Indoor Air Cartoon Journal, July 2022, Volume 5, #132

[Cite as: Fadeyi MO (2022). Communication: The bedrock for effective indoor air quality management. Indoor Air Cartoon Journal, July 2022, Volume 5, #132.]

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After several failed attempts to secure a job, a man got a job at a service apartment hotel with indoor air quality (IAQ) problems and declining revenue. The man did everything possible to solve the IAQ problems and declining revenue at the service apartment hotel. However, IAQ problems at the hotel worsen due to the uncollaborative and uncooperative behaviour of the stakeholders. The man’s job at the hotel became untenable as a result. The journey the man went through professionally and personally to solve the IAQ problem at the hotel is the subject of this short fiction story.
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“Not again!” exclaimed Mr. Bernard Jackson. “What happened, darling? Mrs. Victoria Jackson asked in a worried voice. “I received another rejection letter for the job I applied for recently,” Bernard replied to his wife, Victoria. Hmmm! Victoria sighed. During a financial crisis, Jackson lost his job as the head of the facility management department at a bank two years ago. Within the two years, he applied for 104 job positions with no success. His family of six had been living mainly on his wife’s salary, a nurse at a neighbourhood clinic. The family lived on a very tight budget during this period.

The rejections and inability to contribute to the family expenses made Bernard lose confidence in himself. Victoria tried her very best to motivate and encourage him all the time not to lose hope. Things were so bad that Bernard once contemplated working as a labourer at a neighbourhood market to transport goods. However, Victoria would not have it. The last rejection letter was particularly painful to Bernard and Victoria because, for the first time, he was called for a job interview after 103 job applications with no interview. The job interview raised their hope, but their hope was dashed with no success.

Three weeks after the last rejection letter, Victoria overhead one of her patients talking on the phone. The patient was an HR (human resources) director at a services apartment hotel. The HR director told one of his team members that is time to put up a job vacancy for the head of facility management position. “May I ask you a question, Madam?” Victor said after rendering the necessary medical assistance to the patient. “Yes, Nurse.” Is everything ok with me?” The patient asked anxiously. “No! No!! No!!!” Victoria said, thinking she had caused the patient to get worried unnecessarily. “I am sorry! I do not mean to pry. I overheard you when you were talking about a job position for a head of the facility management department.” Victoria said.

Victoria told the patient about her husband’s job hunting, qualifications, and experience in facility management. The patient told Victoria to tell her husband to check their service apartment hotel website and consider applying for the vacant position. The patient told Victoria that the hotel’s name is Alpha Service Apartment Hotel. Victoria told her husband with excitement about the vacant position when she got home. Bernard was not optimistic at all. “Hmmm! Ok. I will check it out. I would advise you not to get too excited. You know we have gone through the same route several times.” Bernard told his wife. Victoria thought to herself, “who can blame him after 104 unsuccessful attempts?”

Bernard eventually decided to apply. A few weeks later, he was scheduled to attend an interview. Part of the interview would require him to do an oral presentation on his plan for leading and improving facility management practice at the hotel. Before the actual interview presentation, he did a mock interview with his wife. His wife could not provide much feedback on the presentation as she did not have a technical background in facility management.

However, she noted that Bernard’s presentation focused on his experience and achievements and assumed they would be good enough to lead and improve facility management practice at the hotel. She said there is less emphasis on the interest of the hotel management, staff, and guests and how he would try to convince them to work with him and his team collaboratively and cooperatively to solve facility management problems. Victoria said this because of her experience dealing with ‘tough’ patients and clinic administrators. Bernard laughed her comment off! He said making himself attractive from an experience perspective is good enough.

Bernard did his interview. The hotel was desperate to hire someone to lead the facility management division, so they focused more on his paper qualifications and experience. They did not ask him many questions during the interview. Bernard was informed of a job offer three days after the job interview.

