THEORY 74

THE BENCHMARKING MATRIX

Use this as a framework to identify internal and external best practices that you can use in your setting.

Benchmarking is a concept introduced by Frederick Taylor (see Theory 3) at the start of the twentieth century. He identified excellent performers by putting a chalk mark on their benches. This indicated to staff whose output or working practices they should emulate. This rather crude method of quality management has been refined over the past 100 years and is now a sophisticated tool used by many organisations.

Note: When undertaking external comparisons it is not necessary for the organisation ...