Best practice

The term best practice, also called success method comes from the Anglo-American business administration and called proven, optimum or best methods, practices or procedures in the company.

Meaning of the term

If a company is going after a best practice, it puts a eg good and inexpensive procedures, technical systems and business processes that follow known, at least on the major fields model farms and so it can itself become a model plant for third parties.

Best practice means that a particular approach is widely recognized as the most sensible alternative - one could also speak of a de facto standard. This term is most frequently used in reference to computer programs and their implementation as well as for network protocols and their specifications.

A best practice is merely a non-binding recommendation on how to proceed in a particular case. It is thus more flexible than a standard: Under different requirements or conditions can sometimes a different approach be more promising. If requirements change constantly, so the evaluation should be revised.

Violence prevention

In the field of criminology oriented prevention of violence, harassment and other offenses as well as in the primary, universal or general deterrence is increasingly being called in the above-mentioned terminology in Germany over recent European trials of the evaluation and standardization of known projects or programs. So asks the EUCPN ( European Crime Prevention Network ) at intervals in accordance with appropriate auszuzeichnenden practices of its member countries. This is also decentralized (deliberately) misunderstood; so are becoming more frequent program operator with the self-certification on best practice, modest grant is a good practice, as soon as the process evaluation is present.

Matching German translation

The term best practice is translated with optimal business process, best method, best practice, best practice, or the best method into German. The translation method of success goes beyond the comparative rating and claims a special suitability for a particular target.

Modal restriction

The validity of a best approach can be modally restricted. For example, individual RFCs are classified as current best practice - in contrast to official standards or international standards. The term is commonly used but also in areas other than business administration or computer technology.

Orientation is best

Determining an achieved best approach is possible for a benchmarking when several comparable companies have exchanged to find out the or the best of this group. With the focus on "best practice" want their own services, products, projects, methods, and systems with the practicable Elle the other measure, evaluate and, where appropriate, improve with new objectives, the weaker companies.

Is a prerequisite of success, to fully transfer the process structure from the best-practice companies. It fail half-hearted changes. Who boasts a " best-practice companies," is intended to indicate its external side of established best working methods and quality.

The concept of good practice

In order to avoid an immediate reconstruction of its operations, to give managers possibly satisfied with good practice. This means the realization of ad hoc measures that significantly improve the company's success, at least in some areas, and connect a moderate conversion to the waiver of the Going for a peak power at any cost.

The concept worst practice

Contrary to best practice are examples that need to be referred to as worst practice because they were inefficient and unproductive and at worst have led to the failure of a task. This reflects an a posteriori perspective, that is, there identifiable errors were committed.

One advantage of worst practice is that clear error can be identified and potentially avoided in the sequence. A learning from mistakes can in turn lead to best practice. There is clearly a dynamic combination of success and failure. However, worst practice is not nearly as publicly communicated as best practice / good practice. The reasons can be many. Instead of deterrence Entmotivierung could be the result. Another psychological explanation is the negative image of the failure to be avoided.

Criticism

Criticism of best practice sees in it an expression of the American neo-classical ideal of deregulated markets and unrestricted entrepreneurial prerogative. It refuses to see such a homogeneous entrepreneurial activity globally - also in Europe and Japan - to enforce.

In the corporate environment is that best-practice processes never at the same time state of the art can be, as they put by definition on proven from the past.

Parallel phenomena

Not only in the field of business administration -specific best practices have evolved in terms of proven success methods and procedures. It applies, for example in the field of corporate governance of the Codex of corporate governance and in the field of governance, the concept of good governance (since 1992, World Bank).