Within a few months of working at the service apartment hotel, Bernard started to realise the prevalence of poor perceived air quality and sick building syndrome (SBS) in the service hotel apartment. He had been informed of the situation during the interview, but the extent of the problem only dawned on him when he started working. There was a long list of reported SBS symptoms. The SBS symptoms include fatigue, headache, dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea and vomiting, eye, nose, and throat (ENT) irritation, runny nose, coughing, drowsiness, breathing difficulty, and worsening asthma condition, respiratory infection, skin irritation, etc.

The problem, i.e., the poor perceived air quality and sick building syndrome (SBS), had persisted and worsened due to the lack of leadership at the facility management department. That was the main reason the head of the HR department was so eager to recruit someone to lead the facility management department. The CEO put pressure on the HR department as the complaints from guests had been affecting the reputation of the service apartment hotel, and bookings declined. Many of the staff at the hotel had also resigned because of poor air quality on their health and work performance, and productivity, and recruiting staff was very difficult.

Bernard sprang into action immediately. He emphasised to his team the importance of taking an IAQ audit seriously. He was surprised that there was no record of effort to understand the causes of the problem prevalent at the hotel. The facility management department had only conducted what they called ‘IAQ audit’ three times in 10 years. He found that the purpose of the so-called IAQ audit was not to understand the causes of the IAQ problem but to fulfill and maintain the lowest level of the green building rating, which did not give much preference to IAQ.

The so-called IAQ audit was conducted by doing spot measurements of certain air pollutants and comparing them to standards. Many of the chosen measurement points were not guided by hypotheses or specific questions to answer. If the measured concentrations of air pollutants are within the standard, IAQ conditions would be considered healthy.

Bernard found out that the department typically does house cleaning two days before the scheduled date of the so-called IAQ audit. They would change filters, clean the duct and remove or clean out anything they think could increase the concentration of the air pollutants to be measured. They would also open the outdoor air damper for ventilation purposes to ensure they could get the required points for IAQ under the green label rating. Over several meetings and internal training, Bernard shared with his team the philosophy of an IAQ audit and how the department would conduct IAQ audits. The following, written in the voice of Bernard, are some of the important things he told his team members about an IAQ audit.

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The audit in the IAQ audit means investigation. An investigation is about finding answers to questions. Questions arise due to the inability to explain an event, a situation, or ascertain what happened. For every question, there is an element of answer from the person asking the question. This means the person asking the question has an idea of what they expect to confirm or refute. The idea would also provide direction for how the investigation would be conducted. Thus, an IAQ audit aims to define a problem or ascertain what is happening and determine the causes or main contributing factors to the problem or what is happening.

The reason for the purpose of an IAQ audit is to use the understanding gained from the audit to provide guidance or direction for the development of the solution that can be used to solve the defined IAQ problem reliably. The practice of using questions to guide every step taken to understand the role of the method, measurement, machine, materials, and man in the IAQ problem is essential.

‘Method’ is related to the contribution of design, construction, and facility management approach to the IAQ condition. ‘Measurement’ is related to the contribution of sensors used to monitor and facilitate control of building asset performance to the IAQ condition. ‘Machine’ is related to the contribution of building assets or equipment used in the building to the IAQ condition. ‘Material’ is related to the contribution of the substances making up the building asset or equipment used in the building to the IAQ condition. ‘Man’ (Human) is related to the contribution of human behaviour or practice to the IAQ condition and the impact of the IAQ condition on humans. The possible questions for each of the 5Ms are what, why, when, where, who, whom, whose, how, how much, etc. The questions would provide direction for the purpose (what), reason (why), and method (how) for the investigation (audit).

IAQ audit can be categorised into an initial and detailed screening or assessment. Assessment for forming and testing a hypothesis can be broadly categorised as objective and subjective assessments. Objective assessment involves using sensor-based instruments, while subjective measurement involves survey administration, interview, and walkthrough investigation. The initial assessment aims to get surface information that can be used to give direction for answering questions emanating from non-complex problems.

