Realist vs. Idealist Facilities Managers in Facility Management: A Conceptual Framework

Facility management (FM) is critical for the efficient operation and long-term sustainability of built environments. Facility managers play a crucial role in fulfilling organisational targets by making strategic decisions that optimise resource use, enhance operational efficiency, and align with broader goals such as environmental responsibility and stakeholder satisfaction. This paper explores the contrasting philosophical beliefs of realism and idealism in FM, highlighting their influence on managerial decision-making, organisational culture, and performance outcomes. A realist facility manager is action-orientated and data-driven, prioritising practicality, cost-effectiveness, and empirical evidence to enhance operational efficiency, optimise resources, and proactively manage risks for measurable outcomes. An idealist facility manager emphasises visionary goals, ethical values, and long-term sustainability, focussing on aligning organisational values with operational practices, fostering stakeholder engagement, and promoting a positive, innovative organisational culture. This paper compares realism and idealism in facility management, examining their principles, assumptions, and approaches. The paper aims to develop a comprehensive framework that integrates the principles of realism and idealism into FM practices. Thus, a conceptual framework is proposed to provide facility managers with actionable insights and strategies that balance the pragmatic, results-driven approach of realism with the visionary, value-orientated perspective of idealism. The proposed methods use a positivist approach with a cross-sectional design, stratified sampling, and structured questionnaires. Next, the data collected is proposed to be analysed using SPSS and SmartPLS, ensuring ethical standards. This methodology serves as a framework for future research to explore how philosophical beliefs influence FM practices. This paper concludes that realism and idealism offer distinct yet complementary beliefs in facility management. It provides a foundation for future empirical research to validate these concepts and their impact on organisational strategies.