Ideally, you'd like the hot air to be sucked up by the I/P to the air-conditioner and the cool air to drop to the floor (or into the bottom of the racks) or an un-occupied (human) area of the room.
Most places, if properly designed, will have venting that allows that type of Heating/Cooling, but in real life, A/C design is usually the last item (if at all) that gets thought-into a real working system.
I have ALWAYS had to deal with A/C systems AFTER the fact and, except at my transmitter site in Colfax, the system-redesign usually has to involve ducting that blocks the lighting in the room (most supervisors hate that immediately) or there's some cobbled pieces of cardbord, duct-tape and bubble-gum to deal with just to SHOW them that if something could be done, you've got the temperatures down maybe a few degrees from what was prevalent before.
The other aspect you could go for is determine the terminal temperature the equipment will fail at, or shut-down. Let management know -via- weekly/monthly reports that if the SDHTF, and the fan quits, "Servers Down!" will be the day's battle cry.
You've CYA and that's the best that some folks may be able to say.
Good luck getting your A/C.
