Benchmarking Skills For Process & Organizational Improvement – A Case Study

The Case Study of Mothercare UK

Benchmarking is the process of comparing a company’s processes performance with those of other well performing firms in the sector with a view to improving the performance of its processes. In benchmarking, the company’s management looks at the shortfalls in the processes and then identifies companies or firms with superior performance. (Sekhar, 2010).  The management then makes intensive studies of the other companies’ operations and processes to come up with gaps in either the knowledge or performance which needs improving. In benchmarking, the firm is humble enough to admit that there are other organizations that are doing much better in specific instances and that the company is willing to earn from them in order to better its products, services of processes.

In benchmarking, a company compares the performance of its processes with the highest attained levels of processes in other companies, studies how the said firms achieved the high performance levels, identifies the gaps in performance and finally adapts the leading superior practices in a bid to improve its performance. Benchmarking is not a quick fix to problems in a company as it is not a copy-paste process. It involves serious study and analysis for a company to come up with a clear picture of what ails it current processes, how others have overcome the issues, and think of ways the company can use the information obtained to cause positive changes in its operations and processes.

Continuous improvement even in well performing organizations is important as it helps the firm to meet the increasing demands and expectations of its consumers, helps a business meet challenges posed by increased competition and helps it meet the market demand.  

Benchmarking is important as it enables the company to accelerate the process of improvement, shortens the firm’s learning cycle, affords the company access to proven results, aligns the fir with best in the industry and makes the learning cycle short. It is advisable to for an organization to benchmark when it experiences recurrent operation issues, rapid changes and advances in technology, when the firm is undergoing organizational or operational changes and in case of changes in management.             

1. Opportunity for Improvement

Mothercare UK is a retailer which specializes in products that cater for the needs of prenatal and postnatal mothers, ranging from products for dressing the mother while pregnant to newborn’s necessities (Mothercare, 2018). The company is a well-known brand, but in the recent past, it has been struggling in the retail market and the competitors are gradually taking over its market share, forcing it to close down some of its branches across the UK and lay off workers. The main problem that is precipitating a hemorrhage of loyal customers to the competitors is the poor services at the customer cares desk where the workers are not well trained and getting an appointment with managers responsible for a department is virtually impossible. The customer care staff are not knowledgeable enough to deal with problems with the shoppers, and they are not able to effectively escalate the issues to the management. The customer is left hanging with no recourse for resolution of her issue. Such a dissatisfied loyal customer is unlikely to ever patronize the retailer again. There are other push and pull factors which are prompting people to move away from Mothercare to its competitors such more trendy products for mothers and her little bundle of joy, but the main issue that needs improvement is the customer service performance.

1.  Goal and scope statement of the project

Goal Scope Statement

To increase the satisfaction rating of MotherCare’s retailers by 25% though the improvement of practices that will have a positive impact on cost, productivity and customer service.

Goal Scope Statement

Duration of Project	Project Start Date	Project End Date
Level Of Effort of Personnel	Role of Personnel Executive Champion Project manager Process Owner Data Analyst Support staff	Level of Effort 50% 50% 30% 20% 20%
Description of Scope	To increase the satisfaction rating of MotherCare’s retailers by 25% though the improvement of practices that will have a positive impact on cost, productivity and customer service

1. Work Plan
2. Form Sponsor Committee
3. Establish a Team that will do the benchmarking
4. Research and understand the goal
5. Define the scope of the benchmarking
6. Define and list responsibilities and roles of the team members
7. Organize the project   
8. Process of selecting team members

The team charged with the benchmarking project can mean the success or failure of the project depending on the selection criteria. On the current scenario, the proposal is for the team members to be selected on the basis of the skills needed in the performance of the various tasks under their responsibility.  The first step in choosing the team members will be a descriptions of the various roles that need to be performed. The second step will be the identification of the responsibilities attached to the roles. Finally, there will be a thorough analysis of the roles and responsibilities to provide the skill sets necessary for the effective performance in the team roles and responsibilities.

