management

Introduction

EFQM stands for European Foundation for Quality Management, a non-profit organization whose main aim is supporting organizations in the implementation of strategies. It has a corporate membership with over 600 firms in Europe listed as members. EFQM model refers to a performance quality tool that organizations use to assess and reflect on their strategies (EFQM, 2012). More than 30,000 organizations in Europe use the EFQM Excellence Model.

The model came into being in 1991 and has undergone various reviews since then to make it relevant in a dynamic business environment. EFQM Excellence Model exhorts organizations to avoid rigidity in their operations by embracing agile organizational structures that are appropriate to the current international economic environment (EFQM, 2012). The latest model, EFQM Excellence Model 2013 comes with enhanced features for better management.

Key Changes in EFQM Excellence Model 2013

Several changes mark the EFQM Excellence Model 2013. Such changes include the removal of ambiguous titles like ‘achieving balanced results’ (EFQM, 2012). The changes have led summarizing the concept of sustainable development in one tab: ‘creating a sustainable future’. This aimed at attracting users and potential users like managers to use the model. In addition, various concepts in the framework currently cover wider aspects (EFQM, 2012).

In previous models, concepts such as ‘building partnerships’ and ‘managing by processes’ appeared a duplication of concepts. In the EFQM Excellence Model 2013, the terms expanded to ‘developing organizational capabilities’ and ‘managing with agility’ respectively (EFQM, 2012). EFQM Excellence Model 2013 consists of simplified and adapted bullet points. Previous models had the term ‘key’ used in various sections to the extent of causing confusion. Such sections included use of the term ‘key’ in various areas like customer growth and partnerships leading to ambiguity and confusion. These have changed to ‘business results’ coupled with definitions of ‘business stakeholders’ (EFQM, 2012).

Relationship between ISO 9000 and Business Excellence Models

Business excellence models refer to frameworks that various organizations utilize to focus on activities in an increasingly systematic and procedural manner to improve performance (Business Performance Improvement Resource, 2013). Constant use of business excellence models leads to excellent activity levels in fields related to a particular model. Business excellence, therefore, refers to outstanding principles in managing a corporation and realizing results. European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) recognizes eight basic ideas that a corporation should utilize to realize success. These include a focus on results, customer focus, leadership and consistency of objective, management procedures, staff development, ongoing learning, creativeness, proper partnerships and corporate social responsibility (Business Performance Improvement Resource, 2013).

ISO 9000 is a group of ratings, designed and published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that describe, create, and maintain adequate quality assurance mechanisms for manufacturing and service industries. It is the most popular and has had the greatest impact of all standards designed by the International Organisation for Standardisation (Search Data Center, 2013).

The relationship between ISO 9000 and business excellence models is that business excellence models lead to excellent services or products as well as excellence in other key areas like customer relations, employee training and development, relationship with external stakeholders and so on (EFQM, 2012). On the other hand, ISO 9000 seeks to certify such organizations that achieve excellent results in key areas of operation. In other words, business excellence models lead to quality certification by the International Organisation for Standardization. Organizations achieve desired quality through the utilization of various concepts contained in business excellence models. ISO 9000 is one among many standards designed by ISO.

References

Business Performance Improvement Resource. (2013). What is Business Excellence. Web.

EFQM. (2012). Excellence in Action. Web.

Search Data Center. (2013). ISO 9000. Web.

Recent decades have shown that many companies are coming to a realization that people indeed are the most valuable asset. That means that it is the personnel that makes the organization successful and competitive and helps achieve its strategic objectives and high levels of productivity. Becoming aware that a firm cannot succeed without people and prudential organization of the working process made human resource (HR) the key to organizational performance.

HR department is responsible for delivering may organizational objectives. The first major organizational objective of the HR function is building organizational ability through people. It is the very comprehension that employees are the most valuable asset of the company. The HR function here is to define what are the positions that are needed to achieve the organization’s objectives, what skills they require, and find the people that best meet the criteria. So, the HR is responsible for recruitment and selection and employee relations and communications to carry out this organizational objective (Mishra et al. 90). Recruitment and selection is hiring people that will help the company succeed. Employee relations and communications is about creating the atmosphere of trust and openness in the relations between workers themselves and with HR in particular as well as discipline so that the employees are willing to work at the maximum of their potential and feel free to provide the HR with the feedback on the initiatives of this department and their effectiveness.

