Process Reengineering And Continuous Improvement example essay topic

Executive Summary Students Performance has been the focus of much recent investigation and discussion. So the principal objective of this study is to isolate factors associated with the student performance. So we identified Gender, Time Spent on Leisure activities, Qualification of Parents, Previous Performance records, Class size, Attendance, Family Income & Infrastructure of College. The results reflect clearly the importance of analyzing all these factors simultaneously in order to understand the variation in student performance. To analyse these factors we gathered primary data by distributing questionnaire and then applying various tests like F- test, T-test, Chi-square test to evaluate the statistically significance of the independent variables we choose and the regression than the whole. We found that all the factors stated above are statistically significant.

Production organizations have been in the vanguard without knowing it. They have undertaken reengineering by implementing concurrent engineering, lean production, cellular manufacturing, group technology, and pull-type production systems. These represent fundamental rethinking of the manufacturing process. Manufacturers generally made significant improvements in their internal operations during the 1980's.

But excellence in manufacturing has not always translated to superior sustainable results in the marketplace. More recently, the focus appears to have shifted out of the manufacturing process to other inter functional and interorganizational and customer-based processes. The 1992 Manufacturing Futures Survey reports similar views held by manufacturing executives. Rapid advances in information technology and its applications have been a major enabler of business process reengineering in services.

Rule 1. Organize around outcomes, not tasks Several specialized tasks previously performed by different people should be combined into a single job. This could be performed by an individual "case worker" or by a "case team". The new job created should involve all the steps in a process that creates a well-defined outcome.

Organizing around outcomes eliminates the need for hand-offs, resulting in greater speed, productivity, and customer responsiveness. It also provides a single knowledgeable point of contact for the customer. GTE's "front-end technician" position described in the sidebar on the following page illustrates this principle. Rule 2. Have those who use the output of the process perform the process In other words, work should be carried out where it is makes the most sense to do it. This results in people closest to the process actually performing the work, which shifts work across traditional intra- and interorganizational boundaries.

For instance, employees can make some of their own purchases without going through purchasing, customers can perform simple repairs themselves, and suppliers can be asked to manage parts inventory. Relocating work in this fashion eliminates the need to coordinate the performers and users of a process. Rule 3. Merge information-processing work into the real work that produces the information This means that people who collect information should also be responsible for processing it. It minimizes the need for another group to reconcile and process that information, and greatly reduces errors by cutting the number of external contact points for a process.

A typical accounts payable department that reconciles purchase orders, receiving notices, and supplier invoices is a case in point. Eliminating the need for invoices by processing orders and receiving information on-line, makes much work done in the traditional accounts payable function unnecessary. Rule 4. Treat geographically dispersed resources as though they were centralized Information technology now makes the concept of hybrid centralized / decentralized operations a reality. It facilitates the parallel processing of work by separate organizational units that perform the same job, while improving the company's overall control.

For instance, centralized databases and telecommunication networks now allow companies to link with separate units or individual field personnel, providing them with economies of scale while maintaining their individual flexibility and responsiveness to customers. Rule 5. Link parallel activities instead of integrating their results The concept of only integrating the outcomes of parallel activities that must eventually come together is the primary cause for rework, high costs, and delays in the final outcome of the overall process. Such parallel activities should be linked continually and coordinated during the process. Concurrent engineering exemplifies this principle.

Rule 6. Put the decision point where the work is performed, and build control into the process Decision making should be made part of the work performed. This is possible today with a more educated and knowledgeable workforce plus decision-aiding technology. Controls are now made part of the process. The vertical compression that results produces flatter, more responsive organizations.

Rule 7. Capture information once-at the source Information should be collected and captured in the company's on-line information system only once-at the source where it was created. This approach avoids erroneous data entries and costly reentries. The objectives for reengineering must be in the form of a qualitative and quantitative vision statement.

These objectives can include goals for cost reduction, time-to-market, quality and customer satisfaction levels, and financial indicators. The objectives can be used to measure progress and to constantly spur ongoing action. The vision statement presented by Federal Express in its infancy is a classic example: "We will deliver the package by 10: 30 the next morning". This statement provided measurable operational objectives that redefined an industry.

The company's leader is responsible for communicating these important messages, first to senior management and then to the rest of the firm. This represents the first step in communication, an activity that must be continued consistently over the duration of the reengineering project. A senior management steering committee that includes the top executive typically champions the change process, sets goals, assigns resources, and expedites progress. Redesign and implementation are typically the responsibility of a cross-functional process evaluation team. Responses to these questions can be weighted in accordance with the company's need for improvement. The selected process should have a manageable reengineering project scope with well-defined process boundaries.

Though all processes in organizations are interrelated, the limits of the current change effort must be identified. Information technology and human / organizational issues act as enablers of the reengineering process. Technology evaluation has now become a core competency required of all companies. Companies should develop the ability to evaluate current and emerging information technology, and identify creative applications to redesign their existing processes. Exhibit 18.3 (page 744) identifies categories in which information technology supports process reengineering. The breakthrough box, "Mellon Trust Reengineers Workflow Management System for 401 (k) Plan", demonstrates the importance of information technology to BPR.

The current organizational culture should also be evaluated in light of the impending change to be brought about by reengineering. Participative and customer-oriented cultures that have evolved from the quality revolution of the 1980's provide a suitable environment for further change. Yet the magnitude of change created by process redesign makes the management of change a necessity. Issues of measurement and compensation, career paths, work enrichment, and new skills training should be addressed. The appropriate design of these factors will have significant impact on the successful implementation of the reengineered process. The current process must be diagnosed as a means to understand it and its underlying assumptions.

