Team assignment style

PA 700

Fall 2007

San Mateo Cohort

Style Sheet for Benchmarking Study

due December 12

The purpose of this assignment is for you to examine how an organization's structure and systems relate to its mission, management of programs and resources. It is also designed to give you a platform for evaluating your own organization with respect to these characteristics, and for identifying aspects that might be worth emulating.

The first step is for you to identify your counterpart organization (i.e., that whose mission is essentially the same as yours) in another jurisdiction. The first 10 points of the assignment will be allotted this way:

	0 points if the organization is in Northern California
	1 point if it's in Southern California
	5 points if it is outside California, but west of the Mississippi
	10 points if it's east of the Mississippi
	15 points (that is, with a 5 point bonus) if it is in another country

The next step is to obtain the following basic management information about your own agency and the one you chose for benchmarking (these should appear as an appendix to your paper): (30 points)

Its organization chart, both in internal to the agency and where that agency fits in the jurisdiction's overall organizational chart.

Its mission – what is the purpose of this agency and what is it legally charged or chartered to do

Its budget and workforce – with sufficient detail to assess whether the organization has grown or declined over the past 2 years and how agency funding and staff are distributed among its major programs (note: if this is not available from the agency, try the chief executive's office (e.g., mayor, county manager).
Its processes for delivering services and who the major users of those services are.
The mechanisms it has in place for working with other agencies and other levels of government
The performance metrics it has in place, if any.

Your paper should address the following: (60 points):

	Compare characteristics 1-8 above with your organization.
	Are there any areas where the other agency appears works better and therefore may be worth emulating?
	Looking to the future, are there aspects of the other organization you are looking at that seem better suited to adapt to changes in the environment (i.e., technology, social values, public expectations) than your organization?

Organization and Style

The maximum page limit for the paper is 5 pages, double-spaced (not including the the appendix) and should be written in the form of a memo to your agency head. The memo should begin with a brief introduction and end with a brief conclusion that summarizes the paper's main points.

Your grade will be based on:

	The extent to which you successfully acquire and present the required management information about each of the two agencies.
	The effectiveness of your answers to the questions noted above, including their comprehensiveness, insight, and quality of analytical thinking