Initial assessments can also be used to signal directions for detailed assessment if required. Detailed assessments are meant to gather the information that can be used to answer questions emanating from complex problems or questions the initial assessment cannot answer. Information gathered from objective and subjective assessments would need to be analysed, compared, and contrasted for answers to questions to be generated.

The extent of the reliability in which IAQ-related problem is solved is a function of the reliability of the guidance, i.e., information, gotten, interpreted, and used. Both initial and detailed assessments can help establish the probability, i.e., risk, of danger occurring to building occupants. Risk is equal to the product of hazard and vulnerability. The toxic or harmful level of indoor air will determine its hazard level. The toxicity level of indoor air is a function of the concentration and toxicity level of pollutants in the air. Vulnerability means the situation or condition that enhances the rate at which the harmful effect inherent in indoor air can become a reality in the human receiving it.

Any factors that contribute to a lower or higher level of exposure, i.e., proximity to indoor air containing pollutants, will contribute to the vulnerability level of the building occupants. The economic and social conditions of the occupants will influence the factors contributing to the exposure and, in turn, affect vulnerability level. Physiological and psychological will also determine the vulnerability level of occupants. When conducting an IAQ audit to assess risk level, questions relating to the 5Ms should be asked in the context of how the 5Ms contribute to the source or sink to determine the concentration of pollutants (hazards) and contribute to the vulnerability determinants.

When developing a solution, informed by the findings from an IAQ audit, to reduce the risk level, due consideration should also be given to the potential impact the decision would have on other indoor environmental quality parameters like thermal, acoustic, light/visual, and spatial conditions.

We must ensure transparency of information gathered from an IAQ audit and the building IAQ condition. Transparency is the art of making information readily available to build recipients’ level of confidence that there is nothing to hide. Such transparency would motivate us in the facility management department to continuously ensure healthy indoor air. Transparency would also make building owners, staff, and guests aware of our effort.

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Bernard increased the number of staff in his team with indoor environmental or air quality expertise. Bernard believed that relevant expertise is needed to do an effective IAQ audit. Bernard and his team conducted a detailed IAQ audit. The causes of defined problems during the IAQ audit in the services apartment were attributed to building systems, building usage, occupancy density and activities, and outdoor and indoor sources of air pollutants. These causes led to active sources of air pollutants emission or generation and relatively poor sink, removal of pollutants from indoor air, higher resident time of air pollutants, and uncontrolled air movement and migration of air pollutants in the hotel’s indoor environments.

These causes led to occupants’ exposure to a higher concentration of pollutants, poor perceived air quality, prevalence of SBS symptoms, and low performance and productivity. Air pollutants of note because of their very high concentration were carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, PM_2.5, PM₁₀, TVOCs, and biological contaminants. Also of note was the prevalence of environmental tobacco smoke odour in many of the guest apartments. The detail of their findings is a story for another day. Bernard and his team made findings from their conducted IAQ audit easily accessible to staff or guests in the spirit of transparency, accountability, and justification for increasing the tenancy rate. They planned to do the same for future audits.

Bernard and his team were transparent about the responsibilities of every stakeholder, and they created a transparent system for lodging and responding to complaints. Bernard believed that being transparent through the dissemination of information would help make potential and occurring unhealthy indoor air problems visible to guide the immediate efforts needed to solve the problems. Bernard believed transparency would help foster shared responsibilities among stakeholders for improving healthy indoor air.

Unfortunately, the decision to be transparent backfired. It backfired big time! Blaming culture, distrust among stakeholders, cheating, and resistance became the order of the day. All stakeholders were not working collaboratively and cooperatively to define and solve IAQ problems. In no time, IAQ worsens rapidly. The process of getting anything done to achieve healthy indoor air became very complicated. Complaints from staff working in the building and guests about unhealthy indoor air and its effects on health and work performance worsened than before Bernard was recruited to become the head of the facility management department.