Another organizational objective of the HR function is developing careers and skills. In this case, HR is responsible for training and development of the personnel. It means that the department provides new employees with the comprehension of the organization’s culture and, if needed, assists in developing skills necessary for meeting its requirements. What is more, it helps with leadership training or professional development (Mishra et al. 90). The primary point here is that HR does everything for the growth of the employees so that they become more skilled and productive thus improving the company’s performance.

Furthermore, HR manager’s duty is to make performance management work for both the business and its people. It should be said that performance management is “a systematic process for improving organizational performance by developing the performance of individuals and teams” (Armstrong 618). HR function here is to adapt the strategic objectives of the company to the job descriptions of every employee. Moreover, the workers not only should understand what their tasks are but also know what are the results of their work, i.e. they should receive feedback and reward (Ashdown 7-8). So, it works for the people because they know that they will be rewarded as well as it works for the organization because the employees are willing to do their best to improve the company’s performance.

The objectives mentioned above have evolved in the contemporary business environment. Bearing in mind that HR manager is seen as a strategic partner in achieving the organization’s objectives (Rao and Krishna 666), the functions of the HR department have move to strategic human resource management. That said, all the tasks performed by this department are complex strategies whether it be supporting corporate delivery and performance objectives or promoting employee engagement. It means that carrying out every function is a set of thoroughly planned steps including the initial resources, the process of transforming them, and the expected outcomes. It is intricate enough to be called a strategy. What is more, organizing the work of people, especially in large teams, HR managers may face various challenges such as discrimination, harassment, diversity, etc. They should be ready to deal with every of similar roadblocks at once without taking much time for developing decisions (Khan and Khan 37). That means that they should have a prepared plan for responding to any possible situation that may stumble the continuous flow of the working process, i.e. have a strategy.

It is of significant importance to remember that not only the employees need to know the results of their work; HR managers are not an exception. It is where the need for evaluating the contribution of the HR function and practice derives from. There are several arguments that prove that assessing HR function is essential. First of all, it helps understand whether the processes that are being used are effective so the company might want to redesign its HR policy if the results of the evaluation are less than optimal. Second, it shows whether the practices performed by the human resource manager correspond with the strategic objectives of the organization and thus estimate the chances for improving the company’s performance. Third, evaluating HR function detects whether the atmosphere in the organization is healthy and free enough, however, with the level of discipline necessary for reaching the maximum productivity of the employees and offers the ways for changing it for the better. Fourth, no one should ignore the fact that HR department is the subject of investment, so, periodical control of the results of its activities will show whether the funds are used effectively and is there a need for attracting more finances or, by contrast, cutting the expenditures on the HR management system. Finally, evaluation of the human relations practices and policies being an insight-driven function will emphasize their necessity in the eyes of the employees and the organization’s senior management (McLean 24) stressing that HR is a crucial element in improving performance and reaching the organizational objectives.

There are different methods that can be used for evaluating the contribution of the HR such as, for example, the balanced scorecard and the effective metrics. The balanced scorecard is a technique for assessing the performance of an organization. However, if we assume the HR department is also an organization, it may be used for evaluating its effectiveness. The specificity of this approach is that it involves four dimensions: the customer (client) perspective, the financial perspective, the internal work-process perspective, and the learning and growth perspective (Cunningham and Kempling 195).

The customer perspective is about the level of the client’s satisfaction with the product or the service of the company. In the case of evaluating HR contribution, the customers are the senior management of the organization, the stakeholders, and the employees while the goal is to determine whether they are satisfied with the work of the human resource department. The financial perspective includes any financial data available. When it comes to HR, it may relate to the costs of hiring or conducting trainings, costs of turnover, investment in the HR department, etc. The internal work-process perspective concerns the operations used by the organization to achieve its objectives. Speaking of HR, it might be about the processes exploited to motivate the employees or performance on the reports, i.e. the effectiveness of any tasks conducted by the HR manager. Finally, the learning and growth perspective has to do with any possible ways to increase the level of the workers’ professionalism so that the organization has the guarantee of preserving its competitive positions in the long run. As of the HR department, it is the efficiency of its training and development functions.

