Benchmarking as a Tool to Improve Business Practices

Benchmarking as a Tool to Improve Business Practices BenchmarkingÂÂ  (best practice benchmarking or process benchmarking) is a process used in management and particularly strategic management, in which organizations evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to best practice, usually within their own sector. Dimensions typically measured are quality, time, and cost. Improvements from learning mean doing things better, faster, and cheaper. This then allows organizations to develop plans on how to adopt such best practice, usually with the aim of increasing some aspect of performance. Benchmarking is often treated as a continuous process in which organizations continually seek to challenge their practices. NEEDS AND BENEFITS FOR BENCHMARKING Organizations use benchmarking for a variety of purposes. Some organizations position benchmarking as part of an overall problem-solving process with a clear mandate for organizational improvement .Others position benchmarking more as a proactive mechanism to keep themselves aware of the state-of-the-art business practices. Some of the reasons organizations use benchmarking processes are: STRATEGIC PLANNING It requires a thorough knowledge of the market place, the likely activities of the competition, the state of the art regarding products or services being produced, financial requirements for doing business in market, and the customer base. Benchmarking is useful tools for gathering information in these areas during the process of strategic planning. This type of information can shape a business strategy in a more realistic direction, or at least help identify the risks of doing business in certain markets. FORECASTING Benchmarking information is often used to gauge the state of the marketplace and to forecast market potentials .it also provides a source of information regarding the business directions of key players in the marketplace, trends in product/service developments, patterns of consumer behaviour and so on. in many industries, the business direction of a few major companies can shape the direction of an entire marketplace.forecastion the activities of these types of organizations often provides their competitors and support services companies with important information about future implications for their businesses. NEW IDEAS Benchmarking is an excellent source of new ideas. One of the primary large scale benchmarking is that it exposes individuals to new products, work processes, and ways of managing company resources.benchamarking requires that individuals establish formal contacts outside their oragainizations.the reward is exposure to different ideas and approaches to conducting business. It also provides an opportunity for employees to think out of the box to consider alternative paradigms and to engage in What if thinking. PRODUCT/PROCESS COMPARISONS A common type of benchmarking involves the collection of information about the products or processes of competitors or excellent companies. This information is often collected and used as a standard of comparison for similar products or services of the benchmarking organization. This type of benchmarking confirms more costly with traditional competitive intelligence activities. in these competitions product or service is compared feature by feature with the product or servic3e of the company performing the analysis. GOAL SETTING Benchmarking is used as a means of identifying best practices. The standards set by excellent companies in many cases define what is possible on a state of art performances scale.These goals can help organizations accelerate their performance curves as they strive for continual improvement.Many small to medium size companies cannot hope to achieve the levels of performance of excellent companies that have far greater access to technologies,capital,or other resources.However,these companies can benefit dependant on organizational resources. PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT TOOL Benchmarking is defined as the process of identifying and learning from the best practices in the world. By identifying the best practices, organizations know where they stand in relation to other companies. The other companies can point out problem areas and provide possible solutionsBenchmarking allows organizations to better understand their administrative operations, and targets areas for improvement. In addition, benchmarking can eliminate waste and improve a companys market share. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT TOOL Benchmarking is increasing in popularity as a tool for continuous improvement. Organizations that faithfully use benchmarking strategies achieve a cost savings of 30 to 40 percent or more. Benchmarking establishes methods of measuring each areas units of output and costs. In addition, benchmarking supports the process of budgeting, strategic planning, and capital planning. ENHANCED PERFORMANCE TOOL Benchmarking also allows companies to learn new and innovative approaches to issues facing management, and provides a basis for training. Benchmarking improves performance by setting achievable goals. ENHANCED LEARNING TOOL Another reason to benchmark is to overcome disbelief and to enhance learning. For example, hearing about another companys