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BARRIERS IN MANAGING MOSQUE FACILITIES: TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT APPROACH
Maimunah Sapri1, a, Zafirah Ab Muin2,b, Ibrahim Sipan3,c and
Anthony Adjei-Twum4,d
1, 2, 3, 4 Centre for Real Estate Studies (CRES), Faculty of Geoinformation and
Real Estate, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 81310 Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
amaimunahsapri@utm.my, bzafirah2@live.utm.my, cibrahimsipan@utm.my,
da.adjeitwum@yahoo.co.uk
ABSTRACT
This paper present on the preliminary findings from a pilot project which sought to explore
the issue related to managing mosque facilities. Mosque function is known as the place of
worship which supported by Islamic programme that meet the needs of religion.
While refer to Islamic studies, the philosophy of mosque has been argue that the mosque
is developed not only as the place to perform the worship, but also aiming as the nucleus
for community development in various aspects. This argument has brought an inspiration
to the mosque management to uplift and sustain its multi-functionality concept in today
modernisation era. However, in order to comprehend to this inspiration, thus it is potential
for the contribution of facilities management. Based on newspaper article and observation,
there are some issues have risen related to mosque facilities in terms of its hygiene,
space, location, infrastructure, program, etc. Thus, this paper needs to explore the barrier
in managing mosque facilities in direction to have some improvements. A focus group was
conducted with mosque management committee in regard to draw upon respondents’
difficulties experiences in managing mosque facilities and sustaining its function effectively
and efficiently. The finding demonstrated that lack of staff and financial, lack of knowledge
and expertise, and lack of external collaboration are the main issues that contribute the
performance of mosque facilities. The paper recommends that the diversity of the facilities
management (FM) role and its contribution makes to the success of organisation.
Overwhelming for sustainable facilities management (SFM) practice benefits in achieving
sustainable mosque facilities and hence furthers the sustainability agenda.
Keywords: Mosque, Facilities, Mosque Facilities, Facilities Management, Sustainable,
Sustainable Facilities Management, Sustainable Mosque
INTRODUCTION
A mosque is a sacred place of worship for Muslims. The word mosque is a conversion of
the Arabic word ‘masjid’ (in plural - masajid). The word masjid is derived from the Arabic
root ‘sajada’ which means to prostrate. As prostration is the most honorable act in prayer
and because of the proximity of the worshiper to his Lord, it has been chosen to indicate
the act of prayer itself. Therefore the mosque is literally the location of prostration (sujud).
From Islamic literature, The Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) is recorded in a hadith of Imam
Bukhari to have stated that “The whole earth is made as a place of worship and a means
of cleansing for me (M T M Rasdi, 2004). Thus, within the Islamic legal framework, a
Muslim can pray almost anywhere. However, a mosque is purposefully built or adapted
building which facilitates collective ritual worship in the form of the daily congregational
prayers.
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Mosque is a religious building which classified as non-for-profit institution. The function of
mosque was recognised as a place to perform the worship. However, it is multi-faceted
which are not only serving as a sacred and clean space for prayer, but also providing
counselling, education and other services associated with the life of a community
(Mokhtar, 1997; M T H M Rasdi, 1998; M T M Rasdi, 1999). The role of mosques is
without doubt central and crucial to the well-being of the Muslim community (Mokhtar,
1997; M T H M Rasdi, 1998). Concisely, a mosque provides social service to the customer
and historically the mosque as an institution had four major roles: a place of worship;
a centre of education; a judicial court; and a centre for political and administrative decision
making. In regards to the issue faced by the mosque management, a holistic approach in
managing mosque facilities is viewed as a way of improvement in upgrading mosque
performance. It is suggested that, in order to play the roles and enhance performance,
mosque requires outstanding sustainable management of it facilities to well-attain its core
business objectives. The implementation of good management should be in place as it
helps increase organisational productivity and service quality (Amaratunga and Baldry,
2003; Atkin and Brooks, 2009; Koukiasa, 2011).
SUSTAINABLE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT (SFM) PRACTICE
Currently, the world’s focus has been on sustainability issue where for the past 30years,
increasingly influencing the business world (Koukiasa, 2011). The idea of sustainability
came to public attention from a 1972 report, “Limits to Growth”, issued by the international
think tank Club of Rome and it made sustainability a benchmark for international action.
Brundtland Report, Our Common Future presents the mostly used definition of
sustainability as it stands apart from “sustainable development” which is “development that
meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs” (Abbas et al., 2009; Darby and Jenkins, 2006; Elmualim et al.,
2010). It compressed three components that need to be balanced in terms of the
environment, social and economics to ensure the case for change succeeds. Yet, by first
considering sustainability on its own, it can be adopted to define and modify others
concepts and endeavours (Darby and Jenkins, 2006; Elmualim et al., 2012).