Another method for evaluating the contribution of the HR policy to the organization’s performance is the effective metrics. This approach involves two groups of categories based on the major functions of HR department. For example, first-tier metrics include the general success of the HR in enhancing the employees’ productivity, the workers’ eagerness to respond to the HR initiatives, different indices of recruiting, retention, costs and senior management satisfaction. Furthermore, second-tier metrics focus on such determinants of the HR policy as the effectiveness of the development and growth practices, the employees’ perceptions of the compensation and benefits initiatives, the overall atmosphere in the organization, etc. (Ramaiah and Raut 695-697). So, this method is more comprehensive than the balanced scorecard, as it offers more determinants that might obtain more in-depth evaluation of the HR contribution to organizational performance.

The research has proved that HR practices are a crucial tool for improving the organization’s performance and that assessing its contribution is vital if the company strives for the high level of productivity and competitiveness in the long run. The newly gained knowledge can be transferred into the working practice not only from the perspective of the HR functions and their importance but also from the point of the possibility of self-assessment of the human resource manager effectiveness, as a lot has been learned about the methods of evaluation of the HR contribution to the organizational performance of the company.

Works Cited

Armstrong, Michael. A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 11th ed. 2009. London, United Kingdom: Kogan Page. Print.

Ashdown, Linda. Performance Management. London, United Kingdom: Kogan Page. 2014. Print.

Cunningham, J. Barton, and Jim Kempling. “Promoting Organizational Fit in Strategic HRM: Applying the HR Scorecard in Public Service Organizations.” Public Personnel Management 40.3 (2011): 193-213. Print.

Khan, Anas, and Riad Khan. “The Dual Responsibility of the HR Specialist: … for People Issues and Strategic Management.” Human Resource Management Digest International 19.6 (2011): 37-38. Print.

McLean, Gary N. “Examining Approaches to HR Evaluation: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Popular Measurement Methods.” Strategic HR Review 4.2 (2005): 24-27. Print.

Mishra, RK, Shulagna Sarkar and Punam Singh. “Integrating HR Functions for Sustainability.” Drishkiton: A Management Journal 4.2 (2013): 85-99. Print.

Ramaiah, T. Sita, and RA. Raut. “HR Metrics for a Multinational Corporation.” International Journal of Entrepreneurship & Business Environment Perspectives 2.4 (2013): 694-697. Print.

Rao, Venkat, and Jayarama Krishna. “Alignment of HR Practices with Organizational Strategies.” Indian Journal of Industrial Relations 50.4 (2015): 666-679. Print.

Introduction

Business organizations must adopt business strategies that facilitate effective operations. It is through effective business operations that an organization can achieve its objectives and operate effectively in a competitive industry. Optimizing processes and checking costs are effective production methods that organizations can adopt to improve their operations and sustain their competitive advantage. Business organizations improve their operational processes in order to achieve competitive advantage against competitors in the industry providing of same products and services. Organizations can improve their operations through training their workforce on new business operation practices, concepts, as well as on use of the new technologies in business operations (Rahman, 1998).

Justification of Operations Improvement

Traditional methods of production of goods and services were expensive due to their pull nature. Business organizations produced large quantities and storing them in warehouses. The stored good were then supplied to retailers as they demanded. These methods of production increased the cost of doing business as organizations had to pay for warehouse services and for advertisement in order to sell their products. These were the challenges that faced traditional business organization (Nord et al., 1997).

The need for ways of addressing these rising operation cost led business organizations to seek ways of improving their operations particularly during the industrialization period. As business organization started to internationalize and competition among them took shape, there was greater need for operations improvement to sustain competitiveness in the marketplace.

Nord and colleagues (1997) posit that various operation improvement methods were established to eliminate business processes which did not add value to the production process, but rather added unnecessary costs. Lean production became the way forward. This production method was influenced by product demand. These lean operations improvement concepts began in Europe and later copied elsewhere around the globe. These lean production methods led to a new thinking as business in business operations as organizations adopted and improved them achieve competitive advantage. Key objective of these methods was to improve on business operations.

