Question

Think about the different elements of benchmarking and auditing that make these two disciplines distinct from each other. Discuss why an employee invited to participate in each of these kinds of activities might have a more favorable perspective of one over the other. What differences might drive such perception differences and what might a quality engineer do to alleviate some of the concerns raised by the more negative perceptions?

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily.

(Answer) Benchmarking: “Benchmarking is a process used in management, including Higher Education, in which organisations evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to best practice, usually within their own sector. It thus has an important comparative purpose. This then allows organisations to develop plans on how to adopt best practice, usually with the aim of increasing some aspect of performance.”

Auditing: “Audit is essentially a quality improvement process where performance is measured against predetermined standards or criteria, which are chosen as important ‘indicators’ of overall performance.”

Definitions are taken from - Briefing Paper: Auditing, Benchmarking and Evaluating Public Engagement by - Angie Hart, Simon Northmore, Chloe Gerhardt.

In auditing, there is usually a table to fill. For instance, the judges of a singing competition may award points to a contestant on the basis of pitch, melody, presentation etc. All of these criteria are considered separately and together constitute the overall score. Whereas a benchmark is more like someone saying, “Your voice is just as good a Whitney Houston.” In benchmarking, there is always a predecessor or a standard of quality that others are compared to.

Employees who prefer to know what is good about their performance and where they need to improve prefer auditing. Whereas employees who want to win the flat screen telly for making the most sales would prefer benchmarking. Each process has a different purpose to fulfill.

Each of these processes garners a different work environment. When employees know that they are being audited, they each try to work scrupulously. However, when the office knows that they are being benchmarked, the employees try to outdo each other.

For a quality engineer to alleviate concerns, it is best to publicly announce the reason why such audits and benchmarks are being determined. If it is conducted for the purpose of brushing the employees’ skills with computers, then the employees can be at peace knowing that these evaluations are not for the purpose of downsizing. Or if it is to pick an employee with best public speaking skills for an upcoming conference, then the employees know what they are getting into and are able to put their best foot forward if they so desire.