Roles	Responsibilities	Skills
Executive Champion · The person will ensure that all the projects are up to the expectation and meets the stated needs/ objectives of the organization.   · The person will perform these oversight duties through provision of leadership	· Appreciates the need for change · Acts as a supporter and guide of the effort · Ensures there is direction that the benchmarking project links with the firm’s strategy · Makes sure there are enough resources and funds for the project · Acts as the liaison officer with other leaders	· Communication
Team leader/ Project manager · This is the person who plans, is engaged in organizing, controlling and execution of the benchmarking project	· To identify customer needs and requirements · To secure resources and team members · Makes and tracks budget · Manages group processes such as discussions, resolves conflicts · Monitors project progress · Provides updates on the project	· Excellent Written and verbal communication · Negotiating skills · Organizing and planning skills · Meeting facilitation skills · Leadership skills
Process Owner(s) · These have insightful information on the benchmarking process	· Spots the issues and opportunities in the current system · Expounds on existing process measures ·	· Problem solving and analytical skills · Communication skills
Data Collector/Analyst	· Comes up with appropriate models to capture and analyze data · Analyses collected data using relevant applications such as SPSS · develops an appropriate reporting format for the analysis of data · provides narrations for the analyzed data for easier interpretation of the results	· Data collection and analysis skills · Knowledge of commuter statistical applications · Knowledge of business processes
Support team	· Training · Graphics · Legal services · Database management and support · Search and library services

1. Current Process at Mothercare

A). Online shoppers

Figure 1: Customer Service performance Analysis tool

It is not that difficult to alter this client benefit process stream diagram. Envision that your organization has an online talk framework and that, indeed, rather than rounding out a shape the client talks with an assistant who rounds out the shape for them. Simply add this specialist to the procedure and decide their associations and streams. Also, there might be an inner operator that dissects and determinations all demands that were not settled in the main level (orderly) and were circulated to 3 unique zones of particular inward specialists. Simply incorporate these operators and decide the choice principles for every one of them to be advised to look for the arrangement in the database.

On the off chance that the administration operator has tackled the issue by alluding to the database, they should present a conclusion take note. Next, a fulfillment study is sent to the customer to assess the nature of administration and conceivable enhancements. In the event that the inner operator has requested help, order the call again and make changes if important. It decides whether the issue is known or if an answer ought to be searched for.

1. Performance Measure

Most of the retail companies who are performing well in the world has this kind of metrics:   

Figure 2: Customer care performance of top retail brands

For a company like Mothercare to get to the level of Walmart and Amazon, it has to invest in customer care improvement. The internet is full of people complaining about their experiences at the hands of the company’s customer care when dealing with both walk in customers and those who order for deliveries online. Even honest mistakes scenarios like out of order goods are compounded by failure of the support staff to communicate the same to the customer. Even worse, refunds issues take an eternity to get resolved.      

Team Selection Criteria

               

Figure 3: Mission and Vision of success cycle

Mission and Vision of success describes the purpose of the organization and what it aims to achieve in a specified time period. Also, it describes the expected and ideal view of the world when the project is completed. The vision and mission of success guides the all the activities involved in the process of achieving the stated success. Mission and Vision of accomplishment portrays the reason for the association and what it plans to accomplish in a predefined era. Additionally, it portrays the normal and perfect perspective of the world when the venture is finished. The vision and mission of progress directs the every one of the exercises associated with the way toward making the expressed progress.

Activities include all the processes, initiatives and programs ran by a firm. On the other hand, operations describes all the support systems in place to ensure the specified activities proceed unimpeded. The support structures of an organization includes the human resources, financial management and technology which supports in the accomplishment of the goals and objectives necessary for the achievement of success. Activities and operations, therefore, deal with all the processes that take place within an organization in its bid to becoming a successful organization.

As the operations and activities are in progress, measures enable the firm to gauge the performance and the possibility of attaining their goals. Measures involve various metrics which are able to determine the progress of the measures and in case of discrepancies, corrective measures are instituted.

