標桿管理法由美國施樂公司于1979年首創，西方管理學界將其與企業再造、戰略聯盟一起并稱為20世紀90年代三大管理方法。

Seven-step approach to benchmarking

The consulting firm Kaiser Associates proposes a seven-step approach to benchmarking as follows:

1. Determine which areas or functions to benchmark. It would probably not be feasible to benchmark all functions at one time, so it is necessary to choose those activities where benchmarking can bring the greatest benefits to the organisation. This may be based on which activities offer the greatest scope for cost savings, or which are ‘key service differentiators’.

2. Identify the performance indicators and performance drivers that will be measured during the benchmarking exercise.

3. Select the organisations that will be used as the benchmark.

4. Measure the performance of the benchmark using the measures identified in step two above.

5. Measure your own performance, and compare it to the benchmark to identify the gaps.

6. Specify actions and programmes to close the gap. This involves analysing how the benchmark achieves superior performance, and identifying similar practices that could be adopted.

7. Implement and monitor the actions and programmes. Monitoring should not be a one-off process, but should continue for a longer period after the benchmarking exercise.

Identifying the performance indicators

In public sector benchmarking, the performance indicators used tend to focus on cost and efficiency or differentiation. Cost variables might include items such as labour efficiency, or total costs for a particular function as a percentage of income.

Regarding differentiation, many of the metrics used would be of a qualitative nature, such as client satisfaction or quality of service. It is difficult to measure these directly due to their subjectivity. One approach is to use customer surveys for these.

In attempting to find relevant metrics, benchmarking exercise s carried out in the past by similar organisations can be a useful source. Much information about these is available in accounting and business journals, and online, or by contacting organisations that have already performed a benchmarking exercise. This is easier in the public sector, as the government – as overseer and beneficiary of the benchmarking – can often force other organisations to disclose information. This would not be the case in the private sector.

Selecting the benchmark

When choosing the benchmark, we can talk about different types of benchmarking:

·Internal benchmarking uses another organisation within the same organisation. For example, a comparison of the performance of the procurement department of one hospital with the procurement department of another hospital.

·External functional benchmarking is where a particular function is compared with that function for the organisation that performs that function best, regardless of which industry they are in.

·Competitive benchmarking is where a competitor is used as the benchmark. This may not be so common in the public sector.

When using external functional benchmarking, using a similar organisation in terms of objectives and size can make the process easier. It is not necessary then to take into account differences between the two organisations when comparing their performance, and it should be easier to adopt the practices of the benchmark if they are similar. For example, if a school uses a similar school in a different area as a comparator.

External functional benchmarking can also be performed successfully using out of category organisations – ie organisations that may be have totally different objectives and even different primary activities. Using such benchmarks will make the process more complex, but may provide the opportunity for an organisation to overtake, rather than simply to catch up with comparable organisations. For example, a public sector logistics department could use one of the private sector international courier companies as a benchmark for its logistics.

The most important factor when selecting the benchmark is to identify the ‘best in class’ for the activity or business process being benchmarked.