A study of the impact management practices on enhancing social cohesiveness in private residential estates in Hong Kong

Abstract

In Hong Kong, residential and related housing matters entail one of the social conflict issues as pointed out by Chiu and Lai (1995). Establishing a united environment among residential estate might therefore be a solution and one of the essential aspects in community building. Apart from this, in response to the rapid changing society and the ever-increasing demand from citizens, diverse types of private residential properties are formed which the adopted management practices are far different from the others. These diverse types of management practices might probably be resulting in the divergent level of social cohesiveness among groups. Macro-wise, the integration of Hong Kong and Mainland China since 1997 has greatly influenced Hong Kong in terms of cultural, economical and political, which has brought diversity in the society and social conflicts. As increasing numbers of occupants in the private residential estates are from China, property management practitioners might be able to play an important role in enhancing the overall cohesiveness by adopting appropriate building management practices which can not only build up the loyalty among the residents and also minimize the cultural conflicts. A high level of residents' cohesion will also help in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency in managing the properties to establish an enjoyable living environment. Thus, it is worthwhile to review the level of social cohesion in different private residential estates so as to explore the effective building management practices in favour of enhancing social cohesiveness.

Over the past decade, property management is no longer simply maintaining the operation of the property and ensuring security of the residents, it has become a customer service industry which always emphasizing on exceeding users' expectations and providing satisfaction both to the landlords and tenants so as to increase the property value. This study will look into three types of management practices, from reactive to proactive, from operational to customer-focused and from direct management by caretakers to with support from professional management entities in order to identify the relationship between management practices and understand the level of social cohesiveness among Hong Kong private residential estates. This study will also help property management practitioners to understand the impact of management practices in favour of enhancing social cohesiveness and also review their current practices.