Work Process Analysis

Abstract

Perhaps no other principle has influenced management practice more than the emphasis now being placed on work processes. Managers are now keenly aware that work processes in effect define how all organizations actually function. As presented in Chap. 1, a work process is defined as the series of human actions and technology-based events that occur over time, often taking place across functional boundaries and involving diverse groups of people, which convert inputs into outputs. Authors in the quality management literature first began discussing the importance of work processes in the late 1970s and early 1980s. For instance, the highly popular book The Goal, by Goldratt and Cox (2004), introduced the basic principles of work processes in the form of an engaging parable. Work processes became part of the human resource development (HRD) literature primarily through the groundbreaking book by Gary Rummler and Alan Brache, Improving Performance: Managing the White Spaces on the Organizational Chart, first published in 1990 and then followed by revised editions in 1995 and 2012. In brief, the book proposed that organizations should be viewed as complex systems, and that all organizations have three system levels: the organization, the process, and the job performer. Each of these levels can be understood from their respective goals, design, and management. The resulting combination of variables forms a nine-celled arrangement that is now used by HRD professionals and managers alike for planning organizational systems and diagnosing performance issues.