Let us review basic elements of technologies of continual improvements of business processes. Here are the main ones:
- Process approach
- Gradualness of changes
- Continuity of changes
- Comprising of the whole organization
- Corporate form of working
Process approach
Business processes are the main objects for continual improvement, reengineering and business process optimization. That is why we talk about a company as a complex of business processes which need to be managed appropriately in order to enlarge productivity of business.
Gradualness of changes
Unlike reengineering, where a fundamental and radical redesign of business processes is implemented and significant results can be achieved (up to 50%), technologies of continual improvements suggest the approach that “constant dropping wears away a stone”. That is why technologies of continual improvements offer small changes and small improvements of indexes (15-20%).
Continuity of changes
Unlike reengineering, which is a single and impermanent process, continual improvements never end. They are continuous and last through the whole life of a company. In order to support continual improvements, a constant structural division should be formed. This should be a service for continual improvements implementation which can find its expression in such departments as organizational development departments, technology departments, business process optimization and monitoring departments, quality services, etc.
Covering of the whole organization
Continual improvement should cover the whole organization up to every employee. The concept of continual improvements should be understood and accepted by each employee of a company. According to this concept, each employee up to the lower levels of personnel should be constantly thinking about the ways of improving of his performance even if he implements it really well.
Corporate form of working
Lack of defects in work
The concept of the lack of defects in work is included in technologies of continual improvements.
According to it, the work should be focused not on eliminating of defects, but on preventing of them.
There are two styles of work implementation. The first one is based on working and further improvement of mistakes made during the work implementation. This style of working can be called “working in the mode of solving problems”.
Technologies of continual improvements suggest the concept of the lack of defects in work. According to this concept, the style of any work should include a hard working, improvements and preventions. This concept is called “working in the mode of preventing”.
The concept of the lack of defects in work is often used in business process optimization and it is called “Cause and effect relationships method”. Business process optimization techniques are based on this approach.