The concept of SFM has established and evolved recently in parallel with the overarching
concept of sustainable development and the growing appreciation of the scale of predicted
climate change (Elmualim et al., 2010). The case for change has been successfully made
and the need to balance the three elements of sustainable development: social, economic
and environmental, is superficial. It is both unexpected and timely that the FM function has
grasped the agenda for change and is developing practical sustainability goals within this
rapidly evolving profession (Elmualim et al., 2010). It is argued that facilities managers are
at the forefront of organisational behaviour change and in a position to influence the
behaviour of individuals working in business at three levels: strategic, tactical and
operational (Abbas et al., 2009; Chotipanich, 2004; Elmualim et al., 2010; Grimshaw,
1999).
According to Nielsen et al. (2012), SFM can be seen as a solution to “unsustainable
buildings and unsustainable building operation”. Wood (2006) highlighted the need to
address existing building stock in achieving sustainability goals and it is this emphasis on
the operational phase of buildings that is indeed key to the role of facilities managers. This
is necessary as in the developed world the majority of buildings in current use will remain
for the next fifty years, carrying their embodied energy and operational energy requirement
into the future. According to Abbas et al. (2009), there is a shared understanding that
there has always been a need to manage the physical fabric of buildings, equipment and
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furniture between them, and the efficient supply of resource and removal of waste. These
functions have existed throughout history, but the complexity of modern society and its
increased use of resources mean that there is now more than ever need for facilities
managers of high calibre to meet the needs of business, government and society in the
21st century (Chotipanich, 2004; Koukiasa, 2011).
CONTRIBUTION OF SUSTAINABLE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
Due to Koukiasa (2011), FM has emerged as a vocation since the late 1980s and it has
been identified for its contribution to the business performance of an organisation.
In providing that good practices are followed, FM has the ability to, especially in the
current economic climate, reduces costs and improved flexibility which can sequentially
lead to quality improvement and competitive advantage in favour of the organisation
(Alexander, 2003). Therefore, sustainable FM is considered as the process which enables
and enhances the capacity of organisation to become more sustainable, while
simultaneously strategically improving their ability to achieve their main objective by
optimising environmental, financial and social factor (Ure, 2010; Wilkinson et al., 2001).
As sustainability involves the three bottom lines (economic, environmental and social, the
social element of sustainable development provides a focus on social justice and
development (Abbas et al., 2009), so ensure community participation in decision making
processes that affect wider society. Participating in the sustainable development and
possibly regeneration of the neighbourhood, embracing corporate social responsibility
opportunities are all relevant. Grimshaw (1999) proposed an improved understanding of
the social, economic and environment changes of the late twentieth century and
advocates a change management approach to the relationships evolving between
organisations, employees and facilities. He highlights the profound changes and the need
for more appreciation of the issues affecting FM. Nielsen et al. (2012) claimed that the
overwhelming barrier for implementing sound SFM is the lack of consensual
understanding and focus of individuals and organisation about sustainability.
A further research by Elmualim et al. (2010) revealed that time constraints, lack of
knowledge and senior management commitment are the main barriers to implementation
of consistent SFM policies and practice. However, the research did not suggest ways of
overcoming the overwhelming challenges of achieving SFM. It is evidence that the
practice of SFM has been welcomed by many organisations but there exists in these same
organisations barriers impeding the success of integrating SFM in the daily operation of
buildings. In order to achieve development in FM, sustainability should be embedded at
strategic, tactical and operational phase of a facility. The facility manager should not be
left with the difficulties of managing just the facility upon completion when their
contributions and input at the design stage can help shape better facilities. (Shah, 2008)
has argued that the influence of the facility manager at the design stage (strategic level),
will aid in achieving the targets and the pursuit of sustainability in the built environment
and the FM industry has a major role to play by influencing colleagues and the
management hierarchy within the customer’s organisation to understand the benefits and
impacts of sustainable development.
Thus, organisations have the best chance to add value to their business and customers
through efficient management of facilities that have a significant influence in determining
profitability, productivity, employee well-being and public perception of an organisation
(Wilkinson et al., 2001). FM could be said as the process by which organisations provide
and maintain a quality work environment and provide quality support services to achieve
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organizational objectives at the best cost (Alexander, 2013; Sapri et al., 2013; Sapri et al.,
2005). The organisation in which facilities exist has its objectives to achieve. Therefore,
the organisation requires all of its resources to be organised towards meeting the
objectives. Facilities as one of an organisation’s resources must be planned, designed,
delivered, monitored and maintained within context of the organisation’s objectives
(Sapri et al., 2013).
