Benchmarking On Parramatta Council Strategy

Question

Task: The real-world purpose of the benchmarking report is to enable the client organisation (Parramatta Council) to better achieve its strategic objectives. The report should compare the client organisation’s strategies, initiatives, goals and targets (or some specified components of these) with the strategies, initiatives, goals and targets of at least two other organisations which are considered appropriate and suitable for benchmarking. The report will draw on your research of the client organisation, as well as comparable organisations which you consider suitable for benchmarking: the report should justify your selection of comparable organisations. The research data will be sourced from web sources including (but not limited to) the client organisation’s website and those of similar or comparable organisations, as well as appropriate academic literature.

In compiling the report, students will be required to undertake the following:

Develop at least two matrices to use as research tools to assist in the comparative processes - both matrices should be attached as appendices to the report but are not included in the word count.

– The first matrix should be used to scope out a range of possible benchmark organisations to assist in your choice of the organisations that you will ultimately use to benchmark your client organisation against. The report should substantiate your choice of the organisations considered appropriate for benchmarking against the client organisation.

– The second matrix should be used to compare your client organisation’s strategies, initiatives, goals and targets against those of the organisations selected for benchmarking. This matrix contains the Client organisation and 2 organisations selected from Matrix 1. An analysis of this Matrix should form the basis for your recommendations 7 to your client organisation.

Identify and analyse the client organisation’s strategies, initiatives, goals and targets, as well as any relevant gaps when these are compared with the benchmark organisations.
With reference to the client organisation’s strategies, initiatives, goals and targets, develop two to three recommendations (and justify) appropriate actions and processes for the client organisation.
NOTE: The report should demonstrate that you have collected appropriate data and that there is a clear link between the data in the matrix and the discussion in your report.

Answer

1. Introduction
The following research paper contains a details analysis on the different councils of Australia including the Parramatta council strategy. The aim of this is to compare the different councils of Australia. The key organization of this research paper is the Parramatta council. It discusses different strategies and goals of the three councils and aims to better achieve the goals and Parramatta council strategy. It compares the strategy, goals and targets of Parramatta council strategy, goals and targets of the Fairfield City council and Cumberland Council. It considers a suitable benchmarking on these three councils. The report further justifies the comparison with logical establishments.

2. Methodology
2.1. Research Philosophy
In this research a qualitative data analysis approach is adopted to analyse the existing literature. Interpretivism research philosophy is applied for understanding the depth of the issue. In doing so, several government website and authenticate journal are collected and analysed with a view to address the research work (Woo, O'Boyle, & Spector, 2017).

The current research discusses and compares among the different councils of Australia. Comparing the strategies, goals and targets of the Parramatta council strategy with Farefield Council and Cumberland Council to observe the position of Parramatta Council in the country.

2.2. Research Approach
The research approach that has been adopted for this research is inductive research. The key goal of this application is to evaluate the ideas of the pre-existing research literature while performing an in-depth scrutiny of different relevant website, authentic journal and scholar article. This research also enlightens the research methodology that is needed to be adopted in the further proceedings (Woo, O'Boyle, & Spector, 2017).

The research observes the goals, strategies and targets of the mentioned council. It also compares the Parramatta council strategy with the goals, strategies and targets of the Farefield and Cumberland Councils and derives a conclusion and recommendation on that. The examination helps to bring out all the details regarding the mentioned council. It helps to further assassinate the strengths and weaknesses of the council and suggests some recommendations so that the council can achieve greater success in the long run. The inductive research approach assists in in-depth analysing the pre-existing literatures and brings out the different factors of the topic.

2.3. Time Horizon
This paper has applied a short time span of six months to analyse as well as assess the aim. A cross sectional study is done during the research (Spector, 2019). This allows the scholar to assess and validate the aim in comparative short time duration. The research paper aims to identify and analyse the client organization’s strategies, initiatives, goals and targets. It further compares the client organization with the two other organizations to identify the relevant gaps. It scopes out a range of possible benchmark organizations to assist the chosen topic.

2.4. Sample Selection
Different relevant website, authentic journal and scholar article are collected both online and offline method which later on investigated. While doing the research work a keen focus is kept on the thorough investigation of the authentic journal paper, relevant website and articles. The results of the current investigation bring out the details about the strategies, goals and targets of the Parramatta council strategy. Contrasting the quantitative data analysis method, the key goal of interpretivism research emphasizes the quality of the information of the investigating paper (Johnston, 2017). The inductive research process assists in construction of the research aim to assess as well as identify the benchmark of the client organization.

