Why MIT is Benchmarking Human Resource Practices:
For the past two years, MIT has been actively engaged in reengineering key administrative processes in an effort to improve services provided to members of our community and to reduce costs. As the Institute has explored and implemented new ways of doing work, it has become evident that we must also reengineer our processes for dealing with human resource issues.
Our Purpose for Benchmarking
MIT prides itself on being innovative and collaborative. Thus, in our efforts to recommend and implement leading edge human resource practices suitable for a reengineered organization, we seek to learn what other organizations have done to meet their needs. Through benchmarking,- we seek to learn what are "best practices" in both academic organizations and for-profit organizations which share some common characteristics (i.e., research-based, decentralized) with MIT.
Questions which were asked to the interviewees:
We anticipate that there will be significant value for MIT for you to tell us "your story". Although we do not want to be constrained to a fixed agenda, areas we wish to explore and questions we will ask include:
1. Provide us-with a bit of background to current HR practices in your organization. Are these practices which evolved naturally over time,or are they the product of some key, pivotal changes (i.e., reengineering, mergers, changed strategy or direction)?
2. We have grouped the Human Resource practices we are researching and exploring the nine areas defined on the attached glossary. For your organization, which of these are practice areas where you feel you have achieved excellence?
3. For each of those practice areas where you feel your organization excels, we'd like to learn more about what you do, how you do it, and why it works so well.
For each area: Describe the process you now have. Why do you rate it as excellent?
What is the size and demographic makeup of the population served by the process (i.e., all employees, hourly employees only, one division or one department)?
How was it developed and implemented?
What are the key factors that have made you successful in this area?
What are the different roles of line versus staff, employee versus manager in this process (i.e., what responsibility does a centralized HR organization have as opposed to line managers, what are the responsibilities of individual employees versus their managers?)
How do you measure the effectiveness of this process?.
What budgetary or staffing issues did you have to resolve in establishing the process?
If you had to add headcount or invest in other areas in implementing this process, how did you justify the increases?
What role, if any, does technology play in the administration of this process?
Is the process now in a steady state, or is it still undergoing testing or modification?
4. Regarding your organization:
What is the size of the employee population?
Is the Human Resources organization centralized or not?
Assuming your HR practices have changed as a result of significant changes in the organization, were there areas or functions where you chose not to change, and if so, why not?
5. Is there any material you could send us that details some of what we have been discussing?
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