Theories of Business Management have evolved as technology and production relationships have become increasingly complex.
Traditionally, a functional or departmental approach has been seen in the business world that contrasts with an approach to relatively recently applied processes referred to by authors such as: Amozarrain (1999); Zaratiegui (1999); etc.
For centuries, important and decisive organizations in human history, such as universities, armies, and the Catholic Church, have successfully presented a functional structure. This justifies the resistance to change that has occurred in most institutions when implementing process management.
However, technological development, as well as the dynamic and competitive environment in which companies are framed today, requires more than ever the use of this powerful tool that allows processes to be aligned with the institution's strategy, mission and objectives., for the achievement of business effectiveness.
Thus, processes are defined as an ordered and logical sequence of repetitive activities carried out in the organization by a person, group or department, (even with the participation of several groups or departments), with the ability to transform some inputs (inputs) in programmed outputs or outputs (outputs) for a recipient (external or internal customers who request it) with added value. Processes generally repeatedly cross functional boundaries, force cooperation, and create a distinct company culture (more open, less hierarchical, more results-oriented than privilege-oriented). (Nogueira Rivera et al., 2004).
Development:
In this way, Process Management is defined as the way to administer an interrelated system of business processes to replace traditional role-based administration. It is considered a way to achieve customer satisfaction; It also allows optimizing the contribution of added value and being an integral part of quality management.
Countless are the methodologies and procedures found in the specialized literature to address the way to undertake this problem, and that recognize the "processes", and their link with activities, as an essential element towards and for competitiveness. In the same way, its close relationship with a set of tools, philosophies or more generally expressed as current trends widely disseminated in the contemporary business world is reflected, namely: the EFQM Model, the BSC, continuous improvement, ISO Standards, Benchmarking, the use of methodologies for the determination of HACCP, management by knowledge, management by competencies, integrated management systems, etc. All of them, in one way or another,They have referred to the need to develop the “process approach” when conceiving a successful company.
Fig. 1: Process Management as a support tool for the implementation of a set of current trends in business management. Source: self made.
In the following, several of these modern trends in Business Management will be briefly described, with emphasis on the process approach.
The Balanced Scorecard (CMI) constitutes one of the modern trends in Business Management that addresses the issue of processes and relates it to the skills of the staff of an organization. The CMI, translated from the “Balanced Scorecard” (BSC), is one of the Management Control tools that has had the greatest acceptance in the business community. Created by Robert Kaplan and David Norton in the early 90's, it was born from the need to change the traditional measurement systems of organizations, in search of another capable of evaluating the results in the organization of the future. Thus, it is proposed as a measurement system that helps the company to improve its value creation in the long term.
This is achieved through a set of financial and non-financial indicators interrelated with the company's strategic thinking. It is based on cause-effect relationships, which allows the achievement of objectives to be measured through the perspectives that the organization considers important.
Most of the authors who have worked on this topic, Zaratiegui (1999); Davila (1999); López Viñela (2003); Kaplan and Norton (1999) and Nogueira Rivera (2002) agree that there are four perspectives that characterize the Scorecard, these are: the financial perspective, that of internal processes, that of the client and the perspective of learning and growth, through which you can measure current progress and provide the future direction of the company. (Kaplan and Norton, 1999).
The WCC establishes that the first key factors are related to the human factor (training and incentives). Greater involvement of staff can promote continuous improvement of company processes.
At the same time, the improvement in the processes must revert to more satisfied customers who can be the inducers of better customer satisfaction and, therefore, of higher sales. Finally, higher sales must generate higher profits and returns, which would explain the greater capacity for growth and value generation of companies.
From this hierarchy, the importance of innovation and adaptation of products and of all internal processes to the changing needs of customers follows to achieve satisfied and loyal customers.
On the other hand, only the people of the company with their skills, knowledge and attitudes will be able to devise and implement processes and products that satisfy and trust customers so that they provide the income that will make possible the planned financial results. Therefore, objectives must also be set and the necessary indicators defined to know what is happening and act accordingly.
E CMI places great emphasis on managing the processes in the organization. From this position it is key that they are aligned with the objectives and that the individuals who work in an organization are competent enough to put these processes into operation.
Another trend of business management that addresses the processes is known as Continuous Improvement (Kaizen in its Japanese version). This is another tool from which processes are worked and undergo continuous improvement.
The Japanese experience in their teamwork methods and the participation of all their staff in business improvements popularized the advantages obtained in the continuous review and challenge of business processes.
The systematic or scientific method of process improvement model has been disseminated worldwide by Kaoru Ishikawa. This author is based on the journey of a series of steps or stages, from the detection of a problem or a possibility of improvement (the engine may be a series of detected defects, or a new technological or organizational possibility), a I study in search of its causes, of possible improvements or solutions, the choice of the solution or set of solutions that seem suitable, until reaching its implementation and the extent of the improvements achieved.