Operations Improvement Methods

Kaizen Approach

Kaizen deals with issues of labor force at the work place. It seeks to eliminating overworking, educating workers how to apply scientific methods and also on how to identify and eliminate wasteful processes. As such, Kaizen approach to operations improvement emphasizes productivity of the workforce through humane business practices. As such, Kaizen seeks to nurturing human resources and encourage participation hence productivity in business operations. Kaizen approach to operations improvement leads to total quality management when applied to cross-departmental scale and sets free human efforts by improving productivity through use of machines and computing power (Rahman, 1998). Rather than the infamous command and control of 20^th century, Kaizen approach includes monitoring and evaluation of human resources and making necessary changes and adjustments where applicable.

Benchmarking Method

According to Womack and colleagues (1996), benchmarking is the process of comparing one business process to the industry best practices. This comparison employs the use of parameters such as operation cost, time and quality. Organizations select the best business in the industry which has similar processes to those of their firm and carries out the comparison. In such a way, they understand how well targets are achieved and the processes that lead to the attainments of such targets. Benchmarking enables the organizations in identify the right processes put in place by the successful business and in turn practice the same to their firms in a bid to achieve their corporate mission and competitive advantage in the market place.

Total Quality Management

TQM is concerned with the internal quality processes in an organization. The key target of TQM is to enable business organizations improve their internal process. When internal processes are enhanced, products and services are produced with the customer’s needs in consideration. TQM also seeks to enable business organization minimize there operation costs, better performance and enhance customer satisfaction (Rahman, 1998).

Business process re-engineering

This concept concerns strategic rethinking and redesign of an organization’s existing resources. BPR aims at streamlining an organization’s business processes, procedures and steps regarding resource use in production of products or services (Rahman, 1998). Fragmentation of business processes into sub -processes creates specific benefits. As such, BPR is concerned with redesigning the process as a whole in order to achieve the maximum benefits. By renewing the business processes, the company renews its competitiveness to curb foreign competition. BPR improved on Just-in-Time (JIT) and Total Quality Management (TQM) to improve the organizational processes (Rahman, 1998). On it negative side, reengineering though helping the business to achieve it targets and also cutting on costs, earned a bad reputation by resulting to massive lay offs.

Applicability of Operation Improvement Methods on Individual’s Professional Life

Traditional business operations involved many processes that neither added value nor minimized the cost of business operations for most organizations. The lean production or rather business operations have enabled business organizations to tremendously minimize the operation costs and achieve competitiveness. They enable organizations to identify and eliminate costly business processes. This concept is applicable on individual’s professional life as an individual can identify and eliminate costly and valueless activities which jeopardize his or her professional effectiveness and performance both at work and in private life.

Conclusion

Business processes that add no value to organizations are costly. Businesses must adopt lean operation techniques in order to achieve their business objectives and gain competitive advantage in the marketplace. Identification and elimination of these unnecessary business operation processes helps organizations minimize the costs of producing products and services.

References

Nord, C., Patterson, B. & Johansson, B. (1997). TPM-Total production maintenance. Management Journal, 5 (2), 23-28.

Rahman, S. (1998). Theory of constraints: A review of philosophy and its applications. International journal of operations and production management, 18 (4), 336-355.

Womack, J., Jone, D. & Roos, D. (1996). Lean thinking: banish waste and create wealth in your corporation. London: Simon & Schuster.

Introduction

Currently, businesses are subject to market dynamics such as quick and unexpected modifications, varying preferences of clients, anticipating first-rate merchandise, as well as existing competition. Companies assume various forms in a bid to retain their position in the international market and remain active. Different companies must decide to be unsuccessful or carry out vital adjustments in a range of phases comprising their mode of operation. The latter can be termed as Business Process Reengineering (BPR) through which businesses encounter essential modifications to acquire remarkable advancement in the significant success issue. In this regard, BPR must involve extensive innovation as well as risky alterations (Singh 2012).

On the other hand, Business Process Management (BPM) entails concepts, methods, and systems to maintain the plan, administration, configuration, performance, and scrutiny of business progressions. The foundation of BPM is a clear illustration of business operations with their actions and the implementation limitations. This paper distinguishes between Business Process Management (BPM) and Business Process Reengineering (BPR).

Business processes

A careful analysis of business processes provides an overall understanding of the concepts and technologies in Business Process Management as well as Business Process Reengineering (Iqbal 2012).

