Essay About View Of The Way And Business Processes

Principles of Business
Principles of Business
Why worry about business processes? What is
new? How might organizations perform
better? Many organizations are adopting the
idea that their organization is made up of a set
of business processes rather than a set of
functional activities. The reason for this move
is simple to appreciate. In a functionallybased
origination the focus is upwards (see
Figure 1). The customers, though, are for the
most part served by activities in processes
which run through the hierarchy.
However, many organizations are changing
their view of the way they structure and
manage themselves, to focus on business
processes rather than business functions.
They may be encouraged in this view by
having undertaken a business process reengineering
(BPR) project or they may be
using the European Foundation of Quality
Management (EFQM) assessment framework.
The latter identifies nine elements for
excellence: “enablers?which give capability,
i.e. leadership; people management; resources;
policy and strategy; and processes. These
enablers influence performance measured by
business results, customer satisfaction,
employee satisfaction and impact of society. So
identification of business processes as a key
enabler starts the change in thinking about the
way in which managers set the direction for
their organization, provide products and/or
services and support these operational activities.
Also, by using the EFQM framework,
organizations can assess their capability at
managing their business processes. Many are
not good at this and far worse at managing the
other enablers in the framework. Anecdotal
evidence from judges for the European Quality
Award indicates that organizations lag in their
development of business processes. They may
identify a discrete process, but fail to look at an
integrated set of processes.
Moving from a functional organization to
one which is business process-based is not
without problems. It challenges the status
quo. The power base of senior managers has
been in functions. The career path of individuals
has been through functions. Abandoning
this structure challenges the way organizations
work. Mitel Telecom has senior managers
who were previously functional heads
dictating to subordinates and who now find
they are facilitators. David O’Brien, the CEO
of National & Provincial Building Society in
the early 1990s, regarded managers as
Managing Service Quality
Volume 6 ?Number 6 ?1996 ?pp. 48?2
?MCB University Press ?ISSN 0960-4529
Colin Armistead
The author
Colin Armistead is Professor of Operations Strategy and
Management and Head of the Strategy, Operations and
Decision Making Department