The set of people who meet to achieve the same objectives is called an organization, since primitive times the members of organizations have been ordered under rigid structures with hierarchical levels, where their members distributed tasks.
The traditional organization is based on the theories of Adam Smith since the 18th century with his theory of the Division of labor, and of the Taylorist School with its principles of scientific administration at the beginning of the current century, which have long established the guidelines to organize and manage people and therefore companies.
These foundations lie in the division or fragmentation of tasks so that people could learn them quickly and perform them more easily and safely.
Although the division of labor arose to organize workers who worked in factories, the theory spread to all different types of business.
At the time of the industrial revolution, many of the tasks performed by people were replaced by machines and the organization of factories began that generated new ways of mass-producing goods, increasing production levels, which forced to devise new ways of organization and create within them the appropriate structure to manage it.
Under these guidelines, each of the departments and / or jobs is responsible for partially carrying out the objectives of the organization, however in those companies in which their organizational structure is quite broad and complex, responsibility is diluted because many Sometimes it is difficult to determine the boundaries of responsibility between those involved.
The relationship and dependency that exists between the departments and / or jobs that carry out the activities that make up the processes creates specialization in people because as long as there are specific functions, staff will be hired based on the profile to perform those functions and they will be trained only in those aspects that are related to the functions it will perform. This undoubtedly encourages work specialization and the normal way of organizing.
Traditional organizations are based on the distribution and specialization of the functions they perform internally, investing large amounts of resources in training programs and controls for each one of them, in order to make them more effective, but inevitably the specialization of people in its functions create dependency on them for the company and above all for the client.
The disadvantage is that the organization becomes integrated by groups of people who work in a mechanized way who, due to the limitations of their tasks, do not dedicate themselves to think, innovate and improve the activities they carry out daily, or to carry out any other activity that does not is directly related to those that have been assigned, in most cases they do not even know how to carry out the activities that precede or follow within the process to which they are part, and the most critical thing is that it is not known why they carry out the functions, nor what is the objective of each one of them.
It cannot be ruled out that the distribution of activities and responsibilities within many jobs (people), complicates what can be simple and that in quality and response time can become much more efficient if fewer people will do it, obviously trained to carry out the complete process.
The old paradigm of performing many simple tasks to accomplish a complex process is now replaced by few complex tasks to accomplish a simple process.
The job specialization must be complete in relation to the activities of the process in general, and not in specific activities that could hinder it at a certain moment, even in those insignificant activities that comprise it.
The postulate that the causes of errors are intrinsic to the design and distribution of the tasks that are executed to meet the objectives of the processes, can be the best basis to initiate the questions of any organization.
That is why it highlights the importance of the word PROCESS, as the fundamental element of Reengineering, and for the organization of companies.
A process is defined as the series of activities that, established in detail according to the chronological sequence in which they must be carried out, help to meet objectives.
According to their importance and characteristics, the processes can be divided into primary, secondary and contingent.
Primary processes
They are made up of the general activities that necessarily have to be carried out to meet an objective.
Example: Process for semester enrollment at the University.
Secondary processes or sub-processes.
They are sub-divisions of the primary processes. They have specific and complementary objectives, which help to fulfill the primary process to which they belong.
Example: Process for assigning courses per semester at the University.
All secondary processes become primary processes when the process chain starts in them.
Contingent processes.
Activities that must be carried out as a consequence of an error, failure or problem that may arise within a primary or secondary process.
Example: Process for assigning courses per semester at the University, when there is no updated record of approved courses.
When developing and describing the processes, the following questions should be answered:
- What activities make it up? How should they be carried out? Who should carry out it (s)?
It is also important to consider the following aspects within the description of processes:
Beginning and end: The process must clearly indicate with which activity it begins and with which activity it ends. Very long processes should not be written and it is suggested to subdivide them into secondary processes.
Sequence: It is important that the description of the process demonstrates the logical succession of the activities that comprise it, as well as their relationship with other processes.
Clear and simple writing: The language to be used in the writing of the process must be appropriate to the users, so as not to encourage doubts, confusion or misinterpretations.
The utilities and benefits of the description of the processes are very varied, but among them, the orientation and training of the employees stand out as they serve as a guide to properly carry out the activities that comprise them, clarify doubts and minimize risks.
They also help in the control and inspection function since they can be used as a support tool to determine if the necessary activities are being carried out to carry out the processes and define responsibilities.
The importance of processes for companies lies in the fact that all the products and services offered to customers are the result of the processes that are used internally. Therefore, the functions and activities that are carried out on a daily basis are part of at least one of them.
The above indicates that regardless of the position they occupy and the functions assigned to them, without exception all personnel are part of a Great Chain of Processes, they cannot work separately, since the efficiency and coordination of each one will depend the quality of the processes.
The activities that people carry out depend on the activities of their colleagues and vice versa, so that only coordinated will excellence in customer service be achieved and with it the growth, development and strengthening of the company.
