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DevelopmentofBenchmarkingToolforConstructionIndustry
2.RESEARCHBACKGROUND
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Sincenosingleindividualororganisationhasallgoodideas,thesearchforbest
practicesandinnovativeideasisacommon-senseapproachtoimprovement.Also,
gaininginsightthroughsystematicobservationandanalysisisnotanewapproach
tolearning.Benchmarkingisessentiallyacombinationofthesetwoapproachesof
learningfromsomeoneelse.Itis‘thepracticeofbeinghumbleenoughtoadmit
thatsomeoneelseisbetteratsomethingandbeingwiseenoughtotrytolearnhow
tomatchandevensurpassthematit’[5].Theprocessofbenchmarkingis‘the
searchforindustrybestpracticesthatleadtosuperiorperformance[4].
Benchmarkingisacontinuous,systematicprocessforevaluatingtheproducts,
servicesandworkprocesseswiththoserecognisedasrepresentingthebest
practicesforthepurposeoforganisationalimprovement[11].Itsinglesoutthose
practicesthathaveprovedthemselvestobethebestinthegivenarea[2]anditalso
involvesinmakingasystematicefforttoincorporatetheminproductandprocess
innovations.Moreover,thesearchforabest-in-classbenchmarkimpliesthat,this
approachhasunquestionedapplicabilityanduniversalappeal.LemaandPrice[6]
havearguedthatcompanies,whichhaveachievedworld-classstatus,haveadopted
bestpracticesandachievedhighperformanceinoperationalareas.Thisclearly
revealsthat,byimplementingbestpracticesattheoperationallevel,operational
performancecanbeimprovedandconsequentlytheperformanceoftheoverall
organizationwillbeimproved.
Benchmarkingterm(landsurveyors)andformalbenchmarkingtechnique(R.C.
Camp-fatherofbenchmarking)bothhavebeenoriginallycoinedbycivil
engineers.However,theconceptofbenchmarkinghasbeensuccessfullyappliedin
manymanufacturingindustriesworldwide,butintheconstructionindustrylittle
attentionhasbeenpaidtoitspotentialimplementationasaqualityimprovement
tool.Itisoftenarguedthatconstructionindustryisuniquewhencomparedtoother
industriesandthatthereislimitedscopeforapplyingcontinuousimprovement
techniquesbecauseoftheone-offnatureoftheproduct.However,notonlyare
manyconstructionproducts,suchas,houses,bridges,tunnelsessentiallyrepeat
productswhichcanbecontinuallyimprovedbut,moreimportantly,theprocessof
constructionisitselfrepeatedinitsessentialsfromprojecttoproject.Continuous
improvementinaprojectenvironmentcanbeachievedsinceorganizationsare
regularlyinvolvedwithrepeatedprocessesdespitetheone-offnatureofthe
product,forexample,estimating,tendering,design,procurement,invoicingandso
on.Theprocessesbywhichprojectsareprocuredarenotsubjecttoconstant
changeanditisthisstablefeaturethatallowslearningtotakeplace.Thus,itis
merelytheendproductthatdiffers,nottheprocess.Itistherefore,hightimeto
ignorethebeliefthat‘constructionissouniquethattherearenolessonstobe
learnedandseekimprovementthroughlearningasmuchaspossiblefromthose
whohavedoneitelsewhere’.Insuchalearningprocess,benchmarkingis
