Muhammad Adeel Rana

18-28021

MBA 2

WHAT IS A PROCESS?

A process may be defined as:

“A particular course of action intended to achieve a result.”

Or more specifically as:

“A set of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome.”

In both of these definitions the key thing is what is important is the end result. A process exists to
achieve a purpose. It is also useful to think of roles and responsibilities in this way. A person’s
job is not to carry out a process it is to achieve a result. Emphasizing this can make it easier for
people to think about how they might achieve that result in different ways.

Michael Hammer, often called the father of business process re-engineering, defined a process
as:

“A related group of tasks that together create a result of value to a customer.”

This definition best fits the client-centered approach.

Processes can be viewed in a variety of ways – one of the simplest is to see the components of
each process as input, transformation and output.

Inputs may be information, materials or activities. The fourth, and most important, element of the
process is the client. The purpose of the process and its end result is to meet the needs of a client.
In education we can only really create effective and value-adding processes if we recognize that
the client is usually the student.

When reviewing our processes we need to think about why we are doing them and what output
the client requires. In the case of education, the learner is the client because they are the recipient
of a final product with the choice of where to seek it.

Keep the strategic vision and output in mind when thinking about your processes. There are
many tools you can use to help in your review, and we will explore some of them in this guide,
but before you get into the detail remember to focus your efforts on the why (the strategy) and
the output (the transformed input). It is easy to spend a lot of time analyzing the detail and a lot
of that time may well be wasted.

Above all else keep thinking about why you are doing the process at all and the output you need
from it.

This clear focus will be necessary once you start to examine the realities of processes in your
organization. It will help you cut through the organizational smokestacks that currently exist to
see the process overall.