top-level business processes which describe their businesses. This work is often done by senior managers.
While organizations may differ in the exact nature of their processes and the number of business processes
which are described at this top level, they all have in common a set of processes which might be described as
strategic - i.e. setting directions; those which are operational - i.e. they may typically involve the procurement,
manufacture, delivery and service for a manufacturing company; and finally, processes which support the other
processes - for instance, human resource management, management accounting and management of
information systems. An example of this top-level view of the organization is the Royal Mail which has taken the
business process concept as being central, as in Figure 2.
It may take organizations some time to reach agreement on their top-level business processes. Once
completed, a start has been made on the road to managing by business process. But only a start. There is a
long journey ahead. The top-level architecture tells little about what to do next. One common next step is to
assign responsibility for each major process to members of the existing senior management team. But how to
drive management by process throughout the organization? My assessment of the current state in organizations
which take business processes as being the driver for improvement in performance is that there is some change
in the structure of the organization. People cease to work as individuals and are members of teams. The
concept of teams pervades, reward moves from individual to team. Assessment is team based and managers
become those who facilitate and who are assessed by their teams. In this fluid environment, can one be
prescriptive? Not absolutely, perhaps. However, building on what I have observed I offer ten principles for
managing by business processes which might raise the debate in the majority of organizations which have
made no change from their functional fortresses.
Ten principles of managing business processes
The ten principles of managing by process are:
(1) Designate a process champion.
(2) Know the process.
(3) Understand the linkages.
(4) Work on the trade-offs.
(5) Teach others about the process.
(6) Train within the process.
(7) Measure the process.
(8) Manage careers.
(9) Build specialist expertise.
(10) Improve the process.