International Benchmarking as a Method for Building a Learning Organisation in Public Administration. A Case Study of Phytosanitary Services in Europe

The project analysed the functioning of the State Plant Protection and Seed Inspection Service (SPHSIS), and this article presents a study of the international benchmarking of public administration (6 seed Inspections from European Union countries were analysed). The research question posed by the authors of this article is: how did this tool help in the development and strategy planning of a public administration unit? The project used a number of research steps, both directly dedicated to benchmarking and interviews with Service recipients or Inspection staff. The following recommendations for Inspections emerge from a comparative analysis: 1) the introduction of the digitalisation of services, which may enable an increase in customer orientations, 2) legal changes in Poland’s Inspection Service – increasing powers and building a single, national Food Agency. 3) Seed Inspection Service clients suggest increasing pro-export attitudes among officials.