Process or Product?
In any organisation there is “process” meaning the steps that people follow to achieve a particular result. Where paperwork is involved, this might be called “bureaucracy”. On the other side, there is the end result: the outcome of that “bureaucracy”. It may be the issuance of a driving licence, the approval for an application for an activity, or registration of something.
Businesses all have processes and results (the latter usually being the product or service they're trying to sell). When a business starts, it’s all about results: getting those sales in and paying bills. As the business grows and hires more workers, the owners see a growing need for guidelines to ensure things are done in a uniform way for “control”. As the organisation grows further, they hire HR managers, accountants, IT specialists and others, each of whom has their own “process” for getting things done.
Having worked in global organisations, as well as SMEs, my opinion on process is divided. It is necessary for ensuring uniformity and control, but the key is not to pile paperwork (or “admin”) onto people whose job is to earn money for the business (or at least, not to spend too much). The advent of the personal computer has brought benefits in terms of being able to duplicate documentation, but also the ability to deliver much more “bureaucracy”. A tool for productivity risks becoming a tool for paperwork.
To give a highly generalised example, one could say that businesses are about results, governments about bureaucracy. Governments focus on process, businesses on the results of processes. There is a definite risk in large businesses that “Cost Centres” (the departments not directly engaged with customers) become more like government in their desire to implement processes to (as the front line would see it) the detriment of making money. The key is a balance, given the size of the organisation, between “bureaucracy” and “results”.
As the cost of technology reduces, governments are turning more to the benefits this offers. In many countries, one can now apply “online” for certain services, reducing time spent going to centralised offices, speaking with functionaries and returning to collect documents.
We need to ask, are our processes stifling us or supporting us?
I have spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My websiteprovides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Productivity, Strategy
posted by William Martin @ 16:05
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