World Class Operation - Essay Example

Benchmarking al Affiliation: Benchmarking can simply be defined as a process of comparing between the performances of separate but competing organizations with the aim of enabling each participant to improve its own performance in the market. The main aim of this process is to gain a clear understanding of the competitors and the interests of the customers. Therefore, the process enables the organization to innovate the process of products and improve service delivery to the customers (Slack & Johnston, 2013). This is critical in enabling the organization to retain its customers and maintain its competitive edge in the market. The main role of benchmarking is to provide the management with the necessary information and knowledge of what composes the best performance in a certain field. Superior performance is mainly connected to output, efficiency, quality and other parameters that are related to performing a certain job. Therefore, benchmark not only investigates the best practices to improve the performance in the organization but the ways to achieve this performance. As a result, benchmarking is not a process of understanding the measurements but understanding the conditions necessary to achieve the desired results, the necessary results, and competency required in order to achieve top performance in the organization. There is no individual person who can own all innovations. Furthermore, there is no single department that can harbor all good ideas. Therefore, it becomes important to consider and learn from the experiences of other organizations which are operating in the same field and facing the same challenges (Slack & Johnston, 2013). As a result, by learning the best practices to incorporate in the organization, it becomes easy for the organization to progress and improve. Benchmarking has an important role of enhancing transparency in the organization. This is through enabling the organization to scrap off different aspects that hinder the flow of information from one department to the other. Through information sharing, the organization is able to understand the best practices to put in place in order to improve service delivery to the customers (Slack & Johnston, 2013). Therefore, the level of transparency and accountability within the organization is enhanced tremendously. The purpose of benchmarking is to enable the organization to develop realistic goals and strategies that will improve the performance of the organization. With the increasing levels of competition in the local and international market, it has become important for the organizations to maintain high performance levels in order to satisfy the interests of the target market. However, this aspect cannot be achieved without setting realistic goals and objectives. Therefore, benchmarking provides the organization with an opportunity to measure its goals and objectives with those of the competitors (Slack & Johnston, 2013). Therefore, the organization is able to set up parameters that enable it to make changes when a need arises in order to remain on course. Benchmarking has an important purpose of providing the organization with a sense of urgency for improvement. When employees work for a long time without comparing their performance with that of the close competitors, they are likely to become complacent. As a result, benchmarking provides an opportunity for the organization to make the necessary changes in order to improve the current performance (Slack & Johnston, 2013). Through the process, the subordinates feel the need to accept the changes in order to achieve better results. This reduces the level of resistance to change. Benchmarking has a critical purpose of emphasizing the need to focus on changing customer needs. Initially, organization was highly focused on profits. However, with the changing market dynamics, it has become critical for the organizations to shift their needs towards the tastes and preferences of the target market (Slack & Johnston, 2013). This is through developing an elaborate customer relationship management plan that will enable the organization to address the varying needs of the customers. There are different types of benchmarking that can be applied according to the desired results by a company. The first type of benchmarking is strategic benchmarking. This type of benchmarking involves the examination of the long-term strategies of the company such as the new products, core competencies and service development. This is a common type of benchmarking that is conducted by highly performing organizations. Performance benchmarking is another type of benchmarking which mainly focuses at performance characteristics in relation to main products and services. For example the company can compare the performance of one product line with similar products in another company. In order to protect the confidentiality of the company, this type of benchmarking is mainly done through trade associations. On the other hand, process benchmarks focuses mainly on the improvement of the processes and operations by comparing the organization with others performing similar tasks (Slack & Johnston, 2013). Internal benchmarking involves a comparison of the operations from within the same organization. For instance, this type of benchmarking can compare business units found in different countries. On the other hand, external benchmarking analyzes the best in classes outside the organization. For example, an upcoming company can use Apple Inc to benchmark its performance. This provides the organization with an ideal opportunity to learn from others that are on a leading edge. Lastly, international benchmarking identifies and analyzes the best practitioners in different parts of the world (Slack & Johnston, 2013). For example, a technological company can send its employees to a company located in a different country in order to benchmark its performance. The reason is that there are few organizations in the same sector which can be used to benchmark the performance of the organization in the market. Grady Hospital was receiving a high number of complaints regarding the quality of services that was being provided in the emergency department. Patients were complaining of delays in admission, duplication of roles, frequent readmissions and poor organization in the sector. In an attempt to improve service delivery, the hospital sent some of its subordinates in the best performing hospitals in order to benchmark its performance with other hospitals. Upon return, the subordinates outlined a couple of measures that the hospital needed to implement in order to improve its performance. For instance, they proposed the redesigning of emergency department in order to maximize the staffing in areas that were identified. Furthermore, they recommended that the walk-in should be reduced by thirty minutes. Furthermore, they proposed that the hospital should eradicate the duplication of roles. The hospital implemented these proposals and there was a major change in service delivery. The time taken by a patient to be admitted reduced tremendously. Furthermore, the overall timeliness improved tremendously. Moreover, the quality of services improved immensely. Financially, the hospital improved its financial position and the patients enjoyed cheaper services. This highlights the importance of benchmarking to an organization. References Slack, N., Brandon-Jones, A., & Johnston, R. (2013). Operations management. Harlow, England: Pearson. Read More