Design and analysis

The surveys on the business processes together with their organisational and technical environment are conducted and based on these surveys, viz. the processes are identified, reviewed, validated, and represented in a business model. An excellent design decreases the complications in the existence of the practice. The goal of this step is “to ensure that a correct and efficient design is achieved” (Iqbal 2012, p.546). It captures the enterprise processes at an advanced stage. Here, enough details are gathered to understand how the process works conceptually. Much concentration goes to ensuring that the high-level details are correct without concentrating on its implementation. It introduces capricious combinations from the theoretical design.

Supervising

The individual practices are monitored so that the knowledge position can be seen effortlessly, and figures on the performance of the operations are offered. The extent of monitoring depends on the information that the business wishes to evaluate and analyse the process. The monitoring can be real-time, ad-hoc, or near real-time (Iqbal 2012). Progression monitoring is imperative in providing precise information regarding the instant position of business operations.

Evaluation and optimisation

This phase uses the information available in the evaluation and improving business process models with their respective implementation. The evaluation of execution logs is done using process mining and business activity monitoring techniques (Iqbal 2012). It also involves the identification of the bottlenecks together with potential cost-saving opportunities and any other improvements and after that applying the enhancements to the design of the business process.

Business Process Management

Business Process Management (BPM) is the science and art that provides governance for a process-oriented organisation with a goal of quickness and operational performance. It includes the statement of the goals of one’s intentions and the procedure to be followed in achieving the stipulated goals (Ostadi, Aghdasi & Alibabaei 2011). It supports the success and competence of business by being determined with elasticity, novelty, and incorporation of current expertise.

BPM has received unparalleled interest from both the Business Administration and Computer Science communities, which are characterised by differing educational backgrounds and technical interests where improved operations of the firms is a concern with the Business Administration community. The reduction in the cost of production, having a high level of customer satisfaction, and introducing new products and services at a much lower price are critical aspects from Business Administration point of view of BPM. On the other hand, the interests of the software community include the provision of robust and scalable software systems where the business process plays a significant role in designing reliable and flexible information systems (Altinkemer, Ozcelik & OZdemir 2011).

The importance of BPM is the understanding of the company’s operations and its relationships. Identification of activities in conjunction with their relationships as well as representing them by use of business process model enables the stakeholders to communicate efficiently and effectively about these processes. Also, by using business process models as an ordinary communication object, business process models can be analysed where potentials for improving the whole process can be developed. A different crucial functional objective of business process management is elasticity or capacity to change whereby subjects of change are diverse from the organisational environment to software layer without necessarily changing the overall business process (Altinkemer, Ozcelik & OZdemir 2011).

One of the significant challenges in the execution of any change is the resistance from people who feel that emerging technologies may replace them once they are deployed. Another problem is based on the security of software systems that are relied upon in the implementation of BPM (Abdi, Zarei, Vaisya & Parvin 2011). The elasticity of the platform chosen in the implementation of the BPM is a different challenge.

Business Process Reengineering

Reengineering denotes a process of casting aside old ways of operations and beginning again. Business Process Reengineering (BPR) thus entails shifting back to the starting point and coming up with a more advanced method of operation. In a bid to better the quality, cost, as well as another functional basis of the contemporary business, a business must embrace vital rethinking and thorough restructuring in business operation. The central concept is to carry out a comprehensive modification of the old methods of operations. BPR aims to ensure noteworthy advancement in quality, cost, and the entire means of operation to enable the business to acquire an utmost benefit in the aspects of contemporary business setting like clients, competition, and modification. BPR comprises of four major distinctive definitions like dramatic, thorough, redesign, and practices (Abdi, Zarei, Vaisya & Parvin 2011). BPR necessitates contemplation on the significance of the work that individuals are involved in and the manner of carrying it out. This vital modification in business functions seeks to boost the overall performance rather than just partial advancement.

In the 1990s, more than half of the Fortune 500 companies declared to have embarked on reengineering attempts or had arrangements set to commence reengineering. BPR works to aid businesses in reorganising their undertakings thoroughly by concentrating on the organisational plan of the operations of the company. A business operation is a laydown of reasonably interrelated chores carried out in a bid to realise a determined business result (Altinkemer, Ozcelik & OZdemir 2011). Reengineering stands out as a holistic concentration on business goals, and the way operations are connected could promote the full-scale reconstruction of operations instead of reiterative optimisation of sub-operations. Some of the other definitions that could be employed in place of BPR include Business Process Redesign, Business Process Change Management (BPCM), and Business Transformation (BT).