3. Discussion
The Parramatta council strategy has included a community strategic plan. It has been named as “Community Strategic Plan 2018 to 2038: Butbutt Yura Barra Ngurra”. This plan identifies the priorities of the citizen for the upcoming 20 years. It provides with a roadmap through which people can get there (Barns & Pollio, 2019). The plan aims to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land and waters of Parramatta. It focuses on the community living in the city. The strategic plan contains six major goals. The goals are 1. Faire, 2. Accessible, 3. Green, 4. Welcoming, 5. Thriving, 6. Innovative. It aims to have the benefits from the scopes offered by the city. The citizens can have access of any places whenever they want to. The plan states about taking care of the environment and the greenery of the city. It celebrates the culture and customs of the community irrespective of the time (Rauscher & Momtaz, 2017). It also aims to have the benefits of thriving CBD. Last but not the least; it constantly involves innovative ideas to better the futures of the community. The other councils like Hornsby Shire Council or Campbelltown Council have fair goals and strategies towards serving its citizen. The annual reports of these councils have stated that they have quality benchmarks among the councils of Australia.

The Cumberland Council has implemented a strategic plan aiming to serve the community in April 2018. The purpose of this plan is to engage the community into the development of the city. The strategy expects that the community participation in plans, policies and programs (Cumberland, 2018). The strategy involves 1. Build capacity, where the council, community and the stakeholders work together to create a genuine culture. 2. Inform and Involve, where the council promote the different opportunities for the members of the community who live, work, play in Cumberland. 3. Accountable and Transparent objective involves the decision-making capacity of the council with aims to serve all the needs of the community. 4. Continuous improvement indicates the development of the strategies and the services offered to the community members of Cumberland to get them a better future.

The Fairfield City Council has implemented a strategic community plan for the coming ten years to serve its community. The plan involves the wellbeing of the community, taking care of the environment. It aims at developing the infrastructure of the city and generating more local economy and employment and good governance and leadership.

In comparison with the Parramatta council strategy, these two other councils have added more useful activities in their respective strategic plans (Pham, 2018). This study helps to understand the loopholes in the plans made by the Parramatta Council. The focus on infrastructure or employment need to be involved in their Parramatta council strategy list. Also the continuous generation of resources is needed for the wellbeing of the living community.

4. Recommendations
There are a few recommendations for the Parramatta council strategy. The recommendations are for the betterment of the strategic plan of the city. The strategic plan needs to involve the development of the infrastructure so that the community could get the proper residential buildings and educational buildings (Reeve, Thow, Baker, Hresc, & May, 2020). For that it needs the participation of the community members so that the works get easier.

Sustainable development of the regions under Parramatta council (Ruming, 2018).
formulation of better community life
Development of strategies regarding roadways, airport and intercity communication mode.
Development of robust statutory system
the plan should engage good leadership and governance so all the needs of the living community get fulfilled and the people of the city live a healthy life.

5. Conclusion
The current research paper mentions a detailed report on the Parramatta city Council and comparative analysis with other councils in Australia. It observes the goals, strategies, performances such as revenue of the council and compared to the strategies and goals of the Fairfield city Council and Cumberland Council. By comparing the performances and strategic formulation methodologies, the above discussion aimed to figure out the gaps in the strategic planning of the client Parramatta council. Strategic matrices for formed to compare revenue, expenditure, goals and strategies etcetera to deduce recommendations for Parramatta council strategy.

6. Bibliography
Barns, S., & Pollio, A. (2019). Parramatta smart city and the quest to build Australia’s next great city. Routledge Abingdon.

Cumberland, J. (2018). Creating New Economies Through the Urban Commons. Parramatta council strategy Tikkun, 33(3), 39-44.

Johnston, M. (2017). Secondary data analysis: A method of which the time has come. Qualitative and quantitative methods in libraries, 3(3), 619-626.

Pham, K. (2018). Relational planning and performative sub-regional strategies: Analysing the construction of the Sydney global city region through an assemblage framework. State of Australian Cities.

Rauscher, R., & Momtaz, S. (2017). Planning Greater Parramatta District–Greater Sydney. In R. Rauscher, & S. Momtaz, Cities in Global Transition (pp. 231-255). Springer.

Reeve, B., Thow, A., Baker, P., Hresc, J., & May, S. (2020). The role of Australian local governments in creating a healthy food environment: an analysis of policy documents from six Sydney local governments. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.

Ruming, K. (2018). Metropolitan strategic plans: establishing and delivering a vision for urban regeneration and renewal. In K. Ruming, Urban regeneration in Australia (pp. 45-68). Routledge.

Spector, P. (2019). Do not cross me: Optimizing the use of cross-sectional designs. Parramatta council strategy Journal of Business and Psychology, 34(2), 125-137.

Woo, S., O'Boyle, E., & Spector, P. (2017). Best practices in developing, conducting, and evaluating inductive research. Elsevier.

7. Appendix
Matrix 1

Parramatta council strategy