Improving process management performance using systemic methods and tools

In this paper we assert that corporations and institutions will be unable to implement continuous improvement successfully unless three fundamental conditions are met: widespread agreement among the work force about the current situation being not good enough, and therefore in need of improving or re-engineering; genuine ownership, by individuals and groups, of their part of the system that contributes to the whole system; and a critical mass of commitment, based on shared understanding and individual honesty, from top to bottom in the organisation, towards improving the situation. Satisfying these prerequisites is nontrivial. This paper presents two methods for achieving process awareness and understanding, and, hopefully, process ownership. These methods are derived from a process capture methodology that has been developed by the Systems Engineering Group (SEG) at De Montfort University. The methods are claimed to be systemic and are supported by computer-based tools. SEG´s close collaboration with industrial companies has provided a means of developing and testing the methods. This paper reports on experimental results which give supporting evidence of how process management performance in particular, and process engineering in general, is distinctly improved as a result of using these methods