• Σχόλιο του χρήστη 'Χρίστος Παπαδουλής' | 11 Ιανουαρίου 2010, 20:58

    Dear Sirs, Attempting to improve an organization’s performance one need to take a short and along term perspective. Many have suggested short term solutions to help improve the workflow and the contact with the public in the present environment. In parallel, a cross functional team of middle to senior employees and managers, needs to be carefully selected, with a help of a facilitator will identify and define the “New” environment. This process, to be successful, needs to be short, 3-6 months, and the group needs to be focused in their work. The emphasis of the discussion must gear around adding value. A reference to Michael Porter’s Value Chain is always useful but not definitive. At the same time senior and middle management needs to become aware of the effort and the reasons and benefits. Solicit their input and their support. They need to be the people, or as I call them, the missionaries who will sell the idea to the employees. The “New” environment can be based either on the philosophy of gradual improvement or the radical re-thinking and redesign of the business processes. I, as many others, am a proponent of the latter approach. It is more challenging to introduce, but the benefits out weight the challenges. In either case, I suggest that the notion of a “Customer” be introduced. This, although a challenging notion, is fundamental in achieving the paradigm shift that I perceive is needed. The “Customer” notion needs to become the centerpiece of the educational program and the center of the Information Technology (IT). If the team feels that “Customer” is inappropriate as a notion for IT, I suggest the notion of “Family”. I simply suggest that there must be a notion of grouping taxpayers and their various resources, (money, properties, bank accounts, etc.). The output from the “New” team discussions must include the following Architectures: 1. “New” Business Processes, 2. Data (things that are important to the organization), 3. Skills by Business Process, 4. Information Architecture, 5. Project Plan(s) In addition the team needs to identify the organizational implications and appropriate recommendations. For this effort to be successful management needs to “walk the talk” and the “communicate”, “sell” constantly and relentlessly, and continuously motivate the employees. I will leave you with two says that have become a way of life and thinking for me. “Noting is impossible. The impossible it just takes a little longer” Unknown "I don't give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity but I'd die for the simplicity on the other side of complexity." Attributed to Chief Justice Brandies PS. The bottom line is, Sell, Sell, Sell and Simplify, Simplify, Simplify and time is of the essence. Get things done fast and concentrate on short deliverables. Sincerely, Christos Papadoulis 22940-34-245