| Summary: | This thesis is concerned with the introduction of a technology, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for facilities management (FM) services. FM is argued to be a complex discipline which results in diverse discourses from actors internal and external to FM. In order to investigate and understand what this means for FM, concepts and a model from service innovation theory are employed. The Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) position based on social constructionism also informs the investigation. Empirically, one in-house FM department in a financial institution was used to case study the introduction of RFID for the FM areas of security access control and workplace management. The case study involved two years of field work where the author had a dual role of being employed by the organisation and a researcher for her study. Primary data included participant observations and interviews with actors. Secondary data was in the form of corporate artefacts. Findings illustrate the discourses of the relevant actors toward the technology introduction in a critical way. The discourses that emerged at each stage of the innovation process described in the case study either hindered or drove technology introduction. Power and context played a role in determining the discourse that prevailed within each stage. The process of introducing the technology divulged into four trajectories which were strategy, technology, service professional or entrepreneur. Trajectories occurred simultaneously and certain trajectories were stronger than others depending on the innovation stage and the actors' discourses. Overall, lessons learnt that shed light in understanding technology introduction in FM was enabled from a unique methodological approach to this topic. Insights were pulled together and argued that discourses of actors at the micro and macro level of the power structure are influential in introducing technology. The introduction of new technology to FM is found to be complex due to the nature and context of the FM discipline.
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