I.- INTRODUCTION
Within the broad field of Garden Management a vast role is played by the management of maintenance tasks or Garden Maintenance Management (GMM in the following). The present work addresses itself to explore theoretical aspects of the accumulated body of knowledge of GMM.
It appears of interest as a first step to discuss GMM within a wider context as, for instance, that of Asset Maintenance Management (AMM ). In doing so we may take advantage of the considerable work that has been done to systematise the body of knowledge concerning AMM (which will be discussed later on).
Asset Maintenance Management involves a three headed concept which, when applied to a specific kind of Assets, like Gardens, requires description of the type of Asset, the special Maintenance required and the ways in which this Asset Maintenance may be managed.
All gardens of course, require maintenance, but not all are of such an scale that management of the maintenance is called for. Such a situation develops in extensive gardens, built on rather large land areas; these are usually owned by state or private organizationsfor whom they constitute an Asset, operated on a non-profit basis with the purpose of delivering an specialized service to the public. Such are Parks, municipal gardens and those accessory to industries, colleges, hospitals,etc. This work is concerned
with these so-called public gardens, as opposed to private gardens which are maintained for the enjoyment of more restricted audiences.
Maintenance of an Asset involves a set of tasks or jobs required to keep the Asset performing its functions to the users satisfaction. In order to chooce a given Management approach, it is essential to ascertain what are the main and secondary functions and how the users satisfaction may be understood and evaluated.
In the case of Gardens the tasks or jobs needed for maintenance are generally well known and understood and a considerable body of both theoretical and empirical knowledge has been developped. Such is not the case however, regarding functions and users reactions whose theoretical study remains largely underdevelopped.
Scope of the work: The foregoing general considerationsroughly define the scope of the present work: to explore theoretical principles underlying the relationships connecting maintenance work with garden functions and users reactions; these relationships are in turn to be discussed as a basis for decision making in garden management.
(I would like to point out at the outset, so as to prevent further disapointment, that the reader will not find here sets of rules or procedures for Garden Management. My intention is only to discuss concepts, models and subjects that may prove useful in the elaboration of such sets of rules.)
A Gardener ( the capital G reserved for those gardeners that are supposed to take decisions about strategies concerning garden management), is faced with a large number of constraints, among them, those arising from soil, climate, budget, expertise,etc. Within the constraints he is faced with a decision making process regarding strategy, tactics and daily work schedules. The question arises as to whether he can rely on specific theoretical guidelines to help him in the decision making.
It may safely be said that if all the work that needs to be done could be performed in time, without having to choose between one or another task there is not much need for theoretical guidelines. It is mainly when shortages of budget (work force, equipment, etc) and/or adverse physical conditions are present, that the need arises for a theoretical background. Thus, the greater the disproportion between the available resources and the
amount of work that needs to be done, the greater the need for a theoretical framework
for garden management.
In my opinion, the discipline known as systems analysis could provide a useful starting point in the development of such a theoretical framework. This discipline has proved itself in a number of fields involving interactions of large amounts of variables, as is the case with GMM. Applications of systems analysis to eco-systems are particularly relevant (1).A deeper insight of the users perception of gardens may be achieved by considering it as a communication process and as such, the use of various communication models relevant to garden situations is worth examining
inside the system and which are to be placed into the system's surroundings. (tentatively, because it understood that these propositions may be modified if necessary as we gain more understanding of the process) . In the next stage the nature of the interactions conforming the system and its environment will be discussed.
At a later stage an attempt will be done to set those interactions in terms of functions
that may allow us to run the analysis on a quantitative basis this will also make possible to choose strategies for the system to operate in the best conditions within the constraints imposed by the surroundings.
five basic considerations that the scientists believe must be kept in mind while
thinking about the meaning of the system:
1.- The total system objectives
2.- The system's Environment: the fixed constraints.
3.- The resources of the system.
4.- The components of the system: their activities,goals and measures of performance.
5.- The management of the system.
Accordingly, these will constitute, together with an incursion into communication models, the main sections of the first stage of this work.
Some notes about the layout of these pages:
1Because of the rather speculative nature of the subject treated here, there will be a number of ramifications, notes, definitions and comments on them,etc. In order to make easier reading and to follow the main thread, the work will be structured thus:
1) The Main Pages grouped in Sections that can be accessed from the
Table of Contents and the Site Map.
2) Notes, Annotations and Case examples that can be accessed through links
from the main pages(link marked empty means not yet ready)
3) Definitions and comments on: these are particularly important here but, in
order not to sidetrack the reader, instead of dwelling on definitions, links are
provided to relevant sites and, particularly, to Principia Cybernetica Web
whose definitions I will frequently adopt.
(1) - For refs. on applications of systems analysis to Ecology,best to start with the
classical articles in: Systems Analysis and Simulation Ecology, edited by
E.C. Patten, Academic Press (1971); in particular A Primer for Ecological
Modeling and Simulation in Computers, by Patten himself. See also:
Joergensen S.E.: Fundamentals of Ecological Modeling, Elsevier (1988)
(2)- Jackson M.C.: Systems Methodology ; Plenum Pub.Corp. (1991)
(3) - Churchman C.W.: The Systems Approach; Dell Publishing Co., (1988)
