A best practice is a method or technique that has consistently
shown results superior to those achieved with other means, and that is
used as a benchmark. In addition, a "best" practice can evolve to become
better as improvements are discovered. Best practice is considered by
some as a business
buzzword, used to describe the process of developing and following a
standard way of doing things that multiple organizations can use.
Best practices are used to maintain quality as an alternative to
mandatory legislated standards and can be based on self-assessment or
benchmarking.[1]
Best practice is a feature of accredited management standards such as
ISO
9000 and
ISO 14001.[2]
Some consulting firms specialize in the area of Best Practice and
offer pre-made 'templates'
to standardize business process documentation. Sometimes a "best
practice" is not applicable or is inappropriate for a particular
organization's needs. A key strategic talent required when applying best
practice to organizations is the ability to balance the unique qualities
of an organization with the practices that it has in common with others.
Good operating practice is a
strategic management
term. More specific uses of the term include
good agricultural practices,
good manufacturing practice,
good laboratory practice,
good clinical practice and
good distribution practice.
Best Practices Theory in Public Policy
Best Practice is a form of
program evaluation in public policy. It is the process of reviewing
policy alternatives that have been effective in addressing similar
issues in the past and could be applied to a current problem.
Determining "Best" or "Smart" Practices to address a particular policy
problem is a commonly used but little understood tool of analysis
because the concept is vague and should therefore be examined with
caution.
Eugene Bardach provides the following theoretical framework in his
book A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis,
Eightfold Path (policy analysis) for "best" or "smart" practices:
Develop Realistic Expectations
Bardach advises the policy analyst that it is important to maintain
realistic expectations when seeking a "best practice" in public policy
analysis because the practice may not be solving the problem at all and
it may instead produce unfavorable results. Because a practice seems to
be tailored to a specific policy problem and also based on solid
research, it does not necessarily mean it is creating good results.
However the research can produce thought-provoking concepts on what can
and can not work when put into practice.
Analyze Smart
Practices
In policy analysis a "best" or "smart" practice is a clear and
concrete behavior that solves a problem or achieves a goal. Smart
practices take “advantage” of an idle opportunity at a low cost and
little risk.
Eugene Bardach refers to this as finding the free lunches. These are
opportunities for creative policy improvements such as
"cost-based pricing" or
"input substitution" that have the possibility to generate public
value at a very low cost. Breaking loose from conventions and
challenging assumptions can also be way to take advantage of an idle
opportunity. An example of this is the highly controversial practice of
the government contracting out a community good or service to nonprofits
or the private sector. This challenges the assumption that a community
good or service must be financed through taxation and delivered by
government employees.
Observe the
Practice
The primary mechanism in a "smart" practice is the ability or the
means of achieving a goal in a cost-effective manner. The secondary
mechanisms include implementing features, supportive features and
optional features. It can be very complicated to separate between the
functions in getting the mechanism to work and the features that support
those functions.
Bardach recommends when adapting smart practices for another source,
it is important to identify the core essence of the practice while
allowing flexibility for how it is implemented so it remains sensitive
to local conditions. Robust smart practices are adaptable to various
conditions, have many operational features, and can employ similar but
diverse ways to achieve their goals.
Describe Generic Vulnerabilities
In addition to the reasons why a smart practice might succeed, an
analyst should describe potential vulnerabilities that could lead a
smart practice to fail—these weaknesses are "generic vulnerabilities”.
Two types of vulnerabilities are worth particular attention: 1) poor
general management capacity, which makes it more difficult to
effectively implement a smart practice, and 2) weaknesses inherent to
the practice itself. Policymakers must develop safeguards in order to
minimize the risk of generic vulnerabilities.
But Will It
Work Here?
The final step in identifying an appropriate "best practice" for a
policy problem is to ensure that the context from which the practice is
derived is comparable to the context in which it will be applied. Risks
to implementing the selected "best practice" in the applied context as
well as what support structures can be put in place need to be
anticipated in order to maximize the likelihood of success. If utilizing
a pilot or demonstration program "best practice" the success of that
practice needs to be discounted in order to account for the better than
average favorable conditions pilot and demonstration programs usually
operate under. These conditions include increased enthusiasm,
advantageous political and economic conditions, and less bureaucratic
resistance due to the lack of permanency in pilot programs. Finally,
when considering implementing a "best practice" on a wide scale one must
be aware of the 'weakest link' sites with minimal to no resources and
how those sites will be supported in order to create the desired policy
outcomes.