successful processes and how they work helps employees believe theres a better way to compete. GROWTH POTENTIAL TOOL Benchmarking may cause a needed change in the organizations culture. After a period of time in the industry, an organization may become too practiced at searching inside the company for growth. The company would be better off looking outside for growth potential. An outward-looking company tends to be a future-oriented company usually leading to an enhanced organization with increased profits. JOB SATISFACTION TOOL Benchmarking is growing and changing so rapidly, benchmarkers have banded together and developed how-to networks to share methods, successes, and failures with each other. The process has successfully produced a high degree of job satisfaction and learning. HELPS OVERCOME PARADIGM BLINDNESS Benchmarking is a powerful management tool because it overcomes paradigm blindness. Paradigm Blindness can be summed up as the mode of thinking, The way we do it is the best because this is the way weve always done it. Benchmarking opens organizations to new methods, ideas and tools to improve their effectiveness. It helps crack through resistance to change by demonstrating other methods of solving problems than the one currently employed, and demonstrating that they work, because they are being used by others. COMPETITIVE BENCHMARKING Some authors call benchmarking best practices benchmarking or process benchmarking. This is to distinguish it from what they call competitive benchmarking.ÂÂ  Competitive benchmarkingÂÂ  is used in competitor analysis. When researching your direct competitors you also research the best company in the industry (even if it serves a different location) .(MichaelJ.Spendolini n.d.) BENCHMARKING PROCESS: Identify your problem areasÂÂ   Because benchmarking can be applied to any business process or function, a range of research techniques may be required. They include: informal conversations with customers, employees, or suppliers; exploratory research techniques such as focus groups; or in-depth marketing research, quantitative research, surveys, questionnaires, reengineering analysis, process mapping, quality control variance reports, or financial ratio analysis. Identify organizations that are leaders in these areasÂÂ   Look for the very best in any industry and in any country. Consult customers, suppliers, financial analysts, trade associations, and magazines to determine which companies are worthy of study. Survey companies for measures and practicesÂÂ   Companies target specific business processes using detailed surveys of measures and practices used to identify business process alternatives and leading companies. Surveys are typically masked to protect confidential data by neutral associations and consultants. Visit the best practice companies to identify leading edge practicesÂÂ   Companies typically agree to mutually exchange information beneficial to all parties in a benchmarking group and share the results within the group. Implement new and improved business practicesÂÂ   Take the leading edge practices and develop implementation plans which include identification of specific opportunities, funding the project and selling the ideas to the organization for the purpose of gaining demonstrated value from the process. THE ETHICAL ASPECTS OF BENCHMARKING In benchmarking, ethics is defined as principles, guidelines, or standards that determine a protocol of interaction between individuals and organizations. Many ethical questions may arise in the course of a benchmarking procedure. Two of the main questions which Johnson deals with are: * Can the recipient take credit for developing the idea, approach, and so forth? * If the benchmarking partner received information of tremendous value, can they take credit for it in their advertising? These questions cannot be answered quickly or easily. Partners in the benchmarking process need to communicate their expectations and feelings on these issues, and to follow some basic guidelines. They should establish specific and detailed ground rules. This includes the notion that ideas are not shared to gain competitive advantage, but are shared so both partners can improve or benefit. Questions should not be asked about a companys sensitive data; partners shouldnt be pressured to divulge this information to continue the benchmarking process. Data should be treated as confidential; it shouldnt be used to limit competition or to gain business. (MichaelJ.Spendolini. THE BENCHMARKING BOOK. AMERICAN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION-AMACOM.) COST OF BENCHMARKING Benchmarking is a moderately expensive process, but most organizations find that it more than pays for itself. The three main types of costs are: Visit costs This includes hotel rooms, travel costs, meals, a token gift, and lost labour time. Time costs Members of the benchmarking team will be investing time in researching problems, finding exceptional companies to study, visits, and implementation. This will take them away from their regular tasks for part of each day so additional staff might be required. Benchmarking Database Costs Organizations that institutionalize benchmarking into their daily procedures find it is useful to create and maintain a database of best practices and the companies associated