Broad performance parameters of existing processes must be determined. Process evaluation techniques from quality management such as flow charts, Wishbone diagrams, and quality function deployment can be used. There is no need to document and analyze the current process in detail since the goal is not to fix the process, but to create a new one. Observation and participation in the actual process, as opposed to data collection and interviewing, are extremely valuable approaches that may be used to understand processes. However, the process must not be over studied and reengineers should move quickly on to redesign. Process redesign requires beginning with a clean sheet of paper.

The creative nature of innovation makes it non algorithmic and non routine. Reengineers should suspend current rules, procedures, and values so as to create new process designs. They also need to utilize the principles of reengineering that have been discerned. However, with an increasing number of successful cases of reengineering being publicized, benchmarking can also be used as a basis for idea creation. Leadership is critical, not just to the implementation process, but to the entire reengineering effort. The extent of change necessitates the direct and continued engagement on the part of the senior executive and the senior management steering committee.

Process engineering teams are typically responsible for implementing the new designs. However, support and buy-in from line managers are crucial to success because implementation changes accountabilities of line managers while expecting them to deliver on the improvements. Training employees in additional skills needed to perform in the new environment is also essential. The reengineered process design forms the basis for a pilot project that is followed by phased introduction. Post-implementation assessment is usually made in relation to the objectives defined at the beginning of the reengineering project. Inductive Thinking This involves recognizing potential solutions, and then seeking and recognizing obvious or latent problems that may be solved.

This approach is required in the creative application of information technology to reengineers processes. For instance, the use of teleconferencing is not to eliminate business travel entirely, but to be able to get more individuals working together. Flow charting Though mentioned in Step 4 of the preceding section, flow charts or blueprints are the fundamental tool when initiating BPR. The flow chart may be the only tool that is used in 100 percent of the applications of BPR. They can be simple-such as boxes and arrows placed on a huge roll of brown paper that is then rolled out along a wall. (This was used by consultants studying BellSouth telephone company to help categorize initially 81 processes into the 13 most important "process streams" of the business.) Or flow charts can be sophisticated proprietary charting software packages.

Creative Process Redesign Applying the principles of reengineering discussed in Section 18.2 is an approach to creative process redesign. Questioning the assumptions that underlie current business practices leads to new methods. Many successes in process reengineering relate to procurement. These have arisen because of challenging long-held beliefs. Eliminating the rule that the supplier is a business adversary has led to sharing operational information to improve the combined performance of both supplier and buyer. The need for invoices as a prerequisite for payment has been altered.

Reengineered firms now pay on receipt of goods, thus eliminating the need for invoices. Process Benchmarking Benchmarking is usually considered a continuous improvement tool. But it can also be used to gain information regarding a company's relative position in key business processes and core competencies. During the initial stages of a reengineering program, benchmarking can help create an industry context for the goals being set. Benchmarking will also provide a firm with examples of best practices in terms of new processes and the approach to their implementation. Benchmarking's value is not just to imitate another company's processes.

Practitioners report that benchmarking's most important value in the reengineering process is that a team's imagination is stimulated when it sees creative solutions implemented by the companies being benchmarked. In some cases there may be no external standard for comparison. Simulation Discrete-event computer simulation and animation can be very useful in understanding processes. This is similar to simulation applications in process-flow situations in manufacturing or services operations. The simulations could be used to visualize and evaluate the redesigned processes. This can be accomplished even before the pilot project stage, providing reengineers with an appropriate tool for evaluating new processes.

Reengineering Software There is adequate software available to help draw detailed process maps, and software tools for understanding existing processes and designing new ones are being developed on the basis of the U.S. Dept. of Defense process design methodology called Integrated Definition (IDEF). Texas Instruments' Business Design Facility and Meta Software's Design / IDEF are two such tools that facilitate modeling and evaluation of business processes. ' The availability of such software tools and methodologies aids the redesign phase of process reengineering. The ultimate exercise, however, is an overall migration plan to move the organization from the current state to a vastly improved future state. Reengineering software tools should be utilized within this framework". Organizations must develop a framework for placing reengineering activity in the context of other change initiatives they may undertake.

It should not be considered the once and for all "big fix". Integration will help keep the different change initiatives' expectations, methods, and results distinct from each other, thereby minimizing the confusion and cynicism that usually result from undertaking an assortment of management initiatives. Sequencing Change Initiatives This approach suggests cycling through process stabilization, process reengineering, and continuous improvement. The disadvantage for such an initiative is that it may take at least five years to go through one cycle of change, which would be longer than many organizational learning cycles and product life cycles. Though this approach is discussed to a greater extent in management literature, the technique appears to be least valuable in practice.

Creating a Portfolio of Process Change Programs This method involves the categorization of all processes and sub processes in an organization on the basis of the type of change necessary. Criteria for selecting processes for reengineering could include relevance to strategy, current performance levels, capability of sponsor, available investment, and history of change. Many leading companies in process reengineering are adopting this approach to integration. Limiting the Scope of Work Design In this approach, high-level processes are designed by the reengineering teams responsible. But employees who perform the jobs design the detail work processes involved within the specifications decided by the reengineering team. This is an attempt to combine the participative nature of continuous improvement with the top-down approach common to process reengineering.

Undertaking Improvement through Innovation This approach combines short-term improvement methods and long-term reengineering in the same process change effort. Improvement methods such as value analysis can be used to obtain quick benefits which are then invested in the longer-term reengineering effort. The improvement projects may also be a means to move the current process forward to a stage where radical process change is possible.