The process evaluation function is the responsibility of all those who participate in them and the goal should be to develop agile, innovative, efficient and competitive processes that facilitate activities and, above all, that seek customer satisfaction.
Within companies there are an unquantifiable number of processes and sub-processes, which are used to meet the objectives of the organization and thereby offer products and / or services to customers, so it can be said that every company is made up of process chains and that separate processes cannot exist.
Many of these processes appear to be independent, but they are not, so modifying one in isolation is unlikely to produce the required results and may have negative effects on the others.
The concept of the process chain indicates that all the processes and sub-processes that take place within organizations are closely related.
Undoubtedly, evaluating and changing all the processes that the organization uses internally to offer products and / or services to its customers, would be a never-ending task.
The key to achieving the desired results in the short term is to focus the efforts of the Reengineering application towards the identification of the processes that add value to the business and the abandonment of outdated rules or internal demands.
Identification and change of the main value processes for the business
Within companies there is an unquantifiable number of processes and all of them have a reason to be, however not all of them add value to the business.
It is necessary to pay attention to the key processes within the organization, to change them drastically, in order to improve the products and / or services offered to customers. It is a radical change that means starting from scratch and forgetting the methodology that has been used over time.
An important result of process analysis is understanding the need for redesign and the scope of improvements. All processes can have great room for improvement, but if it is not going to yield significant gains to the company as a whole, it is better to use the effort in some other process than if it offers this performance.
Companies need to get a sense of priority for action, especially when large-scale modifications are required. The entire company cannot be modified at once and those areas with the greatest impact must be undertaken first, taking into consideration the associated risk.
Identifying the processes that generate value for the business seems to be a difficult task, however it is not, undoubtedly the processes that really add value to the business are those on whose efficiency total customer satisfaction depends and in which they are directly involved.
These processes are those on which the business depends directly. The execution of its component activities can be considered essential, they are usually the processes in which more resources have been invested.
All the activities that make up the processes must be carefully evaluated under the concept of added value, those that promote customer satisfaction or promote benefits for the organization must be evaluated in order to improve them, on the contrary those that within the analysis it is determined that they do not generate value for the customer or for the company, they should be discarded.
Organizations must clearly focus all their efforts and resources on those activities that help to efficiently carry out their processes, since the added value of the products and / or services offered to customers is proportional to what they are willing to pay to acquire them..
Definitely within the classification, some activities that do not generate added value can be justified for reasons internal to the organization.
The identified processes do not necessarily have to be wrong, they may be working well but could be better if they are given attention and time is invested in their evaluation and diagnosis.
When designing any process, the organization must ensure that the activities that add value are carried out efficiently, and that the process contains a minimum of activities that do not add value.
Identification and abandonment of outdated rules.
Within organizations, many activities are executed simply to satisfy internal demands, in which there is an investment of time and resources, but when eliminating or replacing them with others, they do not alter the final results of the production processes of products or services.
These activities only complicate the execution of the main processes for the business and become outdated rules based on tradition and custom of those in charge of executing them to the point of turning them into some of the internal paradigms of any organization.
Normally this type of activities arise at the higher levels of the company, without the entrepreneurs and / or administrators realizing that their application unnecessarily hinders the final results of the processes and unconsciously they come to justify them and consider them as essential for the proper functioning of the organization.
The most critical outdated rules are those that directly affect external customers, however the highest percentage of them hinder the efficient participation of internal customers within the organization.
Reengineering seeks to reduce or eliminate from the processes all those aspects and / or resources that may be unnecessary and whose performance or use makes them more complex, among them the following stand out:
Steps or activities:
The elimination of steps or activities within the processes is the relevant element in the work of change, since it will not be possible to appreciate if the new processes to be used continue to be long, complicated and cumbersome for the client.
The evaluation of the effective time it takes to acquire a product or service is a core aspect of the change process, since it is important that the client wait only the time just and strictly necessary.
Controls:
The proper use of controls is an aspect that deserves attention, in order not to affect or increase the steps within the processes.
It is different to put controls to processes, to develop processes for controls, which is what is generally done.
The cost of the controls that are added to the processes is often higher than the benefit obtained with them.
The controls must be parallel actions that help to minimize risks within the processes used to carry out the activities; they should not be part of core processes.
As they are parallel actions, you have the freedom to change them when deemed necessary, based on the risks that are in fashion at that time, without the need to change the core processes of the organization, so redesigning the controls is important for achieve efficiency in the processes in general and in each of the activities carried out within the organization.
Forms and Stationery:
The use of forms is useful to keep a record of the activities carried out within the processes, they facilitate the collection of information on the data related to the customers who demand the products and / or services, as well as all those data relevant that are part of the systems. Therefore, it is necessary to properly manage these resources, with the aim of not having a diversity of forms and not making their use complicated.
Physical spaces:
The adaptation of physical spaces and furniture to the sequence of workflows is a determining factor in reducing unnecessary times and steps, as well as in achieving customer and employee satisfaction.