with each best practice now. TYPES OF BENCHMARKING Process benchmarkingÂÂ   The initiating firm focuses its observation and investigation of business processes with a goal of identifying and observing the best practices from one or more benchmark firms. Activity analysis will be required where the objective is to benchmark cost and efficiency; increasingly applied to back-office processes where outsourcing may be a consideration. Financial BenchmarkingÂÂ   Performing a financial analysis and comparing the results in an effort to assess your overall competitiveness and productivity. Benchmarking from an Investor perspective- Extending the benchmarking universe to also compare to peer companies that can be considered alternative investment opportunities from the perspective of an investor. Performance BenchmarkingÂÂ   Allows the initiator firm to assess their competitive position by comparing products and services with those of target firms. Product BenchmarkingÂÂ   The process of designing new products or upgrades to current ones. This process can sometimes involve reverse engineering which is taking apart competitors products to find strengths and weaknesses. Strategic BenchmarkingÂÂ   Involves observing how others compete. This type is usually not industry specific, meaning it is best to look at other industries. Functional BenchmarkingÂÂ   A company will focus its benchmarking on a single function to improve the operation of that particular function. Complex functions such as Human Resources, Finance and Accounting and Information and Communication Technology are unlikely to be directly comparable in cost and efficiency terms and may need to be disaggregated into processes to make valid comparison. Best-in-class BenchmarkingÂÂ   Involves studying the leading competitor or the company that best carries out a specific function. Operational BenchmarkingÂÂ   Embraces everything from staffing and productivity to office flow and analysis of procedures performed. Energy BenchmarkingÂÂ   Developing an accurate model of a buildings energy consumption with the purpose of measuring reductions in usage. As mentioned earlier, many companies use the benchmarking process: Avon Products, Exxon Chemical, Microsoft, Ford, and General Motors. Xerox is known as the pioneer of benchmarking. By benchmarking, Xerox cut quality problems by two-thirds, cut manufacturing costs in half; cut development time by two-thirds; and while increasing volume cut direct labor by 50 percent and corporate staff by 35 percent. All improvements were not a direct result of benchmarking: The improved process and climate indirectly improved the rest of the organization. General Motors (GM) compares itself to the best-in-class company. This benchmarking shows GM where they are going wrong and that it is possible to do it better. The company compared its labor hours per vehicle to Fords: GM had 30 labor hours per vehicle; Ford only had 19 a dramatic gap. GM also benchmarked from Toyota. Toyota was superior in four areas: defects per vehicle, warranty cost per vehicle, order response time, and fasteners per car. GM needed to improve in all these areas for future success. The company also looked at Suzuki, regarded as a leader in properly painting vehicles the first time. Finally, GM looked at NUMMI in three areas: external JIT parts, internal JIT parts, and fastener part numbers. Due to the suffering automotive market in the early 1980s, Ford needed to change its operations to cut costs. Ford managers believed they could improve processes in the accounts payable department. After gathering, analyzing, and comparing data with Mazdas accounts payable operations, Ford retooled its own accounts payable operations and reduced costs by 5 percent. (DEAN ELMUTI 1997) CONCLUSION Benchmarking has consequences which are beyond the process itself: it reforms all the levels of the company.; modifies the process of manufacture of the product leads(drives) ; also reforms the hierarchical organization of the company, the product itself, and the state of mind of the employeesThere is no doubt that benchmarking is here to stay. Any company should benchmark if it wants to attain world-class competitive capability, prosper in a global economy, and above all, if it wants to survive. These trends are not an option for companies anymore; they should be done by all who want to remain competitive. All companies strive to be profitable, competitive, and successful. Benchmarking can help any company succeed-as long as it is applied correctly ABSTRACT Benchmarking is the search for industry best practises. Improvements from learning mean doing things better, faster, and cheaper. This then allows organizations to develop plans on how to adopt such best practice, usually with the aim of increasing some aspect of performance. Benchmarking is often treated as a continuous process in which organizations continually seek to challenge their practices.Benchmarking is a way to move away from tradition and one of the major strategic management tools. It carefully dissects the organization into segments, and then removes and inserts pieces to account for changing environments. Changes occur once the process has started, and will continue to change and mold the organization for as long as individuals are continuously striving to make it better.