Stages proposed by Ishikawa for the implementation of Continuous Improvement:
| 1. Identification, definition of the real process. | · Detect what customers want and need · Describe the process with the necessary level of detail.
· Include appropriate measures |
| 2. Measurement and analysis of the process. | · Study the results of the measurements · Detect potential areas for improvement.
· Choose the most promising improvements. |
| 3. Identification of opportunities for improvement. | · Design and apply the changes for improvement · Measure the results to verify that the changes are positive. |
| 4. Stabilization of the process. | · Refine the improvements made until a stable level of results is achieved.
· Document improvements to normalize them. |
| 5. Plan for continuous review and improvement. | · Design follow-up measures within the
process. · Take measurements. · Analyze the results. · Take actions to improve results. |
As you can see, this is another point of view where processes are assumed as an essential part of Business Management to achieve effectiveness. Thus, processes must be continually evaluated and improved if success and goals are to be met in an organization.
As another example that illustrates the importance of processes in an organization are the ISO Standards (International Standard Organization), which is an international organization for the certification of quality in companies. The process approach has been adopted in the ISO 9000 and ISO 9001 Standards of 2000.
ISO 9000 certified companies guarantee that their products have international quality. These standards reflect that to adequately manage quality, a process approach must be used. They establish that processes are the cornerstone of quality management.
Also, the EFQM (European Business Excellence Model) Model is a non-prescriptive framework that recognizes that the excellence of an organization can be achieved in a sustained way through different approaches.
One of the essential points of this model of excellence is how the organization manages, develops and takes advantage of the knowledge and all the potential of the people who compose it, both individually, as well as in teams or the organization as a whole; and how you plan these activities in support of your policy and strategy and the effective operation of your processes.
The potential of each person in the organization emerges better because there are shared values and a culture of trust and assumption of responsibilities that foster everyone's involvement.
Coupled with this, it refers to how the organization designs, manages and improves its processes to support its policy and strategy and to fully satisfy its clients and other stakeholders. Organizations act most effectively when all their interrelated activities are systematically understood and managed, and decisions regarding current operations and planned improvements are tailored based on reliable information that includes the perceptions of all their stakeholders.
As we have seen, this model emphasizes and recognizes Process Management as one of the most widespread and relevant current ways to achieve organizational effectiveness, and relates it to the competencies of workers based on their processes..
Another trend related to processes is that of Knowledge Management. The changing dynamics that surround society and, more specifically, the business world in recent years have already been discussed above. This has caused that, to achieve sustainable competitive advantage, man has been placed at the center of the development of institutions.
To achieve this, a new paradigm has been proposed that seeks economic improvements, customer loyalty and better positioning in the market. This paradigm is what is known as Knowledge Management or Knowledge Management (KM). (Lorenzo-Heva, 1999; García-Tapial, 2002; Zorrilla, 1997).
There are many ways to define Knowledge Management. The reason why these definitions are so varied lies in the very concept of knowledge and its various definitions. In any case, they agree that it is a continuous process of acquisition, distribution and analysis of the information that moves in the organization's environment to make its workers more intelligent (more creative and innovative) and in this way be more precise. in decision-making, respond faster to market needs, obtain sustainable development and be more competitive in this highly turbulent and uncertain environment. (Sedeño Prado, 2002; García Azcanio, 2003).
Knowledge management is, in short, the management of intangible assets that generate value for the organization. Most of these intangibles have to do with processes related in one way or another to the acquisition, structuring and transmission of knowledge. Therefore, Knowledge Management has organizational learning as its main tool.
Knowledge Management is a dynamic or flow concept. It can be added that knowledge management is a set of processes and systems that allow the intellectual capital of an organization to increase significantly, by managing its problem solving capacities efficiently, with the ultimate goal of generating sustainable competitive advantages over time.
At this point, there is no doubt the relationship that knowledge management has with process management. As man is the center of an organization, it is proposed that the society of the future is the knowledge society (Drucker, 1992) and to have a prepared internal client, who is aware of the institution's strategy, mission and objectives, who knows the importance of the activities they carry out and how they contribute to an improved process aligned with the strategy, mission and objectives.
Finally, this work will refer to Competency Management, another of the trends in business management. Every day, when conceiving an efficient and effective organization, the importance of the individuals that make up this organization becomes more evident. (García Azcanio et al., 2005). Thus, when it comes to human capital, it refers to the people who work in the company and who are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the goals and objectives of that organization.
In other times it was about managing technology and the worker had to adapt to it or be left out. Today, technological advances are so many and with globalization they are so within the reach of any company in the developed world, that managers have realized that the difference lies in the workers of the institution, in their abilities and motivations.
On the strategic role of the human factor, Becker (2002) states: “Human capital is understood as the investment in giving knowledge, training and information to people; This investment enables people to give a higher return and productivity to the modern economy. It is, therefore, an economy based on the human factor. The economic results depend on how people 's talent is changed and taken advantage of. "
This topic is very important because its implementation entails having a staff prepared and in keeping with the activities that they will carry out in a given company.
