Harrington’s Process Breakthrough Methodology
Harrington’s Process Breakthrough Methodology is a technique developed by James Harrington that incorporates approaches such as business process re-engineering, benchmarking, new product innovation and design as well as focused business improvement to initiate a drastic change in the business processes of an organization. The process breakthrough methodology is used to examine the concept of business process management in improving the performance of an organization.
The Nature of BPM
The nature of business process management (BPM) refers to how business process management activities are used to improve the operations and performance of a business entity. It involves the use of technology and various concepts such as business process re-engineering and benchmarking to support the design, configuration and analysis of an organization’s business processes thereby improving it overall performance (Zairi 64).
Change Agents
Change agents within an organization are referred to as the people or processes that are responsible for facilitating change within the organization. Change agents who are people are usually knowledgeable about the theories that exist on change and they also have the relevant skills which they can use to assist other people within the organization to adapt to change.
With regards to processes, organizations that have established quality improvement systems usually provide ideas for improvement that can be used by organizations to improve their business activities and the overall performance of the employee (Griffin and Moorhead 512).
Specific reasons of resisting change
Change within an organization usually becomes a complex process when the various stakeholders of an organization find it difficult to change the performance of their work activities which is usually a requirement for process reengineering.
The reasons why employees resist change include the economic fears of losing job security, the inconvenience which is usually caused by change, the uncertainty that accompanies change as the end results are usually unknown, and the threat to interpersonal relationships where change within an organization disrupts the social relationships that exist within an organization (Griffin and Moorhead 513).
The Group Dynamics School of change Management
The group dynamics of change management refers to managing change at the group level of an organization. This school of thought is based on the premise that behavioral change is usually governed by group norms and value systems such as employee empowerment, open communication within the organization, continuous learning and facilitating employee ownership of the change process (Griffin and Moorhead 508).
Forces that act as stimulants to organizational change
There are various forces that act as a stimulant to change within an organizational setting and they are grouped into the external and internal forces. The external forces that lead to change are those that usually occur in the external environment of an organization and they include the economic environment, technological environment, government laws and regulations, the socio-cultural environment and the market place.
The economic environment stimulates change within an environment when the economy goes through a period of inflations and general fluctuations in the stock prices of major companies in the financial market. Such situations usually force companies to institute changes that will help the company deal with the economy such as downsizing or retrenchment during periods of economic recession or mergers and acquisitions when the economic environment is experiencing an upturn (Lunenburg 2).
The marketplace stimulates change within an organization by increasing the level of competition that exists amongst the various organizations in the market. Organizations change their products and services to ensure that they remain competitive in the market and they have an advantage over their competitors. The marketplace therefore necessitates change in the business processes and activities used in the production of goods and services.
Government laws and regulations bring about change within an organization when they require that an organization’s business practices have to conform to the laid down policies and laws enacted by the organization. The technological environment stimulates change within an organization when a company has to reengineer its business processes and technology to incorporate the latest technological equipment in the market (Lunenberg 3).
The socio-cultural environment brings about change especially in the labor market where the availability of human resources or employees to work within an organization affects its overall performance in the external environment. The various skills and talents that exist within the labor market affect how the role of an organization’s effectiveness and performance.
The internal forces that stimulate change within an organization include the administrative forces which refer to management strategies and initiatives that are meant to improve the performance of an organization and employee/people problems within an organization that force management to change the way an organization operates. Examples of people problems include bad management practices, poor working conditions, poor job morale, low job satisfaction and poor compensation benefits (Lunenberg 3).
Process management frameworks
Process management frameworks refer to the architectural networks that are used by an organization to evaluate the performance of the organization after business process reengineering activities. These frameworks provide a company with an efficient way to establish high-level process architecture that provides support services to the various business processes of an organization.
The use of process management frameworks is basically meant to create a set of standards that will be used by the managers and directors of an organization to define the type of business relationships that exist within the organization. There are various process management networks that are used to evaluate the performance of an organization and they include SCOR, VRM and ERP (Harmon 1).
The supply chain operations reference (SCOR) model refers to a business process framework that is used in the supply chain management activities of an organization. The SCOR reference model is used by organizations to address and improve the supply chain management operations practices within the organization by focusing on important aspects such as process modeling, performance measurements and the best practice of supply chain management.
The enterprise resource planning (ERP) process framework deals with the integration of the internal and external management information systems within an organization to ensure that there is the smooth flow of information between all the business units of an organization. The areas where ERP process frameworks are usually used within an organization include the finance and accounting unit, personnel, supply chain management, inventory and data services (Harmon 1).
The value reference model (VRM) as a process management framework supports the various processes that take place between individual chain networks within an organization so as to increase the level of outputs produced from the total value chain of the organization. The VRM model ensures that organizations can be able to develop global products and integrate supply networks into the strategic, tactical and operational processes of the organization (Value Chain Org. par 1-6).
Does training for business and industry costs pay in the end?
Given the ever changing global market, companies have been forced to undertake radical measures to ensure that they remain relevant in today’s dynamic global environment. RTA is no exception and it has begun to feel the pressure to conform and provide high quality services to its clients. The managers of the organization have come to the realization that the organization has to undertake business process reengineering activities to improve the quality, productivity and general business performance of the organization.
If RTA was to undertake performance improvement activities, then the first step would be to conduct training for all of its employees to ensure that their work duties and responsibilities have been improved for more problem solving activities. Employee training will be a worthwhile investment for RTA as improving the performance of employees will ensure that the business process systems within the organization have been adjusted accordingly to reflect new customer service operations.
Works Cited
Griffin, Ricky and Gregory, Moorhead. Organizational behaviour: managing people and organizations. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning, 2010.
Harmon, Paul. Business Process Frameworks. Business Process Trends, Vol.1, No.5 2008.
Lunenberg, Fred. Forces for and resistance to organizational change. Administration and Supervision Journal, Vol. 27, No.4 (2010): 1-10.
Value Chain Org. The VCG framework is instituted to support the evolution of the business environment.
Zairi, Mohamed. Business process management: a boundary-less approach to modern competitiveness. Business Process Management Journal. Vol.3, No.1 (1997): 64-80.