Bernard’s position as head of the facility management department became untenable. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) told him to do something about the situation or else he would be replaced. Bernard was devastated! He was about to be fired despite his hard work. The CEO gave him two weeks to come up with an idea of how the situation could be improved. As the stress was getting to him, his wife, Victoria, decided she had to do something to help his husband. One Saturday afternoon during her off day, Victoria surfed the internet at home for guidance on how to help his husband.

Victoria found a programme called workplace learning. Workplace learning was an initiative by the government of the country to train employees at their place of work to improve their competency in solving problems and improve productivity for their organisation. An interested company would have to partner with a local institute of higher learning (IHL), which includes universities and polytechnics, and the government would fund the training.

The workplace learning programme was a strategic initiative by the government to improve productivity in the country and increase government revenue. The IHL of particular interest to Victoria was the University of Applied Learning, popularly known as UAL. UAL was well known and respected worldwide for being very good at contextualising the education provided to industry practice.

Victoria surfed through the university website and found a professor called Professor Maxwell Orlando France at the university. Professor France was known and respected for his expertise in enhancing students’ and industry professionals’ IAQ problem-solving competency. The professor worked with students and industry professionals to engage in critical thinking and reflection and leverage their technical knowledge, understanding, and skillsets to enhance their learning journey for healthy indoor air delivery with prudent use of resources for all stakeholders involved.

“Eureka!” Victoria shouted! I found it, Darling!” Victoria called for her husband, who was in the bedroom thinking of what to do or say when he meets the CEO in a week, to update him on his plan for solving the deteriorating IAQ problem. Bernard believed he had done everything right and could not figure out what was wrong. Victoria explained her findings to her husband. Bernard found the idea worth pursuing. He also shared with his team the idea of engaging in the workplace learning programme. They found the idea worth pursuing as they did not have a better idea.

The meeting day with the CEO came. Bernard shared the plan with the CEO. The CEO gave the go-ahead to Bernard. Bernard contacted the centre’s director for workplace learning at UAL about the prospect of working together. A date was set for a meeting. Professor France was also invited to the meeting. Two months later, Alpha Service Apartment Hotel signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with UAL.

Based on the problem stated by Alpha Service Apartment Hotel, Professor France developed a project-based curriculum for workplace learning training for the hotel. Bernard and his team went through intensive two weeks of classroom training and six months of application of knowledge gained from the classroom training to solve IAQ problems at the hotel.

The problem chosen was the IAQ problem Bernard and his team were facing. One of the key topics addressed during the classroom training was “Communication: The bedrock for effective indoor air quality management.” Based on the initial discussion Professor France had with Bernard and his team, he sensed that Bernard and his team focus on transparency while neglecting communication in preventing and solving IAQ problems. Professor France noted there is no problem with the philosophy of IAQ audit Bernard has instituted in defining and identifying causes of IAQ problems.

Professor France noted that information is made available, and processes are created with clear direction on what and how they should be done or operated with no consideration of how people will resist the shared information and processes. He also noted there was no due consideration for getting buy-in from all stakeholders involved to work collaboratively and cooperatively and avoid resistance to preventing and solving IAQ problems.

Professor France said humans’ resistance to information received and event generating the information would increase with every increase in their interpretation of the information and the event as an infringement on their interests. Professor France decided that one area in which he needed Bernard and his team to develop competency would be communication. Below is an excerpt from Professor France’s classroom training on communication. The following are written in the voice of Professor France.

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Communication is the art of sharing information or creating an event to generate information to influence how the recipient interprets the received information. There must be at least two entities for communication to take place. Communication can be used to establish the truth or distort the truth intentionally or unintentionally. The extent to which communication serves its purpose or is effective depends on the extent the interpretation of the received information is influenced. Communication effectiveness in this context is the establishment of truth.