Human talent management is a very sensitive area of mindset that prevails in organizations. It is contingent and situational, since it depends on aspects such as the culture of each organization, the organizational structure adopted, the characteristics of the environmental context, the organization's business, the technology used, the internal processes and an infinity of other important variables.
People are providers of knowledge, skills, abilities and, above all, the most important contribution to organizations: intelligence, which enables rational decisions to be made and prints meaning and direction towards general objectives. Consequently, people constitute the intellectual capital of the organization. (Chiavenatto, 2004).
Today the detection of the necessary competences and their management to achieve the proposed objectives, and in an efficient way, is a current trend and highly widespread in organizations. Likewise, continuous training and development are a necessity and are a responsibility of the company.
Traditionally, Competency Management focused on the job has been worked on, since that concept of best candidate for a position in a company is adapted to the specificities of each particular job. Currently, an approach based on the identification of the competencies that contribute to the effectiveness of the workers involved in each of the key processes is privileged, shifting the focus of attention from the jobs to the key processes in a company.. (Sarmentero Bon et al., 2004).
Thus, the term work competencies is defined as a group of abilities, aptitudes, attitudes, skills, etc., both cognitive and emotional, possessed by an individual, which are based on biopsychological and cultural factors that determine them, which can be empowered and that allow to obtain a successful performance in a certain activity or activities that integrate one or several processes, based on its characteristics and demands, to enable the effectiveness of said processes and their strategic alignment with the mission and business objectives. Within emotional abilities, of course, all those personological characteristics of the individual in question are included. (García Azcanio, 2003)
On the other hand, according to Diego and Marimón (1998), Competency Management is “the process that optimizes, both individually and organizationally, the adequacy of personal characteristics (knowledge, skills, experience, aptitudes, attitudes, values, etc.)) to the effectiveness of his professional performance (Performance) ”.
A partir de la definición brindada de competencias se desprende la importancia de la aplicación de un modelo de Gestión por Competencias que tribute a los procesos definidos en una organización, puesto que éstos exigen para su realización de determinadas habilidades, aptitudes, actitudes, destrezas, etcétera, tanto cognitivas como emocionales, que se pueden potenciar en los individuos, para posibilitar que su aporte al éxito empresarial sea mayor mediante el desarrollo de la organización, de sus miembros y equipos de trabajos, en función de los procesos empresariales definidos y su efectividad a la hora de alinearlos con la estrategia, misión y objetivos. Así se logra que el output del proceso contribuya a la satisfacción del cliente externo.
In other words, by managing skills that respond to the different processes in a company, it is possible to achieve a better use of resources, preparation and training of personnel, greater efficiency in management when making decisions; as well as the gradual improvement of the processes that allow its operation, efficiency and a better adaptation of the company to its environment.
It is good to clarify at this point that there is a close relationship between competency management and human resource management and with the corporate culture, which also defines the way in which the processes and activities that comprise them will be improved. The models for competency management should allow the use of the information collected to improve the systems for the selection, development, rotation and promotion of personnel, as well as enable the establishment of a remuneration system based on their performance in the activities contained in certain processes, all of them components of human resource management. Competency management models, or generic competency profiles, should not be promoted from one company to another, regardless of the differences that may exist in terms of culture.
The establishment of a Competency Management model, on the other hand, represents a change in the organizational culture, since it modifies the way in which the company values knowledge and attaches importance to learning from its own experience and focusing on acquiring, storing and use knowledge to solve problems, anticipate the market, protect its intellectual assets, improve its processes and increase the intelligence and adaptability of the company with priority in achieving customer satisfaction and in the search for the necessary alignment with the strategy of the organization.
In summary, the relationship that exists between some of the modern trends of Business Management with process management has been exposed up to now, where the importance of this tool for achieving business success and its usefulness to through different methodologies that locate "the processes" as an indispensable part of their theoretical body. The remaining trends stated will be the fruit of other work.
Bibliography
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Referred to in Zaratiegui (1999)
The term coined in the bibliography is Knowledge Management, however, in this work, the authors will use the term Knowledge Management because it is considered more precise because knowledge is not managed. Knowledge is acquired, it is built. The transmission of knowledge, its dissemination, its incorporation into the business culture of a given organization are managed.
For a review of the variety of knowledge concepts, see: Berceló, María et al. (2001): “Towards a knowledge economy”; ESIC-Editorial-Pricewaterhouse Coper; Madrid.
It should be borne in mind that in order to correctly implement knowledge management, communication in the company must flow bidirectionally, that is, both from above – below and from below – above.
Human capital: skills, talents and knowledge of employees; according to Kaplan & Norton (2004): "Strategic Maps"; Management 2000 Editions; Spain.
Nobel Prize in Economics.
On this subject see Pfeffer, Jeffrey (1998): "The human equation"; Ediciones Gestión 2000 SA; Barcelona, Spain.
