Resources

Essential Information

Offered:

  • SP1, 2008
  • SP2, 2008
  • SP3, 2008

Core Unit for:

  • N/A

Elective Unit for:

Assessment:

  • Assignment 40%
  • Examination 60%

Pre-Requisites:

  • None

UNIT 404: PATHWAYS TO ORGANISATIONAL BEST PRACTICE


Overview

Best practice is a practical approach to improving the competitiveness of an organisation. It provides the manager with a set of tools and techniques to identify where improvements are necessary and how to take action to achieve them. Best practice is closely related to quality management and to the business excellence frameworks that have been developed in various countries; but it has significant differences from them. Quality management focuses on meeting customer needs and on creating products and services that satisfy and delight the customer, including product strategy and design. The business excellence frameworks focus on business results and include strategic concerns. Best practice aims to improve what is already being done, but has a broader scope in that it covers activities and processes that affect all stakeholders, including employees and suppliers.

Aims

After studying this unit you should be able to:

  • explain the concept of best practice and how it relates to organisational competitiveness
  • evaluate organisational performance against best practice benchmarks and use these benchmarks to establish organisational improvements
  • measure stakeholder satisfaction and apply best practice techniques to improve stakeholder satisfaction
  • describe, measure, analyse and improve the key processes in an organisation, using both qualitative and statistical tools
  • explain how organisational culture, team structures and the effective management of human resources contribute to the achievement of organisational best practice
  • describe how organisational learning and the management of knowledge support best practice
  • explain how the lean enterprise concept relates to best practice and evaluate particular organisational processes according to lean principles
  • implement and evaluate systems that lead to best practice
  • apply best practice frameworks and concepts to promote the competitive position of your own organisation.

Topics

  • Introduction to best practice
  • Satisfying stakeholders
  • Improving processes
  • Measuring processes and performance
  • Understanding data to improve processes
  • Capable processes
  • Leadership for best practice
  • Organisational learning and knowledge management
  • The lean organisation
  • Implementing and assessing best practice

Unit Chair

Martin Kunst
MBA, BBus & Economics

Martin is presently studying his Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) at Southern Cross University. A native of Germany, he has held various positions in marketing, consulting and accounting in some of Germany's largest corporations. He was also the Chief Financial Officer of a student-run stock association during his time at university and was a student employee at Haldex Brakesystems. As well as German and English, he speaks French and Spanish.

Study Guide Author

Neil Hardie
PhD M.Sc(Econ) M.Sc (Eng) A.C.G.I., Th.C.

Neil Hardie managed technical departments in multinational electronics companies for 20 years and was responsible in many of these organisations for establishing quality systems and best practice initiatives. His PhD. in quality management led to a book on quality management and several papers in leading journals. He has taught MBA programs in various universities in Australia, and also in Malaysia and Pakistan. His research interests include knowledge management and management of non-profit organisations.