Aligning resources with business need : Re-evaluation through engaging managers in guided self-reflection.

This research addresses whether guiding managers to consider the link between their use of resources and the achievement of their corporate objectives can enable them to conceive of their business differently. The question arises from the Facilities Management (FM) narrative on the identification of resources and the pursuit of their alignment with the changing needs of the business for its support environment. This narrative comprises the two end-members of a spectrum: The dominant, structuralist perspective which sees facility managers constructing the support environment to align with the needs of the business to resolve FM issues; and the contextualist perspective which sees the need to engage business managers in re-evaluating their issues in the context of their support environment.The need to engage managers through the context of the business is demonstrated through an interpretation of a review of three dominant theories of the firm. An approach that engages managers is then determined through framing the philosophical research paradigm of an FM Contextualist, through self-reflection and literature review. The resultant research method is labelled Guided Self-reflection (GSR) and allows the study of the perceptions and narratives of managers regarding their business, the 'resources' supporting it, and any benefits of seeking to align one with the other. The GSR approach is piloted with selected Local Government Authority Members and Officers using the Audit Commission's Comprehensive Performance Assessment as a convenient context. The research concludes that GSR did engage these senior managers who did then start to think differently about their business.This research makes a significant contribution to business and professional knowledge and practice as a source of reference concerning the GSR approach: a technique that aims to increase management awareness of the potential for achieving business performance benefits by seeking an appropriate alignment of the support environment with the needs of the business.