Differences

Business Process Reengineering pursues a comprehensive reformation, whereas Business Process Management entails a continuous upgrading of sub-processes. Unlike Business Process Reengineering that aims at end-to-end operations by thoroughly restructuring them, Business Process Management focuses on upgrading section by section of a business by taking up much more controllable and slighter reforms in the business operation. In this regard, the outlay, risks, and level of change are minimal, but on a different perspective, the tangible result is more proper as compared to Business Process Reengineering. Taking Business Process Management to be a coordination software, then Business Process Reengineering becomes a method. BPR allows businesses to restructure from deep inside and build a new business structure (Altinkemer, Ozcelik & OZdemir 2011). BPR re-assesses the operations employed by companies from their very fundamentals and radically restructures them, allowing companies to attain noteworthy advances in quality, cost, and services. Therefore, BPR caries more risks as compared to BPM.

Summary

Businesses are subjects for increasing marketplace dynamics. It can be quick and unanticipated alterations, varying preferences of clients, quality of merchandise and present competition. Businesses take up various forms intending to retain their position in the worldwide market and stay active. Businesses can decide to be unproductive or carry out vital adjustments in a range of phases encompassing their style of operation. A careful analysis of business processes gives an overall comprehension of the concepts and expertise in Business Process Management as well as Business Process Reengineering. Different from Business Process Reengineering that aims at entire operations by comprehensively restructuring them, Business Process Management focuses on improving section by section of a business by taking up much more convenient and slighter reforms in the business functions. Therefore, the outlay, risks, and intensity of change are minimal, but on a different viewpoint, the real result is more proper for BPM as compared to Business Process Reengineering.

Reference List

Abdi, N, Zarei, B, Vaisya, J & Parvin, B 2011, ‘Innovation Models and Business Process Redesign’, International Business & Management, vol. 3 no. 2, pp. 147-152.

Altinkemer, K, Ozcelik, Y & OZdemir, Z 2011, ‘Productivity and Performance Effects of Business Process Reengineering: A Firm-Level Analysis’, Journal of Management Information Systems, vol. 27 no. 4, pp. 129-162.

Iqbal, J 2012, ‘Towards a conceptual framework for implementation of business process reengineering (BPR) initiative’, Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, vol. 3 no. 11, pp. 523-550.

Ostadi, B, Aghdasi, M & Alibabaei, A 2011, ‘An examination of the influences of desired organisational capabilities in the preparation stage of business process re-engineering projects’, International Journal of Production Research, vol. 49 no. 17, pp. 5333-5354.

Singh, P 2012, ‘Management of Business Processes Can Help an Organisation Achieve Competitive Advantage’, International Management Review, vol. 8 no. 2, pp. 19-26.

There has been increased competition between companies due to the introduction of new technologies since businesses men have ventured into the business sector to generate income and improve on their living standards. Business process reengineering refers to the management process that is used to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the business processes that exist within and across the organizations. The process involves improving the business processes by revising their structure and changing the means and ways in which processes should be managed and implemented within an organization.

The business process reengineering tools are used to reduce risks that can hinder an organization from achieving its objectives such as the design, implementation, and operational risks. Design risks are the risks that are associated with issues such as sponsorship and scope issues that include having unsupportive managers and chief executive officers that cannot assist an organization in achieving its goals and objectives. Scope issues are the unrelated strategic visions of an organization. Implementation is the risk that occurs due to leaders that are not attentive in carrying out the obligations that have been assigned to them (Brian D. J., Wetherbe, J. C., Davis G. B. and Noe, R.A. 1997).

Tools that are used in the business process re-engineering

Business process tools are the tools that are used to develop, capture, and present process knowledge. They are classified as; soft system methods, presentation tools, and analysis tools.

Soft systems methods are qualitative or brainstorming techniques that are used to determine how processes should be formalized. Also used in setting process system goals, analyzing problems, for example identifying the causes of process failure such as the cause and effect diagrams and risk analysis of an organization.

Presentation tools are the tools that represent processes that help a user to understand and to communicate current processes or the proposed future process such as role activity diagrams that show the dependency of the individuals, teams, or departments that are within the process. The functional decomposition models are used to view information dependencies that are within the business processes. Time-based tools are the tools that are used to present the decomposition of the process’s lead-time into their value-added and non-value added components of various stages of the process.

