I hope I am not stating the obvious in suggesting the following: For me
its not case of either process or outcome - the two have to be addressed
together. We need to understand the purpose of the process, the
customer(s) / stakeholder(s) which it serves and the outputs / outcomes we
need to deliver to each of those customer(s) / stakeholder(s). clearly the
employees involved in the process are a critical stakeholder group. If a
process is not meeting the needs of its end customer it - and the
organisation in which the process exists - is unlikely to stand the test
of time no matter how well it might meet internal needs.
Similarly a process that generates stress and dissatisfaction for the
employee is unlikely to yield true satisfaction. The most powerful and
effective process designs I see are ones which bring diverse stakeholder
groups together to understand the requirements of each group and then use
those requirements as the drivers for the process design.
Such 'inclusive' thinking can be applied at the level of processes,
organisations and complete value systems. As many of you may know, the UK
RSA ran an Inquiry into the role and purpose of Tommorow's Company. The
study came out strongly in favour of the need for organisations to take an
inclusive approach and consider the needs of diverse stakeholder groups
namely - customers, employees, suppliers, shareholders, management and the
community.
For those of us that want to ensure the sustaiability of organisations and
civilized growth, the stakeholding approach is critical.
Rohit Talwar
Centre for Business Transformation - London
--Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>