The role of entity sharing and the entity interpreting information is dynamic and will keep changing between the entities. For example, on one end, a facility manager or management team can be the entity sharing while the building occupants are the entity interpreting. On the other end, the role can be revised when occupants give feedback about what they are experiencing to a facility manager or management team to interpret the received information and act.

The level of pain in the entity sharing information and the ability to control the pain when sharing the information will influence the level of communication effectiveness. The level of pain in the entity interpreting the received information and the ability to control the pain will also influence communication effectiveness.

Thus, empathy is required from both entities to increase communication effectiveness within the context of the problem that needs to be solved and not just providing a solution to a problem. The entity sharing information must empathise with itself and the entity receiving and interpreting the information. The entity receiving and interpreting the information must also empathise with itself and the entity sharing the information. The degree of empathy from both entities will influence the communication effectiveness. Continuous effort is needed from both entities to increase empathy.

Interpretation of received information can be influenced by the accuracy, completeness, and appropriate representation of shared information, critical and reflection skills, and experience of the entity receiving the information. Experience in this context includes knowledge, understanding, wisdom, or skill. Critical and reflection skills and experience are needed to share accurate and complete information and present it in an appropriate manner. The required competency from both entities must be built with empathy. Thus, empathy is required to build a strong bedrock to deliver healthy indoor air. The bedrock is communication.

As mentioned earlier, the context of communication in this training is to establish the truth. What is truth? Truth is defined in the Dictionary as that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality. Reality will always be a reality, even if it was intentionally or unintentionally denied. However, when the denial or lack of awareness of reality increases the risk of harm occurring to humans, the effort to establish truth becomes essential. An example of the reality that can cause serious harm to humans is unhealthy indoor air. The determinants of healthy indoor air are the quantity and quality of indoor air and the level of safety that comes with the provided indoor air.

If reality about the existence or the impending occurrence of poor IAQ is poorly communicated, the effort required to collaboratively prevent or solve the unwanted reality will be compromised. The risk of poor communication occurring will increase with the increase in the lines of communication resulting from the complexity of the process and the increase in the number of people involved. Inaccurate, incomplete, and poor representation of shared information, poor critical thinking, reflection, and inadequate or lack of experience, especially when a lack or low level of empathy is prevalent in entities sharing and interpreting information, will increase the risk of negative assumption occurrence.

Non-evidence-based thinking that distorts reality to protect one interest is called negative assumption. When information is shared or interpreted with a negative assumption, miscommunication occurs. Interest is the value human seeks. Value is the ratio of usefulness to invested resources. Thus, the chances of negative assumption occurrence will increase when humans perceive the situation, e.g., the information or event they are exposed to, as a threat to their interest.

If the purpose of effective communication is to influence the interpretation of information to protect interests, it is important to answer these questions. What interest would a building owner be striving to protect? What interest would a facility manager or management team be striving to protect? What interest would occupants or tenants be striving to protect? The interest these three stakeholders would want to protect is to ensure the usefulness they receive is higher than their invested resources. I want you to read the article I gave you. The article explains the relationship between usefulness and invested resources.

The usefulness from the building owner’s perspective would be the revenue tenants paid to the building owner with the assumption that healthy indoor air will be provided. The usefulness will also be determined by the level of comfort, convenience, and awareness that comes with the building owner’s revenue from tenants. The invested resources by the building owner include the level of cost invested in delivering a solution for achieving the level of usefulness. Cost may be money, time, manpower, etc. Invested resources also include the level of comfort, convenience, and awareness associated with the invested cost the building owner would have to sacrifice to achieve the level of usefulness.

The usefulness from the perspective of a facility manager or management team would be the reward that comes with doing the required job to deliver healthy indoor air. The reward may include financial compensation, e.g., salary, bonus, etc., career advancement or opportunity for it, appreciation received, and little or no dispute. The usefulness will also include the level of comfort, convenience, and awareness that the reward provides for the facility manager or management team. Invested resources by the facility manager or management team include the invested cost and the level of comfort, convenience, and awareness associated with it that must be sacrificed to achieve the level of usefulness.

