Benchmarking

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INTRODUCTION

rking is a process of industrial research that enables managers to perform compan

itors or those companies renowned as industry leaders.”

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INTRODUCTION

ences with suppliers in other industries. Thus, the ultimate benefit of benchmarki

range strategies require organizations to adapt continuously to the changing mark

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BENCHMARKING FUNDAMENTALS

nce of the following fundamentals:

knesses.

and performance levels. From experience, most managers now understand that benchm

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THE 10 - STEP BENCHMARKING PROCESS

arking investigation consists of the following five essential phases see the

Fig

ng of internal business processes before comparing them to external organizations

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THE 10 - STEP BENCHMARKING PROCESS

ent are necessary. rational reviews and updated as needed.

ness processes; when benchmarking becomes a standard part of guiding work; and whe

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THE 10 - STEP BENCHMARKING PROCESS

parent. n a benchmarking study. r an organization employing a total quality management (TQM) philosophy.

d team facilitation skills. These requirements favor candidates with engineering

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STEP 1 : WHAT TO BENCHMARK

y its customers and critical to fulfilling the mission successfully. Next, each fu

problem statements and then to develop these into a cause-and-effect Ishikawa di

ted in the current work flow. This understanding is essential because comparison

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STEP 2 : WHOM TO BENCHMARK

petitors and then extends to leading companies that are not competitors. While th

If this is true, then the first benchmarking partners may exist within the same

t it may be possible to determine a competitor’s best practices without having to

ractices is to focus on process information and not company data.

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STEP 2 : WHOM TO BENCHMARK

s to collect and analyze data, protecting the sources of information, and publishi

tify who are comparative organizations internally, competitively, functionally, and

s. There may a common interest in a particular process, or the benchmarking partne

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STEP 3A : COLLECT DATA

onducted.

speeches before public audiences are all available.

rformance data on the same questions being asked. This sets the right tone of ope

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STEP 3B : CONDUCT THE SITE VISIT

ant learning. In addition, world-class organizations that are overwhelmed with req

s is that it is not useful to ask one partner one set of questions, and another pa

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STEP 3B : CONDUCT THE SITE VISIT

esenter. Another team member should be prepared to ask the questions that have be

it firsthand. The time required to accomplish the agenda of both teams may not be

eam members. It is essential that this report be prepared the same day as the meet

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STEP 4 : ANALYZE THE PERFORMANCE GAP

utputs, processes, or steps within a process are superior, and by what measure eac

ns are used in the calculation.

f all the best practices observed were adopted. This is important because if the

ons usually offer for making minimal change. Another important activity in assess

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STEP 5 : PROJECT PERFORMANCE LEVELS

herefore one must not only analyze the gap as it exists at the time of measuremen

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STEP 5 : PROJECT PERFORMANCE LEVELS

uld develop two projections: one showing the effects of no changes in the current

contribution they will make toward realizing the organization’s vision.

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STEP 6 : COMMUNICATE FINDINGS

now it.

oral presentation with overhead transparencies that is preceded by prebriefings

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STEP 6 : COMMUNICATE FINDINGS

may be useful to other benchmarking teams. Lastly, the discipline of developing a

is not to say that every benchmarking team’s recommendations should be automatical

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STEP 7 : ESTABLISH FUNCTIONAL GOALS

he work unit, the department, and the organization as a whole, the team must compl

d. The anticipated changes are reflected in a revised set of goals and objectives.

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STEP 8 : DEVELOP ACTION PLAN

tion plan, and when approval for the action has been secured, proceed to implemen

ices to implement first. One approach to dealing with this issue is not to choose

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STEP 8 : DEVELOP ACTION PLAN

ng :

pected. n date for each. vers items such as budget, people, equipment, and materials. item. Explain how to complete the task. en corrective action is required. This includes setting up a reporting mechanism t

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TEP 9 : IMPLEMENT PLAN AND MONITOR RESULTS

around to represent the various steps in order to understand the flow of informa series of effectiveness measures that determine customer satisfaction.

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STEP 10 : RECALIBRATE BENCHMARKS

ne approach is to recalibrate benchmarks annually. More frequently is usually not

gues for faster benchmarking updates.

ng nothing has changed is a dangerous approach.

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SUCCESS FACTORS AND MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS

a competency capacity to help ensure that the benchmarking process is followed. B

enchmarking, what is not needed is blindly copying other institutions. That will n

onsensus on what needs to be done and how to achieve it, not argue over what shoul

es of customers. Effective use of benchmarking to develop and implement improveme

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