Back to
the Eightfold Path
Excessive optimism about the expected impact of untested smart
practices is a common critique. If a current practice is known to be
ineffective, implementing a promising alternative after weighing the
alternatives may be worth the risk.[3]
Examples of "Best/Smart" Practice Evaluation in Public Policy
There are many examples of the use of "best"/"smart" practice
evaluations in Public Policy.
The
U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) produces a document called
The Clean Energy-Environment Guide to Action.[4]
It is designed to share successful state "best practices" to determine
what is most suitable for them to use in generating clean energy
policies and programs. The guide includes 16 clean energy policies and
programs that offer opportunities for states to save energy, improve air
quality, lower greenhouse gas emission and increase economic
development.
An example of a successful "best practice" from the guide is
"Building Codes for Energy Efficiency". This practice is to use building
energy codes to set requirements that establish a minimum level of
energy efficiency standards for residential and commercial buildings.
California Energy Code Title 24 is one "best practice" that is
highlighted in this guide. The following points for energy code
implementation is to educate and train key audiences, supply the right
resources, and to provide budget and staff for the program.
Eugene Bardach has a list of "smart" practice candidates in his book
A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis,
Eightfold Path (policy analysis). One example is the tutoring
program for children in grades 1-3 called
Reading One-to-One. The program from Texas includes one on one
tutoring with supervision and simple structured instruction in
phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is one highly regarded
predictor of how well a child will learn to read in the first two years
of school.[5]
The program takes advantage of the fact that many children, especially
ESL students, fail in reading because it is very hard for second
language students to understand and pronounce sounds in English. The
program is easily duplicated at a relatively low cost because of the
straight forward teaching materials, systematic methods and
administrative oversight.
Use of Best Practices in Health and Human Services
In recent years, public agencies and
non-governmental organizations have been exploring and adopting best
practices when delivering health and human services. In these settings,
the use of the terms "promising practices", "best practices", and
"evidence-based practices" is common and often confusing as there is not
a general consensus on what constitutes promising practices or best
practices. In this context, the use of the terms "best practices" and
"evidence-based practices" are often used interchangeably.
Evidence-based practices are methods or techniques that have
documented outcomes and ability to replicate as key factors.
Despite these challenges, literature suggests that there is some
common use of and criteria for identifying best practices. For example,
a general working definition used by the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) in referring to a promising practice is defined as
one with at least preliminary evidence of effectiveness in small-scale
interventions or for which there is potential for generating data that
will be useful for making decisions about taking the intervention to
scale and generalizing the results to diverse populations and settings.[6]
Since evidence of effectiveness, potential for taking the
intervention to scale and generalizing the results to other populations
and settings are key factors for best practices, the manner in which a
method or intervention becomes a best practice can take some time and
effort. The table below demonstrates the process for a promising
practice to achieve the status of research validated best practice.[7]
| Research Validated Best Practice |
A program, activity or strategy that has the highest degree
of proven effectiveness supported by objective and comprehensive
research and evaluation. |
| Field Tested Best Practice |
A program, activity or strategy that has been shown to work
effectively and produce successful outcomes and is supported to
some degree by subjective and objective data sources. |
| Promising Practice |
A program, activity or strategy that has worked within one
organization and shows promise during its early stages for
becoming a best practice with long term sustainable impact. A
promising practice must have some objective basis for claiming
effectiveness and must have the potential for replication among
other organizations. |
The National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices
(NREPP) (External Link:
http://nrepp.samhsa.gov) is a searchable online registry of
interventions supporting substance abuse prevention and mental health
treatment that have been reviewed and rated by independent reviewers.
NREPP accepts submissions for interventions that meet minimum
requirements to be considered for review. Minimum requirements include
(1) demonstration of one or more positive outcomes among individuals,
communities, or populations; (2) evidence of these outcomes has been
demonstrated in at least one study using an experimental or
quasi-experimental design; (3) the results of these studies have been
published in a peer-reviewed journal or other professional publication,
or documented in a comprehensive evaluation report; and (4)
implementation materials, training and support resources, and quality
assurance procedures have been developed and are ready for use by the
public. NREPP is not an exhaustive list of interventions and inclusion
in the registry does not constitute an endorsement. (Reference: National
Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices. Federal Register/Vol.