The Impact of Race, Geographic Location, and Time on the Prevalence of Diabetes :: Descriptive Epidemiology Project, Diabetes

1. What is the outcome of interest? The outcome of interest for my epidemiology project is the prevalence of diabetes in a national population (United States), and how factors such as race, geographic location, and time, have an impact on the outcome. 2. Briefly define and describe your outcome. You may want to do a bit of research on some of the characteristics of your outcome. For example, what is diabetes? Or, how do we define cases of HIV, and what are some of the health implications? Diabetes is a disease in which blood sugar (or glucose) levels are above what they should be in a normal person. Through various biological processes, our body turns carbohydrates into glucose, or sugar, for our body to then use as energy. The pancreas, an organ that lies near the stomach, makes a hormone called insulin to help glucose get into the cells of our bodies. With diabetes, your body either doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use its own insulin as well as it should. This causes sugar to build up in your blood (Basics about Diabetes, 2012). While there are three different types of diabetes (diabetes type 1, diabetes type 2, and gestational diabetes) men and women can develop diabetes at any age. Type 1 diabetes, which used to be called juvenile diabetes, usually develops in young people; but, type 1 diabetes can also develop in adults. In type 1 diabetes, your body no longer makes insulin or enough insulin because the body’s immune system, and other harmful substances, attacked and destroyed the cells that make insulin (Basics about Diabetes, 2012). Type 2 diabetes, which used to be called â€Å"adult-onset diabetes†, can affect people at any age, even children. However, type 2 diabetes develops most often in middle-aged and older people. People who are overweight and inactive are also more likely to develop it. In type 2 diabetes, fat, muscle, and liver cells do not use insulin to carry glucose into the body’s cells to use for energy—a term denoted as insulin resistance. While the pancreas initially keeps up with the added demand by making more insulin, over time, the pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin when blood sugar levels increase (Diabetes Fact Sheet, 2011).Gestational diabetes can develop when a woman is pregnant. Pregnant women make hormones that can lead to insulin resistance. All women have insulin resistance late in their pregnancy. If the pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin during pregnancy, a woman develops gestational diabetes.

Steps to Create Graphics

This would allow students to envision their own color schemes and not initially be influenced by the colors the model project incorporated. In order to understand the layout of the stage where their set design is intended for, displayed an image of a stage I created using Google draw. I also downloaded artwork from a disk sent to me from the company where we licensed the musical. This was saved and used as the original source of set design inspiration. Finally included in the collection was one Of the first steps of the unit; a pencil drawing of the set design which was also created by a student.I scanned the document to my Macomb and saved it as a JEEP Audience The audience for this instructional unit consists Of 6th graders in my Theatre Arts class at Dutchmen Creek Middle School. The male population of the school is slightly larger at fifty-one percent, than that of the female population, which is approximately forty-nine percent. Fifty-eight percent of the learners are Caucasian. African American students comprise thirty-four percent, six percent is comprised of the Hispanic population, and two percent is of the Asian ethnicity.The students are enrolled in Theatre Arts for a nine week period before transitioning to another related arts course. The school overall has above level standardized test scores, been granted the Palmetto Gold Award for three consecutive years for growth in PASS testing and has been recognized for the prestigious National Schools to Watch award for the 2013-2014 school year. Gifted and talented classes are offered to students, including Geometry and English l, and more opportunities for direct instruction are offered via enrichment classes for remediation and additional academic assistance.Furthermore, the students at Dutchmen Creek Middle School are provided with teachers who train in and implement collaborative instruction and project based learning activities that help to reach each type f learner and bridge learning making it rel evant to the real world. Teams of instructional leaders work diligently to develop strategies to meet challenges the public education system faces today. Recently, the school received an â€Å"excellent† overall rating on their 2014 state report card.Schools are given an absolute – or overall – rating, which is calculated using test scores and a growth rating which grades improvements made from the previous year to the current year. Additionally, the fine arts department performing groups consistently 3 receive superior ratings in Chorus, Band, Orchestra, Theatre and Visual Arts at tideway events. Process The process for this graphics collection, basically entailed 5 steps and are listed below: Step 1: Take a picture of the intended subject, download it and save it as a JEEP.Email it or save it in Google drive where it can be accessed any time, anywhere. Step 2. In order to focus on the project, save the picture to a picture editing tool such as photo, click on the pencil which is the editing tool , click the â€Å"crop† button on the right hand side, move the automated square over the desired portion of the picture, and click on the â€Å"done† button. Save the picture by clicking on the â€Å"save as† from the file menu and label the picture using the word cropped so the original picture will stay intact.Step 4: Transpose the edited picture to black and white, which will allow students to select their color schemes without being influenced by the model. Using photo, click on the on the â€Å"effects† button, select the â€Å"black and white† icon, and add the level 2 â€Å"vignette† option Step 5: Download An image of the original desired set design picture from the disc provided by the Wizard of Oz leasing company Tans-Whitman and save s a JEEP file. This served as the original 1st step in the set design unit.Step 6: Creating an original image was accomplished through Google Draw, which is a fea ture of Google Drive, is very simple to use and utilizes the following steps: a) go to the website HTTPS://drive. Google. Com 4 b) Create a background. I chose to simulate stage lighting using different clip art and lighting streams. These are readily available on Google draw and can be inserted with a simple click of the mouse. C) Insert text using the â€Å"word art† feature simply by clicking on the insert Dutton, choose â€Å"word art†, type the appropriate words into the box provided and place it on top of the background.