The measures are recorded down either in form of report card or dashboard, and they allow the management to easily analyze the progress of the activities and operations. The report can be shared with external actors to provide a basis for accountability to the external social actors.

The reports produced during the measurement phase provide vital information about the state of the organization and the progress of the various projects and initiatives. The information contained in the reports afford the management a view of the progress and possible failures of the systems and the corrective measures that the organization’s management need to institute to address the issue. Also, the reported shortfall provide the officers concerned with a learning opportunity such that in case of future occurrence, they can be able to handle the same much more effectively.

Roles and Responsibilities

The reports delivered amid the estimation stage give essential data about the condition of the association and the advancement of the different tasks and activities. The data contained in the reports bear the cost of the administration a perspective of the advancement and conceivable disappointments of the frameworks and the restorative estimates that the association’s administration need to foundation to address the issue. Additionally, the detailed shortage furnish the officers worried about a learning opportunity with the end goal that if there should be an occurrence of future event, they can have the capacity to deal with a similar substantially more successfully.

The learning process is closely followed by a decision by the management to seal all the loopholes identified in the reports to ensure better performance in future. The cycle starts again and follows the same steps but with more improved processes after every learning cycle.

1.   Develop list of organizational and process criteria for selection of targets and give anexplanation of why you would select or not select targets           

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Title	Definition	Type
Average Cycle time	Average time it takes to process the App	Time
Cost of Process	Total Cost	Cost
Average Cost of the App	Amount of cash one needs to possess the App	Cost
Average effort	Percentage of time one spends on the App	Quality

Cost/Time analysis table  

The company has various measures that it can target in its analysis of its customer service performance including:

• The percentage of sales accounted for by returning customers
• Customer complaints numbers, especially on returned products  
• How long it takes to get an order fulfilled
• Proportion of calls coming in that get answered within forty five seconds
• The next measure I would use would be measuring how long a customer complaint gets resolved by a manager
• Whether the complaints about accessibility of the stores by mothers are addressed comprehensively and satisfactorily.  

Potential Benchmarking Partners	Rationale for Selection	Viable Selection (yes/no)	Explanation
Walmart	Retailer with branches across the world, similar business Has also decided to stock newborn and young children clothes	Yes	The retailer is performing exemplary and it can provide useful lessons
Tesco	A retailer like Mothercare with branches across the UK Also, it stocks accessories in which mothercare specializes in	Yes	A well performing retailer with valuable lessons that the retailer can learn from
Marks and Spenser	Deals with almost similar products like the company Has decided to enter into the children’s wear market	No	Its performance over the years has been less than impressive and it is suffering from similar problems to the ones Mothercare is grappling with.
· Abercrombie & Fitch.	Retailer dealing in high-end clothes with branches across the UK Also, has the same retail system to the one of Mothercare	Yes	The performance of the company is good, which would provide useful lessons that can be adapted in the company for better results
· John Lewis Partnership	Is a company dealing with a variety of goods and services ranging from home wears to financial services	Maybe	The fact of its diversified portfolio does not lend itself to comparisons of like and like. However, it has efficient processes and the Mothercare can benchmark with it.

On the issue of benchmarking, a firm compares its performance of with the highest attained levels of processes in other firms. In the process it studies how the said firms achieved the high performance levels, identifies the gaps in performance and finally adapts the leading superior practices in a bid to improve its performance. Benchmarking is not a quick fix to problems in a company as it is not a copy-paste process. It involves serious study and analysis for a company to come up with a clear picture of what ails it current processes, how others have overcome the issues, and think of ways the company can use the information obtained to cause positive changes in its operations and processes. It is important to have Continuous improvement in the systems and processes even in well performing organizations is as it helps a firm to meet the increasing demands and expectations of its consumers, helps a business meet challenges posed by increased competition and helps it meet the market demand.  

References

Mothercare. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.mothercare.com/

Sekhar, S. C. (June 01, 2010). Benchmarking. African Journal of Business Management, 4, 6, 882-885.