The usefulness for tenants or occupants involves comfort, convenience, and awareness associated with each of the three healthy indoor air determinants, i.e., quantity, quality, and the safety the indoor air provides. The invested cost and the associated level of comfort, convenience, and awareness that tenants or occupants have to be sacrificed to achieve the level of usefulness, will vary depending on the context of each occupant.

The interpretation of information that led to the belief that more resources had to be invested than the expected usefulness would threaten the stakeholders’ interest. Thus, sharing information among the stakeholders about what is being done or should be done, a practice known as transparency, is not enough without consideration for how the recipients will interpret the shared information in the context of their interest.

A practice of transparency that neglects communication is a practice of poor communication. Poor communication is like setting up a poor foundation or bedrock for the delivery of healthy indoor air ’empire’. Such an ‘empire’ will quickly crumble. Too much transparency with a lack of effective communication will further increase the speed at which the ‘empire’ will crumble because blaming culture, distrust, cheating, and resistance that loosen the bond of the bedrock will become the order of the day.

All stakeholders must interpret the information received or information that needs to be shared as not a threat to their interest. Thus, a communication system that aims for collaborative and cooperative effort to prevent and solve unhealthy indoor air problems should strive to convince or influence the stakeholders sharing and receiving information to believe that their interests will be protected as much as possible considering the context. It is important to note that one thing is for shared information to be portrayed and received information to be interpreted as protecting interest or is true; another is for experience to suggest that interest is protected in reality or the information is true.

Trust will be broken if reality confirms that interest is not protected or the information is not true. A broken trust will lead to distrust of information shared or received, even if the information can aid the delivery of healthy indoor air. Distrust of shared or received information will lead to negative assumptions. Negative assumptions will drive thinking that will drive behaviour and culture of all stakeholders not working collaboratively and cooperatively to solve unhealthy indoor air problems.

Five main communication system components should be considered when establishing a collaborative and cooperative communication system to prevent and solve unhealthy indoor air problems. These five areas are; method, machine, measurement, materials, and man. The consideration for the method should investigate how the communication process could be designed, constructed, and managed to facilitate communication that would lead to healthy indoor air delivery in a value-oriented manner for everyone involved. When improving communication problems related to the process, it is important to remove its inherent wastes (in the lean concept) to reduce unnecessary communication complications among stakeholders.

Efforts should be taken to continuously learn and improve the process of sharing accurate, complete, and avoidance of misinterpretation and distrust of information to enhance healthy indoor delivery in a value-oriented manner for all stakeholders involved. An effective communication system requires products or media, i.e., machines, to aid sharing and interpretation of information in favour of collaborative and cooperative problem-solving for healthy indoor air delivery.

The materials used in the make-up of the machine should be effective and durable to ensure the reliable performance of the machine in aiding effective communication. Thought should also be put into the measurement tool meant for determining the effectiveness of the communication system for the collaborative and cooperative delivery of healthy indoor air. The measurement tool is meant to provide the feedback needed for the continuous improvement of the communication system.

Man (Human) is a complicated but important communication system component. An understanding of human behaviour and the reasons guiding the behaviour should be used to design and construct how the communication system will be operated, maintained, and continuously improved. A lack of due consideration for human behaviour could make a well-designed and constructed communication system ineffective in practice.

The design, construction, and management of an effective communication system can be difficult to achieve in large buildings with several lines of communication and people without adopting digital solutions aided by artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence aided by machine learning can be used to predict and monitor what is expected to provide direction for what is expected to be done.

Identifying the causes of miscommunication due to the 5Ms to find solutions to eliminate or reduce them to solve problems they have caused is challenging but worth pursuing. Thus, it requires a continuous improvement effort, especially for the man (human) component of the communication system. Artificial intelligence enhanced by machine learning is needed to improve the chances of solving problems caused by each of the 5Ms and their integrations in the communication system. The developed communication system should be used for other IEQ parameters and general facility management works.

