Benchmarking for Best Practices in the Public Sector: Achieving Performance Breakthroughs in Federal State and Local Agencies

For leading companies in the private sector, benchmarking has become a major catalyst for change and a key tool for gathering information from competitors and process leaders, as well as from within. Benchmarking for Best Practices in the Public Sector is a unique practical guide that shows public officials and administrators at all levels of government how to identify the best practices and implement them in their organizations. Using real case examples from federal, state, and local governments, this book displays how benchmarking methods have been adapted to the unique needs of the public sector and describes the tangible benefits gained by public agencies that have applied these techniques. Offers detailed how-to advice along with checklists, flowcharts, sample forms, a resource directory, and other tools to help managers take action quickly.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: How Best Practice Strengthen Public Organizations. PREPARING FOR BENCHMARKING. Understanding Best Practices. Benchmarking to Identify Best Practices. Assessing Organizational Readiness for Benchmarking. Selecting What to Benchmark. CONDUCTING BENCHMARKING TO ADAPT AND IMPLEMENT BEST PRACTICES. The Benchmarking Methodology Step by Step. Building Benchmarking Teams and Political Support. Finding a Best Practice Partner. Optimizing the Relationship with Your Partner. Analyzing the Research and Selecting Best Practices to Adapt. Adapting and Implementing Best Practices. Sustaining Lasting Performance Improvements. Resource: Directory of Benchmarking and Best Practices Organizations.

About the Author :
PATRICIA KEEHLEY has more than twenty years of public and private sector management experience that includes numerous benchmarking projects. She is the founder of the iKon Group, inc., a consulting firm specializing in providing performance improvement services to the public and nonprofit sectors. STEVEN MEDLIN is COO of the iKon Group. He has more than seventeen years of experience in the federal sector with the Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, the U.S. General Accounting Office, and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. SUE MACBRIDE is a research associate with the iKon Group and has worked with such government and nonprofit groups as the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Massachusetts Women's Caucus, and the Boston Water & Sewer Commission. LAURA LONGMIRE is director of benchmarking for KPMG Peat Marwick LLP.

Review :
"Most of the literature about benchmarking has a private-sector focus and uses the manufacturing approach toward process improvement when, in reality, the public sector requires a service approach to process improvement. Benchmarking for Best Practices in the Public Sector fills this void by using benchmarking and process improvement constructs and applying them to real-life applications in the public sector....This is a book that you should have on your bookshelf." — Government Finance Review "Benchmarking for Best Practices in the Public Sector articulates the ups and downs of benchmarking and communicates the great potential best practices have to affect change in any government agency." --Deedee Corradini, mayor, Salt Lake City "True benchmarking isn't just for the corporate world. The authors of Benchmarking for Best Practices in the Public Serctor show convincingly that it's for the public sector, too." --David N. Ammons, senior associate, Caril Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia "Most of the literature about benchmarking has a private-sector focus and uses the manufacturing approach toward process improvement when, in reality, the public sector requires a service approach to process improvement. Benchmarking for Best Practices in the Public Sector fills this void by using benchmarking and process improvement constructs and applying them to real-life applications in the public sector....This is a book that you should have on your bookshelf." --Government Finance Review