People's attitudes directly affect their workplace effectiveness. If an organization can improve its workers' level of
Frequent staff
If your organization or department is carrying out an attitude survey, you can assist in the improvement of workplace morale with the following positive responses.
BEFORE THE SURVEY
Attend any information meetings with a positive attitude. However,
what steps are being taken to ensure the anonymity of the
what assurances and safeguards there are that all the information will be fed back to the participants;
how long it will take for the feedback to be made available;
what steps will be taken to ensure that the data will be acted upon;
whether front-line staff will be able to have any input into the questions that will be used in the survey.
DURING THE SURVEY
Answer all questions frankly.
Do not write your
DURING THE FEEDBACK SESSION
Ask for a copy of the results so you can study them in more detail at your leisure. If the complete survey is not available for everyone, ask if you can access it somewhere in the organization.
Help to keep the meeting positive. Do not try to embarrass
Volunteer to take care of some actions. Focus on items over which you have control. This will
AFTER THE SURVEY
Keep the interest in the survey going by referring to it and the action plans that were developed previously.
Benchmarking is the continuous process of measuring products, services, and practices against the toughest
competitors or those companies regarded asleaders .
DAVID T. KEARNS, CEO, XEROX CORPORATION
Benchmarking is a method of comparing processes, products, and services against organizations with the best practices. You can benchmark best practices to identify how others achieve outstanding results, and can even benchmark the actual measurable
PLANNING
What do you want to benchmark? Take your cues from problem areas, which might include:
sales;
market share;
costs;
returns;
customer complaints.
What information do you need? Determine which issues are most important, considering, perhaps:
quality;
speed;
safety;
Who will collect the data? For the survey to be both objective and accurate, you will need two or more people. Include colleagues who
have done benchmarking and surveys before;
will be authorizing the resulting changes in operation;
will be implementing the changes.
How will you collect the data?
printed survey forms;
interviews in person or by telephone;
observation of workplace behaviour.
How will you record the data? The benchmarking team will need to develop one or all of:
appropriate questions;
survey forms;
data collection checklists or record sheets.
Where will you get the data? Possible sources include:
professional or industry associations;
published articles and books;
conferences and trade shows;
people in your own organization;
staff from competing firms;
people who previously worked for competitors.
ORGANIZING
Hold a planning meeting with your team
Find information sources. In some cases, you might solicit cooperation by offering to share your final data.
IMPLEMENTATION
Carry out collection of the data according to your plan.
Analyze the information you have collected.
Organize the data to identify
where your organization needs to improve;
how much improvement is required.
Determine why your organization is not meeting the benchmark (is it lacking, for example, in staff performance, operation methods, equipment, or materials?).
Your organization's efficiency will be most
PLANNING FOR CHANGE
Set achievement goals for your improvement plan.
Develop the plan, including pinpointing what needs to be done, who will do it, and when they will do it.
SELLING THE PLAN
Make the "sales" presentation to those who will be authorizing and implementing the plan.
Present the team's findings, including goals, solutions, and benefits, to the audience.
Obtain authorization for changes in procedures and for any required expenditure.
IMPLEMENTING THE SOLUTION AND BENEFITS
Put the improvement plan into action.
Monitor implementation procedures to ensure that they are meeting goals.
EVALUATION
Measure the results and determine whether goals have been achieved.
Give recognition to all the people who helped plan and carry out the project.
Continue to compare performance with current industry benchmarks. Make your organization a leader!