ABSTRACT
The Oil and Gas industry continues to struggle in finding a balance between rising global demand, diminishing known resources the need to keep and distribution and operating costs within manageable limits. While mergers and consolidations continue, oil and gas management are actively seeking other approaches to recover their base lines. One particular measure is to include business process outsourcing (BPO) in their operational mix. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of such outsourcing management in Nigeria’s oil and gas firms of the downstream sector using user satisfaction indices. The specific objectives are among others; to identify FM services that are most outsourced in Nigeria’s Oil and gas firms; to identify the relative importance of factors that influence users’ satisfaction with outsourced facility management services in the Nigeria Oil and Gas firms; and determine the degree of effectiveness of outsourcing as a means of service delivery in the sampled oil and gas firms. Data for the research work was collected through self administered questionnaires and analyzed using Statistical Package for social scientist (SPSS 17). The respondents were the staff of the Facility management departments of the six major oil and gas downstream industry. They were chosen through purposive sampling technique. Findings revealed key services that are mostly outsourced are transportation and logistics, these were ranked first among others. Findings also revealed that service delivery is paramount among factors that influence users’ satisfaction with outsourced services. On the whole it was found that highly effective with the elements investigated and is reliable for the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry. Users’ expectations of outsourced service are high. The facility manager in the vendor organizations must have experience in Oil and Gas processes and understand the industry’s needs and services and ensure that their services are structured to meet the industry’s increasing demand. They should also seek technological innovations with more cost effective methods for maintaining equipments and Platforms without compromising safety and environmental concerns.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Business processes and objectives operate and survive because they are primarily providing an effective and meaningful service to their customer (i.e. the user). For that service to be effective, the perceptions and expectations of the user must be met in order to provide a successful service delivery outcome. Conversely, the perceptions of the user to the initial input of the service delivery process of the organization is of equal importance, as it will determine the strategic and operational objectives of the organization, and consequently provide the added value needed in achieving the end product of customer satisfaction.
Facilities management is a diverse profession, the main aim of which should be to provide quality environments, which are fit for the purpose for which they have been designed. For (Alexander, 1996) it “is a total quality approach to sustaining an operational environment and providing support services to meet the strategic needs of an organization”.