SUSTAINABLE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENT
FOR SUPPORTING MOSQUE FUNCTIONS
Mosque as one of non-profit organization that provides social services particularly
attached to the community (M T H M Rasdi, 1998). Mosque is normally managed by a
local independent mosque committee that takes responsibility for appointment of the
Imam (religious leaders of the Muslim community) and other paid and volunteer staff.
Mosque committees themselves are volunteers giving their time out of a sense of civic
responsibility. In parallel to today modernisation era, mosque as a building that is used for
Muslim religious services have to extend its functions not only as the place to perform
worship by Muslim, but also as a place for community to do their activities. For mosque to
emerge with this aspiration thus the service that meets community needs and expectation
should be taking into account.
Due to (Balachandran, 2004), for business to well-perform and sustain in the
competitive world, therefore the customers need and expectation should not be avoided.
When services that offered by organisation meets the needs and expectation of their
customer, then it will facilitate value creation to the customer (Barnes, 2001; Chan, 2005;
Lowenstein, 1995). Balachandran (2004) argues that quality of service delivered to the
customers is merely important in order to gain customer satisfaction and retention.
Quality is continuously anticipated and exceeding the requirements and expectations of
customers (Lowenstein, 1995). In service organisation, measuring performance is also
essential to the business of the organisation to ensure success(Sapri, 2008; Sapri et al.,
2005). In addition, Sapri (2012) postulate that customers have a significant impact on the
performance of a business. In Islamic literature, customers’ retention can be seen through
the concept of ‘imarah’ where people keep coming and engage to the mosque not only for
worship, but also to having their daily activities such as recreational, place for having a
meeting, education institution, etc. (M T M Rasdi, 1999). However, to deliver service in
good modus, thus the management of mosque should have a framework in sequence to
manage the facilities effectively and efficiently.
Hence, holistic approach in mosque management is significant to sustain its functions for
the long term consequences through customer satisfaction. Wilkinson et al. (2001)
postulate that sustainability as a concept can become devalued if customers’ engagement
with the services is not satisfactory. This situation happened when customers’ needs or
expectation is ineffective assessed (Balachandran, 2004; Barnes, 2001). For that reason,
it is a room to integrate SFM practices into the management organizational strategy of
mosque. Islamic literature claimed that mosque is a unique and extraordinary building
compare to other building and social service industries (M T H M Rasdi, 1998; M T M
Rasdi, 1999). Its profit to the organization is not monetary base but, it definitely desire for
Allah (The Almighty) reward. This is the reason why mosque as a special building should
be focused in terms of improving its performance and sustaining its functionality.
Following this line, the FM function has the ability to incorporate sustainability issue into
mosque management. FM supports and ensures that organisation should be cost effective
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and able to deals with current climate change issues as well as improve flexibility, which
can subsequently lead to quality improvement and competitive advantage of the
organisation. In addition, FM principles that integrating people, place, process and
technology will play as a central role in SFM (Alexander, 2013; Amaratunga and Baldry,
2003; Elmualim et al., 2010; Koukiasa, 2011). There is the possibility of contribution on
the role of SFM practice with facilities management function in order to meet the needs of
mosque objectives. Therefore, it is growing interest to develop effective strategy to meet
sustainability criteria is increasing mosque facilities services. For this footstep, there is a
potential to apply sustainable development criteria to the management of mosque facilities
which advocates a change management approach to the relationships evolving between
mosque organisation management and facilities.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research was designed to solicit the views of mosque managers on the challenges
they face in the management of mosque facilities. Focus groups approach of data
collection was adopted. In all, 134 Imams and Mosque Management Committee members
participated in the focus group interview during Mosque Facilities Management Seminar
2013 (19 February 2013).The respondents are divided into ten groups during the
discussion. The seminar was organised by Malaysia Islamic Religious Department in
collaboration with Centre for Real Estate Studies (CRES), UTM.
Focus group was selected in terms of its advantage in providing insights into how people
think and provide a deeper understanding of the phenomena being studied
(Williams, 2013). Moreover, group interaction and non-verbal communication are primary
benefits of focus group. The interaction among members of the target population during
focus groups meetings may inspire participants to make connections to various concepts
through the discussion which may not occur during individual interviews (Williams, 2013).
Nevertheless, non-verbal communication is also another form by which data that can be
captured during focus group. This may initiate intense discussion among participants that
will produce additional information the researchers, in this study, purposely adopted focus
group to find out issues of importance from the target population.
The focus group was considered the most appropriate method in examine the problems
faced among mosque management committee toward managing mosque facilities.
