nigerians do not want to contemplate it. But if a quack belongs to an umbrella like a regulatory body or an association, the offending member can be sanctioned or expelled from the body or association.
- Unsentimental punishment to quacks: Quacks have now graduated to the extent of carrying out valuation, investment studies, and even proper development. These are core areas where they have no core competence in, thereby increasing the risk to investment, lives and property. Whenever these quacks are culpable, judicial sanctions should be metted appropriately irrespective of the relationship or familiarity with the professionals or persons in the position adjudication.
- Seminars and training: On a regular basis, there should be seminars and trainings organized by the Education Committee of the professional body to always keep them abreast of information in the profession and in the industry, young agents who are new in the profession should be made to attend these seminars and trainings.
- Professional recognition: There is the need to educate the general public to transact with the right persons. In this case, these are the registered members who possess a stamp and a seal to differentiate authentic practitioners from quacks. In fact, these two insignia carry the motto of the institution. Once these are missing, the public should not do business with such persons. Also, all registered members are now listed in the institution’s website. So, a client can go there to know the practitioner’s to contact in order to get their jobs done.
- Establishment of mega firms: In the past years, most professional’s practiced with their family name; most of the members still practice in the family name and this has become archaic. Even though the practice had its origin in the United Kingdom, it has become extinct over there. For this reason, practicing with a family name should be stopped. The following are some suggestion of what should be done:
- Movement from sole proprietorship to either partnership or limited liability companies. The reason is that the business environment is now more complicated and competitive; once a sole owner of a business dies or retires, the business goes down. However with many partners, when one resigns or dies, the business will be run by the other partners. In the limited liability companies, the death of the proprietor is totally irrelevant to the continuity of the business.
- Another suggestion is to expand the horizon of the business, there are so many other areas of environmental studies and the profession, which unfortunately are being neglected for estate agency, these include property development, plant and machinery valuation and Geographical Information System. Members of the profession should go into these areas rather than over-concentrate on estate agency.
- Another suggestion is that adequate attention must be paid to the very lose and tenuous interface that the profession and the institution has with government agencies. The Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers in Nigeria should make valuable inputs, in government policies that relate urban and rural areas, to make them adequate, sustainable or implementable. Dialogue should also be made with the ministries and parastatals concerned with housing and infrastructure development.
- Another suggestion is to publicize the professional service through a public communication media to enable ordinary Nigerians to know, the services the Estate Surveying and Valuation profession can render to them. Valuation, investment studies, construction, project management and Geographical Information System are some of the areas the members of the public are not aware that Estate Surveyors and Valuers All these issues, if probably addressed, will reduce the patronage given to quacks in the profession.
QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEMS
Compiled by Kuye Olusegun
If client organisations are to receive a satisfactory level of service, not only they but also their service providers must have good quality assurance (QA) systems in place. Service providers’ QA systems should form an integral part of their service provision. To add value, service providers have to adopt QA to enhance service provision through a reduction in errors and reworking. Thus, a quality approach can save money. Clients should therefore consider QA systems of bidders during the assessment of bids.
Quality assurance systems generally consist of a policy statement, a quality manual and a work practice manual. The policy statement is the organisation’s explicit commitment to a quality-assured system covering its services. The quality manual provides a detailed interpretation of the way in which each of the quality standards is to be met within the context of the operations of the business. The work practice manual explains the detailed procedures that must be followed in order to comply with the QA system.
For a system to be effective, it needs to be applied as work is being done. Thus, for example, logs and reviews should not be completed retrospectively. Contract documents should incorporate quality-of-service criteria and stipulate that payments will depend on the provider meeting these criteria. These contractual provisions should assure the quality of services or products of service providers. The issue of penalties and incentives relating to performance standards should be considered following performance reviews.
References
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Atkin, B. and Brooks, A. (2009) Total Facilities Management. Third edition. Oxford: Blackwell Science.
Barrett, P.S. and Baldry, D. (2003) Facilities Management: Towards Best Practice. Second edition. Oxford: Blackwell Science.
The Facilities Society (2014). SLAs and service specifications.