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Professor France used several case studies to teach Bernard and his team how uncollaborative and uncooperative behaviour among stakeholders due to poor communication led to unhealthy indoor air. Many other areas on what it takes to deliver healthy indoor air were covered in a three-day per week for two weeks classroom training.

With the support of the CEO, Bernard recruited five competent staff with extensive experience in using artificial intelligence to join his team to solve complex problems humans naturally believe impossible to solve. Recruiting staff with artificial intelligence expertise to work in a facility management team was not very common in the industry then. Bernard also recruited a psychologist to be part of his team, a practice alien to the facility management industry.

The decision to recruit a psychologist proved to be a game changer in developing effective communication the hotel needed for healthy indoor air delivery in a value-oriented manner for all stakeholders involved because human is at the root of every problem. The new recruitments join Bernard’s team full of professionals with expertise in mechanical, electrical, electrical, plumbing, and facility management. Bernard and his team developed and applied a preliminary communication system based on what they learnt in the classroom training to improve the IAQ management process.

Professor France guided Bernard and his team using a question-based approach. The preliminary created communication system showed some potential in making all the stakeholders work collaboratively and cooperatively to define IAQ problems, identify the root causes of the problems, and develop solutions to effectively solve communication problems hindering the delivery of healthy indoor air in the hotel. The application of classroom learning to the real-life project took six months to finish. The CEO was impressed by the potential of the developed communication system. The CEO encouraged Bernard and his team to develop the communication system further. The CEO provided an applied research budget for this cause.

Benard and his team also worked with Professor France to submit several applied research proposals to government agencies to secure more funding. As part of the Alpha Service Apartment Hotel collaboration with UAL, Bernard enrolled in an industry doctorate research programme. Two of his team members applied for an industry master’s research programme.

More members enrolled over the years. The enrollments served two purposes for the hotel. It portrayed Alpha Service Apartment Hotel’s commitment as an organisation that supports government’s lifelong learning initiatives. It also provided opportunities to motivate staff from the facility management department to take research needed to improve their communication system seriously. The industry research degree programmes allowed candidates to use problems in their workplace as subjects for their research.

All the research efforts between Alpha Service Apartment Hotel and UAL looked into answering questions related to the identification of challenges that could hinder the development of solutions for solving problems related to the 5Ms for achieving effective communication systems. Six years later, Alphas Service Apartment Hotel, led by Bernard and Professor France from UAL, developed a body of knowledge. The body of knowledge informed the development of solutions to eliminate the challenges hindering the development of an effective communication system and increase the chances of solving dysfunctional communication system problems.

In addition to improving the IAQ condition in the hotel, other IEQ conditions were also improved in a resource-efficient manner. The hotel won many healthy buildings related awards locally and internationally. The hotel also won the best employer awards. The hotel also won several awards for digital solution adoption. As the hotel’s reputation increased, so did its revenue, which increased tremendously. The hotel became a dream place to work and a hotel for guests.

Bernard, now Dr. Bernard Jackson, won a lifelong learner award for his ability to pursue a doctorate degree and applied the experience gained to lead his team to solve problems for his organisation. Bernard shared his experience in creating an effective communication system for collaborative and cooperative problem-solving with other departments in Alpha Service Apartment Hotel.

Bernard quickly rose to the ranks and became Deputy CEO of Alpha Service Apartment Hotel within eight years of joining as head of facility management. Bernard was able to take care of his wife and children comfortably and conveniently. Bernard and his wife bought a mansion. They lived a very good and successful life. The success made by the hotel due to their participation in the workplace learning initiative became one of the major success stories the government always uses to justify how they have successfully supported companies and citizens of the country.

At every opportunity, Bernard would thank his wife for her support in his journey of developing expertise for developing and adopting an effective communication system that transformed him professionally and personally. THE END!