Benchmarking Human Resource Systems-Are We Ready for It?

BENCHMARKING HUMAN RESOURCE SYSTEMS-ARE WE READY FOR IT?

INTRODUCTION

The 1996 Directors' Workshop at Jodhpur ushered into SAIL, the hottest new buzzword in management, BENCHMARKING. An adequate working definition of this term has been provided in the documented outcomes of the conclave.

"Simply put, benchmarking is the search for the industries best practices that guide and lead to superior performance level".

Best practices are generally understood to be the methods used in work processes that produce outputs which best meet customer requirements in a particular 'marketplace'. The conversion of best practices into measurements of best performance result in benchmarks i.e. standards of excellence or achievement against which similar things must be measured or judged.

It is within this contextual understanding that this paper examines the subject of benchmarking Human Resource Systems. The objective of this examination is primarily to assess our preparedness for conducting a benchmarking exercise in our current HRM scenario and gauge there from the feasibility of incorporating the results of such an exercise into our existing systems and work processes. This assessment also seeks to examine and understand our capability and readiness to utilize a performance improvement tool like benchmarking. Such capability and readiness will be assessed against the fact that the deliverable at the end of any benchmarking exercise is the implementation of real, meaningful change back at the workplace. Gaining knowledge and learning lessons from other Companies is not the deliverable.

For the purpose of this examination, the process framework of a benchmarking exercise, as advocated by Robert C. Camp, popularly called the 10 Step Process, will be used as the yardstick. The 10 Step Process has become a tested model framework for implementing a Benchmarking exercise and has been successfully adopted by organizations like Xerox. A schematic of the key benchmarking...