Benchmarking for Best Practices

Overview/Description
Target Audience
Expected Duration
Lesson Objectives
Course Number

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Overview/Description
Benchmarking is an old idea with a new slant toward performance improvement. Learning from other companies to improve the practices of your own is not just making site visits or talking to other companies about how they operate. It's a disciplined process requiring careful research and analysis. Find out who should benchmark, how to benchmark, and what to do with the benchmarked data once you've collected it.

Target Audience
Managers who wish to identify best practices in other companies.

Expected Duration (hours)
3.0

Lesson Objectives

The Need for Benchmarking

recognize the importance of benchmarking for organizational learning.

select examples of the three key elements of benchmarking.

select situations that illustrate the primary reasons for benchmarking.

match the three organizational aspects that can be benchmarked with situations illustrating each.

select categories of benchmarking for given situations.

Data-gathering and Analysis

recognize the value of data-gathering and gap analysis to the benchmarking process.

select the best data-gathering method for specific situations.

sequence steps for determining a performance gap.

identify examples of the two types of performance goals.

Taking Action

recognize the importance of an action plan and an organized implementation and monitoring process for benchmarking success.

identify the key elements of a benchmarking action plan.

identify the appropriate process for plan implementation in four different situations.

match levels of monitoring and benchmarking improvement with the appropriate description.

distinguish among benchmarking, business simplification, and time compression.

Course Number:
KNOW0116