Analysis tools are the tools that are used to analyze the behavior of processes over a given period and they exist with different levels of modeling capability such as the pert, Petri nets, and the discrete-event simulations.

Apache is a tool that is used to support the collection of information on the processes that have pictorial messages. It provides a wide range of approaches to designing issues such as maps, analyses, improves, and automating processes that are within an organization (Brian D. J., Wetherbe, J. C., Davis G. B. and Noe, R.A. 1997).

Bonaparte is a tool that is used to help the user display, document, and analyze the corporate structures to optimize the store structures of an organization to enhance its efficiency. Business Design Facility is a tool that is used to show how neutral any generic business re-engineering method can be effectively applied within an organization.

I think is a graphical simulation tool that is designed in such a way that managers can use it to perform their work. The systematic diagrams are constructed in such a way that graphical interface users can use a small yet comprehensive and wholly consistent symbol set to undertake tasks that have been assigned to them. Vensim Arrow is a flexible tool that is used to sketch information or intelligently re-arrange information in a format that is useful to the user. It is easy to use the drawing program and much powerful, as it allows easy re-arrangement and thorough analysis of the visual models.

Business process reengineering tools are not only applied in large organizations, but also in the department and the functional units that use the team building techniques to enhance effectiveness within an organization. It is necessary for the management of the organization to carry out extensive research about how the techniques that should be applied within an organization so that they can maximize their profits to enhance the growth and development of an organization.

References

Is Auditing Guideline Business Process Reengineering (BPR) Project Reviews Document G26 2004. Web.

Reengineering Enterprise Integration Laboratory Department of Industrial Engineering, Tools For Business Process: University of Toronto Rm 207 Rosebrugh Building 4 Taddle Creek Road, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A4. Web.

Brian D. J., Wetherbe, J. C., Davis G. B. and Noe, R.A. (1997). Reengineering the Systems Development Process: The Link between Autonomous Teams and Business Process Outcomes: Journal of Management Information Systems 14, no.1 41-68.

Change management

The modern business environment is characterized by rapid development, high dynamism, and constant changes. An organization can’t become successful without streamlining its workflow processes in agreement with the recent trends, external and internal conditions. Today organizations like no time before being forced to change their strategies, management systems, and overall structure. Otherwise, their performance in an increasingly competitive environment can aggravate significantly.

Change management becomes the inalienable part of the company’s management strategy that helps it to achieve the desired results. Changes are now perceived not as something unexpected and threatening. Every change even initially a negative becomes a fount of possibilities. Sometimes it is quite uneasy to accept this fact but there is no other choice if one wants to survive in this diverse and agile business realm.

Looking at Mike Parton, a prominent CEO in the sphere of telecommunications, one may be amazed by his ability to save control over the situation even in the case of the worst failures. Parton was mainly known as the CEO of Marconi Communications, once a successful telecommunication subdivision of General Electric. The company experienced a range of mergers and acquisitions and Parton was its chief in 2001-2006, which was the time of dramatic changes. Understanding that the company came up to a deadlock, Mark Parton made a historic decision to sell the company to Ericson.

Mike Parton perceived this seemingly negative change as impossible to prevent. The change was accepted and personally for Parton ended up in the position of the chairman and non-executive director of Tele2. While one company ceased to exist, Mike’s experience was then used to prevent negative tendencies in Tele2.

Working With Teams Towards Change

It is common knowledge in any sphere of human life that the greatest results can be reached only when united efforts are applied. Nowadays the most successful companies consist not of the strictly subordinated hierarchical departments, but of the elaborate teams that often enjoy a significant level of self-government. The organization needs to ensure maximum participation of all its members in the decision-making process through teams.

Among the key factors that contribute to the development of effective teamwork are the reevaluation of human resources as the primary asset of the organization, technological progress, and the dynamic approach towards the formation of teams. Teams often become highly independent structures within the company; they may take initiatives and more successfully gain extra benefits for the workers. Modern technologies allow people from across the globe to form teams and work on specific projects and tasks. Teams within the organization become mobile, flexible, and self-directed.

They are not groups of random people gathered to achieve solely numeric indicators of the organization’s performance. Teams are elaborate mechanisms that prove the professional and personal value of any person engaged in teamwork. Moreover, new teams are less concentrated solely on their internal development, but also actively interact with other teams and change their environment.

