Sustainable Facilities Management Model for State Mosque

 SUSTAINABLE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT MODEL FOR STATE MOSQUE

Associate Professor Sr. Dr. Maimunah  Sapri

Associate Professor Dr. Ibrahim@ Atan Sipan

Associate Professor Dr. Farahwahida Mohd Yusof

Dr. Mohd Nadzri Jaafar

Rosadah Mahamud

Mustafa Omar

Zafirah Ab Muin

[Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)]

ABSTRACT

The mosque is the main entity that symbolises Islamic culture, and has fostered the development of the Islamic community throughout  the Islamic centuries. History has shown that mosques play an important role in various aspects, and it has become a tremendous battle to sustain the role of the mosque as a centre of the Islamic community. The increasing number of mosques has resulted in a new challenge in mosque management, where an effective system is required. Many have argued that well-managed services enable an organization to function at its most efficient and effective level, offering real added value improvements to the  organization's core business, while improving flexibility. Thus, Facilities Management (FM) is significant option for adoption by mosque management, and it is expected to be a strategy that can help sustain mosque function. Addressing the above issues, this research attempts to answer two questions. These include what is the current approach to mosque management, and how can the FM approach be adopted in mosque management, in order to help establish sustainable mosques. Thus, this research aims to identify the type and characteristics of sustainable facilities for mosques, to identify current practices of state mosque FM,  to develop a sustainable FM model for state mosques, and finally  to  propose a best practice of sustainable FM model for state mosques. A mixed method research methodology was adopted. A questionnaire survey was adopted as  the mechanism to identify the type and characteristics of sustainable facilities for mosques. The structured questionnaires were distributed to mosque congregations in 12 state mosques in Peninsular Malaysia. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the congregation preferences of facilities that influence their attendance. Meanwhile, interview sessions were conducted to identify the current practices of state mosques in managing facilities. The qualitative data obtained will be analysed through content analysis, and followed by a benchmarking analysis for selecting best practices. The models of sustainable FM for state mosques will be developed from the findings. Focus groups will be arranged for the validation of this model. Focus group experts will be selected among mosque management, based on their experience in managing mosque facilities. Based on the output, it is hoped  that this research will shed light on the importance of the FM approach to be adopted within the management of mosques, which is purposely an effort for establishing  sustainable mosques over time.