76, No. 180/Friday, September 16, 2011/Notices)
There is existing controversy about the lack of culturally
appropriate evidence-based best practices and the need to utilize a
research-based approach to validate interventions. Some communities have
deployed practices over a long period of time that has produced positive
outcomes as well as a general community consensus to be successful. The
California Reducing Disparities Project (CRDP) is working to identify
such practices. (External Link:
http://www.dmh.ca.gov/Multicultural_Services/CRDP.asp) CRDP intends
to improve access, quality of care, and increase positive outcomes for
racial, ethnic and cultural communities. These communities have been
identified as (1) African American, (2) Asian/Pacific Islanders, (3)
Latinos, (4) Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Questioning, and (5)
Native Americans. Strategic Planning Workgroups composed of mental
health providers and community members as well as consumers and family
members are given the task of identifying new approaches toward reducing
disparities. The five Strategic Planning Workgroups work to identify new
service delivery approaches defined by multicultural communities for
multicultural communities using community-defined evidence to improve
outcomes and reduce disparities. Community- defined evidence is defined
as “a set of practices that communities have used and determined to
yield positive results as determined by community consensus over time
and which may or may not have been measured empirically but have reached
a level of acceptance by the community.” (Reference: National Latina/o
Psychological Association, Fall/Winter 2008, National Network to
Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health, SAMHSA, and CMHS, Larke
Nahme Huang, Ph.D)
Best Practice
in Action
Clean
Air Financing Programs
Financing Clean Air Programs, and example taken from
NGA[8]
This is a quick guide put together by the NGA Center for Best
Practices. It explores what clean air programs currently exist and how
they are being financed. Rather than stating one best practice to
tackling clean air, this report creates a table of the different
programs, how they are being financed, and in what state. Governors and
their staffs can then look for characteristics and solutions that are
most realistic and applicable to their situation. The key is to tailor
current practices that are in the world to the specific situation you
are looking to solve. Best practices are meant to give insight into
existing strategies.
Environmental best management practice
The concept of best practice has been employed extensively in
environmental management. For example, it has been employed in
aquaculture such as recommending low-phosphorus feed ingredients,[9]
in forestry to manage
riparian buffer zones,[10]
in livestock and pasture management to regulate stocking rates,[11]
and in particular, best management practices have been important to
improving
water quality relating to
nonpoint source pollution of fertilizers in agriculture[12]
as well as the identification and adoption of best practice for
controlling salinity.[13]
However, in the context of complex environmental problems such as
dryland salinity, there are significant challenges in defining what is
best in any given context. Best management practice for complex problems
is context specific and often contested against a background of
imperfect knowledge. In these contexts, it is more useful to think of
best management practice as an adaptive learning process rather than a
fixed set of rules or guidelines. This approach to best practice focuses
on fostering improvements in quality and promoting continuous learning.[14]
Higher Education
STEM Program explanation is taken from
Angela Baber's report to the NGA
The NGA has identified science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) as important skills that need to be developed in
community colleges in order to create a strong work force. Many states
are creating or have created STEM Programs to address this issue. In
order for these programs to work governors should:
- "Engage business to help ensure that community colleges meet
regional STEM-skill needs
- Use community colleges to support new models of STEM education
- Reward community colleges and students for STEM
course-completion
- Ensure that community colleges support more effective
mathematics remediation
- Require that community college STEM credits and credentials are
transferable."[15]
Health and
Human Services
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) makes evidence-based
recommendations on clinical preventive services. The Task Force
recommendations are based on systematic reviews and assessment of the
available medical evidence.
USPSTF Webpage
|
|
This
article is outdated.
Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly
available information. (June 2012)
|
The San Francisco Public Health Department[16]
conducted The Transgender Best Practices Guide project, a best practices
document for cultural and service competency in working with transgender
clients within HIV/AIDS service- provision settings. Following an
intensive literature search and consumer focus group, a Working Group
composed of noted community leaders; activists, professionals, and
transgender consumers participated in the development of the Best
Practices guide. Topics covered by the Best Practices guide include
mental health issues; gender identity; hormone use and clinical care
practices. The Best Practices guide is currently in production; it will
be published and distributed to EMA providers, as well as to select
organizations nation-wide. In addition, four large-scale EMA provider
trainings will be provided to educate providers on the Best Practices
recommendations and standard measures. This is the first national
federally funded effort to develop a Best Practices guide for providers
who serve the HIV positive transgender community.[17]
Charity
/ Nonprofit Sector
The nonprofit/voluntary sector is generally lacking tools for sharing
and accessing best practices. Steps are being taken in some parts of the
world, for example in the European Union, where the Europe 2020 Strategy
has as a top priority the exchange of good practices and networking
(including the nonprofit sector).[18]
An initiative of sharing good practices in terms of human resources
(HR) and leadership among European nonprofit organizations was financed
by the EU and launched in 2013, called
HR Twinning.[19]
The platform allows the public to search for good practices and its
members the possibility to share their practices, engage in discussions
in the forum section and enroll their organization. Membership is free.
