Ontolog´ıas financieras

In the past years, companies have taken various approaches to strategy building. Finch (2012) observes that the oil crisis of 1973 highlighted severe shortcomings in companies’ planning capabilities, forcing members of upper management to redirect their strategic work towards analysis of the external world. More specifically, the historical data associated with individual firms were shown to be poor predictors of the future, because they described a continuous growth in demand without taking global events into account. At the very beginning of the twentieth century, this was probably not a serious problem for organisations: as global changes happened slowly, predicting the future correctly was not very important. However, the inability to predict change accurately is extremely detrimental to the management of today’s international firms, especially given the rapid developments in computing and Internet technology over the past two decades. Information can now be communicated rapidly and conveniently across

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continents by advanced electronic means. Organisations are not only affected by internal organisational problems, but also, critically, by sudden and unexpected instances of external conflict. Firms must therefore restructure their prediction strategies to ensure their survival in this era of economic and socio-political difficulties.

Researchers’ early work on contingency theory and systems theory grew in significance after the oil crisis of 1973. Kourteli (2000) finds that organisations are open systems and must interact with their surroundings to survive. This assertion is similar as the main theme of contingency theory. It is widely understood, therefore, that organisations are dependent on their external environment. He contends that the external environment within which an organisation chooses to function, determines the internal structure, and overall procedures of the specific organisation, highlighting that collecting large amounts of external data is problematic, as it is difficult to find relevance in such data. The mismanagement of data often leads to incorrect decisions regarding changes within organisations. It is very important for organisations to collect relevant and accurate data and undertake comprehensive data analysis in the interests of future planning. However, he criticises the excessively ‘mechanistic’ approach of contingency theory, which considers the departments of an organisation separately without addressing the significance of communication between them. Finch (2012) proposes five interdependent categories as the basis for an analytical tool for facilities management: market and financial forces; attitudes and cultures; politics and government; environment and resources; and research and development. These factors can externally affect organisations’ operation. However, it is difficult

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for facilities managers to gain full acceptance from the upper management of an organisation’s core business. This poses many foreseen and unforeseen challenges to the future development of facilities management.

For the past ten years, there were quantities of IT researchers using the contingency theory in their studies taking some examples (Andres and Zmud, 2001; Barki et al., 2001; Chang et al., 2003; Chin et al., 2003; Croteau and Raymond, 2004; Giaglis et al., 2002; Irma and Sabherwal, 2001; Khazanchi, 2005; Lee et al., 2004; Panagiotis and Paul, 2005; Seliem et al., 2003; Sugumaran and Arogyaswamy, 2003; Teo, 2003; Umanath, 2003 and Zhu, 2002). Why is the contingency theory prevalent in the field of IT? Answering this question, it is necessary to understand the working mechanism of contingency model. There are many forms of contingency theory. Historically, contingency theory has sought to formulate broad generalizations about the formal structures that are typically associated with or best fit the use of different technologies. This perspective originated with the work of Joan Woodward (1958), who argued that technologies directly determine differences in such organizational attributes as span of control, centralization of authority, and the formalization of rules and procedures. Contingency theories are a class of behavioral theory that there is no one best way of organizing / leading and that an organizational / leadership style that is effective in some situations may not be successful in others (Fiedler, 1964). The main independent factors are including strategy, technology, task, organizational size, structure, and culture. The main dependent factors are including efficiency and organizational performance. In other words, the optimal organization / leadership style is contingent upon various internal and external constraints.

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Morgan (2007) derives that there are four important ideas of contingency theory. Firstly, there is no universal or one best way to manage. Secondly, the design of an organization and its subsystems must 'fit' with the environment. Thirdly, effective organizations not only have a proper 'fit' with the environment but also between its subsystems. Fourthly, the needs of an organization are better satisfied when it is properly designed and the management style is appropriate both to the tasks undertaken and the nature of the work group.

There are various outsourcing models in different fields and the details are discussed in Chapter Three. A contingency outsourcing model used in the IT industry is called the FORT framework. Is this FORT framework applicable to the FM sector? The contingency theory is considered to be suitable for various kinds of organisations. The characteristics of the FORT model are based on the contingency approach, according to which there is no single best solution to outsourcing; rather, the best approach is contingent on a number of factors. As discussed, this contingency approach has been widely used in the field of IT for several years. Finch (2012) also claims that firms must need to restructure their prediction strategies to survive and to develop. The four important ideas of contingency theory can reinforce the flexibility and adaptability of the modern organisations (Morgan, 2007). Moreover, this FORT model initiates to discuss the perspective of outsourcing relationships between the stakeholders in the IT field (Kishore et al., 2003). This can also be applicable to the outsourcing services in the FM industry. Although there are drawbacks about contingency theory, this principle is considered to be suitable for more accurate prediction on the future FM outsourcing relationships and improvement on the quality of future FM outsourcing

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services. This is the fundamental argument of this research. The details of FORT framework are also discussed in Chapter Three.

As Finch (2012) suggests, an organisation is not a closed entity, but open to and dependent on the external world. According to the contingency theory, factors from the outside world ultimately permeate individual organisations as local factors. The assertion of this theory is that external influences create complex structures of interdependent needs, as examined extensively by previous research on facilities management and entrepreneurship. Hence, a firm’s facilities management must be compatible with the conditions of the market and other external factors. Hitherto this research seeks to map current outsourcing relationships in facilities management, and to predict future FM outsourcing relationships between clients and service providers in the local higher tertiary-education environment.