The establishment and maintenance of good teams become possible only if there are good leaders in the company. The governors with sweeping powers may not be good leaders if they fail to encourage and motivate their team. Good leaders should not only give instructions and demand results but also to inspire people to reach the best outcome. Company leaders and team leaders know how to balance the individual aspirations of team members to create synergy.

Reference List

Ancona, D, Bresman, H, Caldwell, & D 2009, ‘The x-factor: six steps to leading high-performing x-teams’, Organizational Dynamics, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 217-224.

Brisson-Banks, C 2010, ‘Managing change and transitions: a comparison of different models and their commonalities’, Library Management, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 241-252.

Vallas, S 2003, ‘Why teamwork fails: obstacles to workplace change in four manufacturing plants’, American Sociological Review, vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 223-250.

Wageman, R, Gardner, H, & Mortensen, M 2012, ‘Teams have changed: catching up to the future’, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 48-52.

Service Modules

Service Modules Used in the Study “Updating Service Operations”

Sulek and Hensley (475) seek to develop ways through which service operations can be improved in an organization. The said improvement relies entirely on customer-oriented systems. In so doing, Sulek and Hensley hope to provide information on how a given organization can gather data on existing service delivery systems. With the help of the data collected, the management can make the necessary changes. Fitzsimmons (6) illustrates the various service modules that can be used in such an instance. Reliability, ‘tangibility’, assurance, empathy, and responsiveness are the core modules that can be employed.

Sulek and Hensley (479) use two modules in their study. The two are tangibles and responsiveness. They are used to address the issue of service delivery in the organization. The application of tangibles is evident in the way Sulek and Hensley (479) refer to the service setting. The two argue that the attractiveness and cleanliness of an organization provide the customer with a general perception of the quality of services offered.

As aforementioned, Sulek and Hensley (479) make use of responsiveness as a service module. The use of this module is made evident in what they collectively term as the intangibles. Using this service module, a customer is capable of making an informed opinion on the quality of services offered. The customer’s opinion is determined by their ability to gauge the technical and interpersonal skills of the staff in an organization (Katzan 187).

Effectiveness of the Service Modules Used

Katzan (83) points out that an organization can gain an advantage over its competitors by understanding how best to improve service delivery. In the case of Sulek and Hensley (484), the modules used to improve service delivery give significant and positive results. The business type referred to in the study is a restaurant that required improvements in customer satisfaction. Cleanliness is used as a tangible module in the organization. It elicits positive remarks from clients.

The members of staff were advised to improve their interpersonal skills when interacting with clients. In this regard, responsiveness as a module gave positive results (Sulek and Hensley 484). The results are made evident in the way front-line members of staff were complimented on how they responded to requests from customers. Similarly, the waiters were very keen on the time required to deliver the order to clients. Quality in the waiting service was significantly improved in the manner through which attention was paid to the customer’s menu specifications. Thus, the modules adopted were effective in improving service delivery.

Usage of Other Modules

According to Fitzsimmons (6), various service modules can be applied in an organization to improve the quality of services delivered. In the case of the business cited by Sulek and Hensley (484), reliability is also applicable. Customers who visit an eatery want to be certain that they can rely on the service providers to meet their demands. Also, an organization seeking to improve its service delivery can apply empathy as a service module. Empathy allows the service providers to take the place of the client and judge whether the service provided is qualitative or not (Katzan 90).

Applicability of the Modules to a Different Business Type

In the opinion of Katzan (107), it is not possible to exhaust all customer satisfaction techniques. Consequently, the service modules applied in the organization highlighted by Sulek and Hensley can work in other business types. For example, the air transport industry serves many clients who seek satisfaction. Katzan (108) points out that all five modules apply to such a business. Quality service delivery is pivotal to customer satisfaction at all times. Thus, all the modules cited in this paper can be applied to any business organization.

Works Cited

Fitzsimmons, James. Service Management: Operations, Strategy, Information Technology, New York: McGraw Hill, 2010. Print.

Katzan, Harry. Service Science: Concepts Technology, Management, Indiana: iUniverse, 2008. Print.

Sulek, Joanne, and Rhonda Hensley. “Updating Service Operations.” Managing Service Quality 20.5 (2010): 475-489.