The Design, Implementation and Outcomes of a Mentoring Program

This paper reports on the design, implementation and outcomes of a mentoring program involving 18 employees in the IT Division of WorkCover Queensland. The paper provides some background information to the development of the program and the design and implementation phases including recruitment and matching of participants, orientation and training, and the mentoring process including transition and/or termination. The paper also outlines the quantitative and qualitative evaluation processes that occurred and the outcomes of that evaluation. Results indicated a wealth of positive individual, mentoring, and organisational outcomes. The organisation and semi-structured processes provided in the program are considered as major contributing factors to the successful outcomes of the program. These outcomes are likely to have long-term benefits for the individuals involved, the IT Division, and the broader organisation

Program Annotations: Feedback for Students Learning to Program

This paper presents a novel program annotation mechanism which enables students to obtain feedback from tutors on their programs in a far simpler and more efficient way than is possible with, for example, email. A common scenario with beginning students is to email tutors with copies of their malfunctioning programs. Unfortunately the emailed program often bears little resemblance to the program the student has been trying to make work; often it is incomplete, a different version and corrupted. We propose an annotation mechanism enabling students to simply and easily annotate their programs with comments asking for help. Similarly our mechanism enables tutors to view students’ programs and to reply to their comments in a simple and structured fashion. This means students can get frequent and timely feedback on their programs; tutors can provide such feedback efficiently, and hence students’ learning is greatly improved.

Procurement Case Study and Decision-making Strategies

Objectives The procurement research of Sydney Opera House FM Exemplar Project aims to develop innovative methods and guidelines for the procurement of FM services, applicable to iconic and / or performing arts centre facilities, or facilities with similar FM functions. The initial procurement report in June 2005 analysed the strategic objectives and operational requirements that provide ‘demand statements’ as evaluation criteria in the service procurement process. The subsequent interim procurement report in September 2005 discussed the elements contributing to the criteria for decision-making in the service procurement process. This procurement report concentrates on the research on procurement strategies and innovative methods using a case study approach. The objectives of this report are: • to investigate service procurement methods and process in iconic and/or performing arts centre facilities; • to showcase FM innovation in Sydney Opera House through a case study; • to establish a preliminary decision-making framework and guidelines for selection of appropriate FM procurement routes to provide a useful model for FM community. Findings Findings from this procurement research are presented as follows. • FM innovation and experience of Sydney Opera House • Innovative procurement methods and processes, drawn from a case study of Sydney Opera House as exemplar • An integrated performance framework to link maintenance service functions to high level organisational objective and strategies • Procurement methods and contract outcomes, focusing on building maintenance and cleaning services of Sydney Opera House • Multi-dimensional assessment of Service Providers • General decision-making strategies and guidelines for selection of appropriate FM procurement routes Further Research Whilst the Sydney Opera House case study emphasises the experience of Sydney Opera House, a study of procurement strategies and methods from published research and FM good practice will supply facilities managers with alternative procurement routes. Further research on the procurement theme will develop a final decision-making model for the procurement of FM services, drawn from the evaluation of the case study outcomes, as well as FM good practice and findings from current published research.

Performance measurement and feedback in a public sector program

Establishing a framework for measuring the performance of public sector programs is fraught with dangers. Many public sector organisations are satisfied with measuring activity in programs and fail to see the need for establishing a framework that will meet the needs of participants and measure outcomes as well as activities. This paper explores how a government department in Queensland went about establishing a performance management framework to measure the outcomes and activities in a program that was a public private partnership. Findings indicate that using an iterative consultative approach performance measure can be put in place that are meaningful and assist the participants to review the program.

Transforming the psychological contract through a continuous innovation methodology

This paper introduces the Corporate Culture Change Cycle: a continuous innovation methodology for transforming the psychological contract in an organisational context. The eight step process is based on the action learning model. The purpose of this methodology is to benchmark the psychological contract against eight changing values of the employment relationship as a basis for facilitating a process of aligning the changing needs of employer and employee. Both the Corporate Culture Change Cycle and the New Employment Relationship Model have been validated in several organisational settings and subsequently refined. This continuous innovation methodology addresses gaps in the psychological contract, change management and continuous innovation research literatures. The approach therefore should be of interest to researchers in these fields of study and from a practical perspective for managers wishing to transform their workplace cultures.

Building information modelling for FM using IFC

Facility managers have to acquire, integrate, edit and update diverse facility information ranging from building elements & fabric data, operational costs, contract types, room allocation, logistics, maintenance, etc. With the advent of standardized Building Information Models (BIM) such as the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) new opportunities are available for Facility Managers to manage their FM data. The usage of IFC supports data interoperability between different software systems including the use of operational data for facility management systems. Besides the re-use of building data, the Building Information Model can be used as an information framework for storing and retrieving FM related data. Currently several BIM driven FM systems are available including IFC compliant ones. These systems have the potential to not only manage primary data more effectively but also to offer practical systems for detailed monitoring, and analysis of facility performance that can underpin innovative and more cost effective management of complex facilities.