Aligning real estate with the corporate environment

Peter Dent, Department of Real Estate and Construction, Oxford Brookes University and Paul Winter, Chief Executive, Corpra

Abstract
This article questions current practices both in management science and real estate management which consider real estate outside of the strategic decision-making process. The article starts with an examination of organisations as complex adaptive systems and the nature of work in times of transformation. It suggests that the fundamental mistake often made is to focus too much on the change being about the use of technology. Instead, the authors believe that the real opportunity lies in the change in operation, process and culture. As such, management decisions need to be linked to real estate potential and real estate decisions have to incorporate resource impacts. Evidence suggests, however, that there is a deep disparity between the research produced in management science compared with that in the real estate field. What the authors suggest illustrates a bounded rationality which requires shared experiences and research to bridge the differences in approach and ideas. Several models are put forward to address this disparity but the authors believe that the real solution lies in a model which embraces the five dimensions of real estate through a process of dialogue and anticipatory learning.

Keywords
organisational change, conditioned emergence, office design, real estate dimensions

Peter Dent has worked in and lectured on property management, marketing and development. He has considerable experience of managing both academic development and research projects both in the UK and overseas Up until recently he was Head of the Department of Real Estate and Construction at Oxford Brookes University. He stepped down to pursue other activities as the Comerford Climate Change Fellow. His principal role now is to pursue opportunities to ensure that sustainability and climate change in the built environment are embedded within syllabuses and working practice.

Paul Winter is Chief Executive of Corpra, the multi-award-winning change management and strategy consultancy. For several years, Paul has also been a visiting professor of strategic real estate management at Oxford Brookes University and he has recently been elected President of the Management Consultants’ Association.

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