The project is currently limited to a European audience.
Other
best practices domains
Best practices are used in nearly every industry and professional
discipline. Areas of note include information technology development,
such as new software, but also in construction, transportation, business
management, sustainable development and various aspects of
project management. Best practices are also used in healthcare to
deliver high-quality care that promotes best outcomes. Best practices
are used within business areas including
sales,
manufacturing,
teaching,
programming software,
road construction,
health care,
insurance and
public policy.
Critique
There are some criticisms of the term "best practice."
Eugene Bardach claims that the work necessary to deem and practice
the "best" is rarely done. Most of the time, one will find "good"
practices or "smart" practices that offer insight into solutions that
may or may not work for a given situation.[3]
Scott Ambler challenges the assumptions that there can be a
recommended practice that is best in all cases. Instead, he offers an
alternative view, "contextual practice," in which the notion of what is
"best" will vary with the context.[20]
Similarly, Cem Kaner and James Bach provide two scenarios to illustrate
the contextual nature of "best practice" in their article.[21]
In essence, such critiques are consistent with the
contingency theory, which was developed during the 1950s and 1960s.
See also
References
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Bogan,
C.E. and English, M.J. (1994). Benchmarking for Best
Practices: Winning Through Innovative Adaptation. New York:
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Nash, J. and Ehrenfeld, J., 1997:
"Codes of environmental management practice: assessing their
potential as a tool for change." Annual Review of Energy and
the Environment 22, 487-535
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a
b
Bardach, Eugene (2011). A
Practical Guide for Policy Analysis: The Eightfold Path to More
Effective Problem Solving. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
ISBN 9781608718429.
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http://www.epa.gov/statelocalclimate/documents/pdf/guide_action_full.pdf
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http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/33830/
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U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, Administration for Children and Families Program
Announcement, 2003.
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U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, Administration for Children and Families Program
Announcement. Federal Register, Vol. 68, No. 131, July
2003.
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"Clean Energy Financing". NGA Center for Best Practice.
Retrieved 22 September 2011.
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Macmillan, J.R., Huddleston, T.,
Woolley, M., and Fothergill, K., (2003) "Best management
practice development to minimize environmental impact from large
flow-through trout farms." Aquaculture 226, 91-99
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Broadmeadow, S. and Nisbet, T.R.,
(2004) "The effects of riparian forest management on the
freshwater environment: a literature review of best management
practice." Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 8, 286-305
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Brannan, K.M., Mostaghimi, S.,
McClellan, P.W. and Inamdar, S., 2000: "Animal waste BMP impacts
on sediment and nutrient losses in runoff from the Owl Run
Watershed." Transactions of the ASAE 43, 1155-1166
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Gitau, M.W., Gburek, W.J., and
Jarrett, A.R., (2005) "A tool for estimating best management
practice effectiveness for phosphorus pollution control."
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 60, 1-10
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Hooper, B.P., 1995: "Adoption of
best management practices for dryland salinity: the need for an
integrated environmental management approach." Report prepared
for the Murray-Darling Basin Commission. Centre for Water Policy
Research University of New England, Armidale, N.S.W.
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Measham, T.G., Kelly, G.J. and
Smith F.P. (2007) "Best Management Practice for complex
problems: a case study of defining BMP for Dryland Salinity."
Geographical Research 45 (3) pp. 262-272
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Baber,
Angela.
"Using Community Colleges to Build a STEM-Skilled Workforce".
NGA Center for Best Practices.
Retrieved 22 September 2011.
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San Francisco Department of Public Health. Sfdph.org.
Retrieved on 2013-07-12.
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San Francisco Department of Public
Health, Annual Report 2005-2006)
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"Europe 2020 Civil Society". European Commission.
Retrieved 19 June 2013.
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"Improving nonprofit leadership and HR practices". Asociatia
Young Initiative. Retrieved
19 June 2013.
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Ambler,
Scott.
"Questioning "Best Practices" for Software Development".
Retrieved 17 November 2011.
-
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Kaner,
Cem.
"The Seven Basic Principles of the Context-Driven School".
Retrieved 17 November 2011.
External links