Depression Is Serious Effect of Racism on Children

It’s often said that children don’t see race, but that’s far from true; they not only see race but also feel the effects of racism, which can manifest as depression. Even pre-schoolers notice racial differences between groups, and as children age, they tend to separate themselves into race-based cliques, making some students feel alienated. More problems arise when children use racial stereotypes to bully their classmates. Being ridiculed, ignored or slighted because of race has a detrimental effect on children. Studies show that encountering racial bigotry can lead children to suffer from depression and behavioral problems. Racism can even lead teens and young adults to drop out of school. Sadly, the racial discrimination children experience doesn’t exclusively involve their peers, as adults are perpetrators too. The good news is that children with strong support systems can overcome the challenges racial bigotry presents. Racism, Depression, and Black and Latino Youths A 2010 study of 277 children of color presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in Vancouver revealed a strong link between racial discrimination and depression. Roughly two-thirds of the study subjects were black or Latino, while another 19 percent were multiracial. Study lead Lee M. Pachter asked the youths if they’d been discriminated against in 23 different ways, including being racially profiled while shopping or called offensive names. Eighty-eight percent of the kids said they had indeed experienced racial discrimination. Pachter and his team of researchers also surveyed the children about their mental health. They found that racism and depression go hand in hand. â€Å"Not only do most minority children experience discrimination, but they experience it in multiple contexts: in schools, in the community, with adults and with peers,† Pachter said. â€Å"It’s kind of like the elephant in the corner of the room. It’s there, but nobody really talks about it. And it may have significant mental and physical health consequences in these children’s lives.† Overcoming Bigotry and Depression The results of a five-year study conducted by researchers in California, Iowa, and Georgia found that racism can lead to depression and behavioral problems. In 2006, the study of more than 700 black youth appeared in the publication of Child Development. The researchers determined that children who’d endured name-calling, race-based insults, and stereotyping were more likely to report trouble sleeping, mood swings, and difficulty concentrating, according to ABC News. Black boys victimized by racism were also more likely to get into fights or shoplift. The silver lining, however, is that children with supportive parents, friends, and teachers weathered the challenges of racism much better than their peers lacking such support networks. â€Å"The outlook was brighter, though, for children whose homes, friends, and schools protected them from discrimination’s negative influences,† said Gene Brody, the study’s lead researcher, in a press release. â€Å"Children, whose parents stayed involved in their lives, kept track of their whereabouts, treated them with warm affection, and communicated clearly with them, were less likely to develop problems due to their experiences with discrimination.† Racism as a Source of Depression in Young Adults Teenagers and young adults are not immune to the effects of racism. According to the University of California, Santa Cruz, college students who experience racism might feel like outsiders on campus or pressure to prove the stereotypes about their racial group wrong. They might also suspect that they’re being treated differently because of race and consider dropping out of school or transferring to another school to alleviate their symptoms of depression and anxiety. With one university after another making headlines in recent years when students organize parties with racially offensive themes, it’s likely that today’s students of color feel even more vulnerable on campus than their predecessors did. Hate crimes, racist graffiti, and small numbers of minority groups in the student body may make a young adult feel completely alienated in academia. UCSC asserts that it’s important for students of color to practice good self-care to prevent racism from sending them into a depression. â€Å"It may sometimes be hard to resist using unhealthy ways to cope, such as using drugs and alcohol excessively or isolating oneself from the broader community,† according to UCSC. â€Å"Taking good care of your physical, mental, and spiritual health will leave you better equipped to cope with the stress of bias, and make empowered choices for yourself.†