The question involved open-ended questions because the intent of the focus group is to
promote discussion. To identify the barriers and issues addressed in managing mosque
facilities, participants were asking to list out the problems occur based on their experience.
The data was analysed using content analysis approach. Qualitative content analysis
highlights an integrated view of speech or texts and their specific contexts. It goes beyond
basically counting words or extracting objective content from texts to examine meanings,
themes and patterns that may be visible or latent in a particular text (Wildemuth, 2013).
After gather all the data, the key feature of all content analysis is that the many words of
the text are classified into much smaller content categories. According to (Wildemuth,
2013), this content categories should be guided by the aim and research question of the
study in choosing the contents analyse. This process includes open coding and
abstraction. The words were counted and based on the highest frequency abstraction,
thus it is ranking within the categories in order to have better analyse and describing on
the phenomenon. Once this is done, the information has been analysed and a conclusion
has been drawn. Williams (2013) postulate that the success of the research depends on
how the content was analysed and the coding process behind the data.
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RESULTS
Data collated from the questionnaire are analysed and the findings are discussed below.
The summary of the issues related to managing mosque facilities is presented in Table 1.
No.
Barriers in Managing Mosque Facilities
Frequency
Rank
1.
Lack of staff
10
1
2.
Lack of fund allocation
9
2
3.
Lack of knowledge
9
2
4.
Lack of expertise
9
2
5.
Lack of senior management commitment
7
3
6.
Insufficient space
6
4
7.
No salary provision for staff
6
4
8.
Inconsistency in policy
4
5
9.
Immoral consumer attitudes/vandalism
3
6
10.
Low quality equipment provided
2
7
11.
Delay of reactions from contractors
1
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Table 1: Barriers to Implementation of Consistent Sustainable Practice
in Managing Mosque Facilities
The results on Table 1 demonstrate that lack of staff, lack of fund allocation, lack of
knowledge, lack of expertise and lack of senior management commitment are the most
severe barriers affecting of consistent SFM practices at the mosque. Based on the results
of Table 1 and the findings of Elmualim et al. (2010), lack of knowledge and lack of senior
management commitment seem to be an intense barrier. This could be as a result of the
strategy required in arrangement to achieve sustainability of mosque functions as the
community centre.
Due to results obtained, there are several important and critical issues raised in the
management of mosque facilities. It is postulated that mosque required effective and
strategic way in dealing with identified problems. It does give an interesting and useful
indication of the responses of experienced in managing mosque facilities. It is shows that
the management of mosque building and the populace need to take crucial steps and
actions in order to overcome the issues. For instance, the mosque management must
have an assessment on what is needed and expect from the staff in having a good job at
the mosque. From the assessment, mosque management will improve its performance in
terms of how the upkeep of the workplace influences productivity, employee engagement,
and job satisfaction.
DISCUSSION
Based on the key and critical issues identified and reviewed, a transformation or a change
towards the management approach of mosque facilities is needed. FM is suggested as
one of possible way in uplifting mosque facilities performance FM function should be
planned together with sustainable factors that consider social, economic and environment
aspect. It is anticipated that embracing the concept of FM in managing mosque facilities,
it allows organisation to apply multi-tasking skill that required in dealing with mosque
facilities. One of the approaches used in facilities management in measuring effectiveness
of a program is through comprehensive training (Amaratunga and Baldry, 2003;
Amaratunga et al., 2000; Atkin and Brooks, 2009). In general, the findings of this pilot
study are consistent with the argument that the facilities management function need to
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start at a strategic level in the organization. It is necessary to propose SFM best practice
in the industry and to provide a knowledge, design and develop the investigative and
diagnostic tools required to enable and facilitate the implementation of SFM approach
specifically in mosque context. It is to drive the integration of processes within an
organisation to maintain and develop the agreed services that support the effectiveness of
mosque core activities. The findings of pilot study conducted provide some avenue of
potential area of investigations. It is recommends deeper investigation and a collaborative
effort from researchers and practitioners to develop SFM in practice and theory that deal
with mosque facilities.
CONCLUSIONS
Adapting FM approach in managing mosque facilities is still infancy. It is discover that no
specialization is made to assess the facilities providing at mosque. In order to reinforce
the mosque as a robust and unified institution as the place for community centre,
a comprehensive plan should be formulated with emphasized the practice of sustainable
FM. Thus, it will drives to the best practice in managing mosque for the better indication in
providing the good facilities in future and guarantee that a long-term wait for benefits is
worth it.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to acknowledge and thank to the funder of this research project,
Real Estate Research and Development Grant Scheme (NAPREC) between
The Government of Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia under Vot. No:
R.J130000.7309.4B134 for funding this research work.
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