Improving Work Processes

1. Improving Work Processes Process Improvement, Reengineering and Reorganization

2. Work Processes The processes by which a person, network or organization produces valued outputs that contribute to the public good.

3. Alternative value considerations are not constraints, but they may require changes in other processes. Value-based Process Re-engineering Management of internal resistance Mapping + data: Quantitative Qualitative Identify public value propositions Criteria: Adds value Salient Modifications Complications

4. Process Flow • Sequence of actions or decisions • Some can be done in parallel • Determinants of work content and sequence:

5. Analyzing Work Processes What is the product? • A good or a service Who is the customer? What qualities of the product are most important to customers, stakeholders, overseers? • Examples: cost, quality (what dimensions?), timeliness, politeness and respect

6. What is the process by which the product is produced? • Hint: Lay it out schematically, or in a diagram. At what points in the process do things go wrong? • Examples: bad experiences for customers, delays, lack of attention to other aspects of quality, wasted resources What can be done to fix the problems?

7. After the problems are identified… Ask whether the problem is deserving of full-scale re-engineering. Ask whether the principles of good supply chain management can be applied. Ask whether the organization is structured around the work processes. Ask whether the work ought to be done in some completely different way. Ask whether the culture of the organization is consistent with doing good work.

8. Do the problems with the process warrant full-scale reengineering? Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to bring about dramatic improvements in performance.

9. When Should You Reengineer? When an important process is clearly badly broken and fixing it is important. When you’ve got a decent chance of success: • Leadership • Commitment • Culture

10. Common Problems Taking too long; too much analysis Not being bold enough Trying to include everyone and everything Not building internal support Not building external support Too little attention to implementation

11. An Alternative: Quality Management Goal is incremental improvement, not radical redesign Strategy of devolving responsibility for solving problems and improving processes Often involves teams of workers.

12. An Alternative: Problem Solving Not clear the process is producing the right product for the right customer Also involves teams charged to be creative May or may not lead to reengineering of processes.

13. Organizational Design How does an organization: Divide up labor? Coordinate work? Answers to those questions ought to determine organizational design

14. Coordinating Mechanisms Mutual adjustment Direct supervision Standardization of: • Work process • Outputs • Skills

15. Organizational Types and Their Environments

16. Principles of Horizontal Organization Organize around cross-functional core processes, not tasks or functions Install process owners or managers who will take responsibility for the core process in its entirety Make teams, not individuals, the cornerstone of organizational design and performance

17. Better Practices Principles Creating the Performance Framework Driving Performance Improvement Learning to Enhance Performance

18. Better Practices PRINCIPLES Creating the Performance Framework Practice 1: Articulate the Organization’s Mission Practice 2: Identify the Organization’s Most Consequential Performance Deficit Practice 3: Establish a Specific Performance Target Practice 4: Clarify Your Theoretical Link between Target and Mission

19. Better Practices principles Driving Performance Improvement Practice 5: Monitor and Report Progress Frequently, Personally, and Publicly Practice 6: Build Operational Capacity Practice 7: Take Advantage of Small Wins to Reward Success Practice 8: Create “Esteem Opportunities”

20. Better Practices Tools Learning to Enhance Performance Practice 9: Check for Distortions and Mission Accomplishment Practice 10: Analyze a Large Number and a Wide Variety of Indicators Practice 11: Adjust Mission, Target, Theory, Monitoring and Reporting, Operational Capacity, Rewards, Esteem Opportunities, and/or Analysis

21. Variance is bad, but good service requires meeting the client’s needs, and every client is different Establish SOPs and train your employees in them Empower your employees to make decisions that best fit the situation What you measure is what you get, so measurement information is biased Get buy-in from those you are measuring Use measurement for learning first, and accountability second IT can lower your costs dramatically or it can burden you with capital expenses and maintenance costs Before implementation ask: What does this buy me? After implementation: what else can I get? It is a complex world, but you have to act Pay attention to the details Create the organizational conditions that maximize learning Embrace the contradictions