Methodological proposal to assess management practices for incorporating benchmarking into the chilean construction industry

Abstract

The Chilean construction market has grown considerably in recent years. This progress has generated strong competition among companies, which has forced a constant search for new strategies to generate a continuous improvement of their processes, to achieve better overall results. Among strategies for continuous improvement, it is possible to find tools such as Benchmarking, which involves knowing your own and your competitors’ performance, to meet the  gaps. This research is aimed to develop a methodology for evaluating management practices of construction companies based on interviews which could be used as complement of the previous one developed by the Production Management Centre of the Catholic University of Chile at 2014, which was based on questionnaires. Research methodology consists of a literature review, revision of data collected during previous Benchmarking, definition of criteria to be considered in the new methodology and finally developing a questionnaire to interview managers or department heads to visualize how companies manage aspects such as production planning and scheduling, suppliers and innovation, among others. This is related to previous methodologies used to evaluate management practices worldwide in areas such as education, retail, manufacturing and health. A pilot experience was carried out on two construction companies to assess performance of the new tool in terms of application form, evaluation form, practices evaluated, among others. The interviews were conducted with key positions in the management of the company in areas such as production, quality, suppliers and others. The application of the new methodology allowed to observe major organizational differences between both companies and to understand aspects related to the interviews, such as: time of application, validation questions used, selection of respondents, among others. Previous experience will be used to correct and improve possible mistakes to be used in the future.