Critical Analysis of Business Process Change Plan
CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS PROCESS CHANGE PLAN
Individual Project – Unit 6
GB560 Designing, Improving and Implementing Processes
Session # 02N
Maryjo Boynton
Kaplan University
June 5, 2012
Change is a significant facet of any situation. Change is applicable to your personal life and your business life. In the competitive sphere of life and business, those persons who do not adapt to change will not survive the long term.
“Finally let us consider the process definition of Johansson et al. (1993).[5] They define a process as ”a set of linked activities that take an input and transform it to create an output. Ideally, the transformation that occurs in the process should add value to the input and create an output that is more useful and effective to the recipient either upstream or downstream.”
This definition also emphasizes the constitution of links between activities and the transformation that takes place within the process. Johansson et al. also include the upstream part of the value chain as a possible recipient of the process output. Summarizing the four definitions above, we can compile the following list of characteristics for a business process. 1. Definability : It must have clearly defined boundaries, input and output. 2. Order : It must consist of activities that are ordered according to their position in time and space. 3. Customer : There must be a recipient of the process ' outcome, a customer. 4. Value-adding : The transformation taking place within the process must add value to the recipient, either upstream or downstream. 5. Embeddedness : A process can not exist in itself, it must be embedded in an organizational structure. 6. Cross-functionality : A process regularly can, but not necessarily must, span several functions.
Frequently, a process owner, i.e. a person being responsible for the performance and continuous improvement of the process, is also considered as a
Individual Project – Unit 6
GB560 Designing, Improving and Implementing Processes
Session # 02N
Maryjo Boynton
Kaplan University
June 5, 2012
Change is a significant facet of any situation. Change is applicable to your personal life and your business life. In the competitive sphere of life and business, those persons who do not adapt to change will not survive the long term.
“Finally let us consider the process definition of Johansson et al. (1993).[5] They define a process as ”a set of linked activities that take an input and transform it to create an output. Ideally, the transformation that occurs in the process should add value to the input and create an output that is more useful and effective to the recipient either upstream or downstream.”
This definition also emphasizes the constitution of links between activities and the transformation that takes place within the process. Johansson et al. also include the upstream part of the value chain as a possible recipient of the process output. Summarizing the four definitions above, we can compile the following list of characteristics for a business process. 1. Definability : It must have clearly defined boundaries, input and output. 2. Order : It must consist of activities that are ordered according to their position in time and space. 3. Customer : There must be a recipient of the process ' outcome, a customer. 4. Value-adding : The transformation taking place within the process must add value to the recipient, either upstream or downstream. 5. Embeddedness : A process can not exist in itself, it must be embedded in an organizational structure. 6. Cross-functionality : A process regularly can, but not necessarily must, span several functions.
Frequently, a process owner, i.e. a person being responsible for the performance and continuous improvement of the process, is also considered as a
References: Henry J. Johansson et al. (1993). Business Process Reengineering: BreakPoint Strategies for Market Dominance. John Wiley & Sons Business process. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process