Process approach to management: the essence and basic principles

The process approach in management determines the consideration of the company's commercial activities as a set of business processes that are related to each other by the mission of the company and the purpose of its activities.

In modern conditions, more and more companies come to the conclusion that it is possible to manage the business as efficiently as possible, not as an aggregate of separate functions, but as a set of business processes that constitute the essence of the activity. This approach has been applied in management relatively recently due to increasing competition and increasing dynamics of the external environment. It aims to increase business flexibility, reduce response time to market changes, improve performance and achieve goals more fully.

Nevertheless, the process approach to management is not the only possible option, since there are other approaches - situational or systemic, for example. The system considers the firm-organization as a community of interconnected elements that are oriented towards the achievement of goals under regularly changing conditions. The situational approach also asserts that the use of certain methods and actions is always determined based on the situation.

Process approach to management: features of implementation in the enterprise

The process of implementation of this approach in the firm occurs according to the following stages:

• A network of key business processes is identified (in the form in which they are at the beginning of the approach);

• Processes are ranked by the level of significance, a preliminary model is created;

• There is an analysis of all processes and the identification of "narrow", i.e., problematic areas, which should be worked out most carefully;

• Based on the findings, models are constructed showing the ideal course of the process.

It is possible to introduce this innovation both in the whole enterprise and in a certain section of it.

Process approach: basic principles

Perceptions of business as a system:

• The enterprise in any form is considered as a system, including its development;

• The solution of local problems does not change the system, only the entire population can be changed.

Perception of activity as a process:

• Any activity can be improved - this is the goal pursued by process management;

• In any activity there is a division according to the availability of material resources, personnel, time and so on.

Development of standards and introduction of the principle of transparency of responsibility:

• Any activity is aimed at obtaining a result by converting input products into output;

• In each process, a provider of input and output products must be identified - this is necessary to determine responsibility. Also, the input and output products have their own consumer, who is interested in its maximum quality.

Standardization and transparency of liability:

• Responsibility for the creation of the system rests with the top management of the firm;

• Each process has its own owner, who is responsible for the quality of its implementation;

• All processes must be standardized and transparent so that the problem can be quickly identified.

Process approach to management includes the description of the business as a set of processes, as well as a system for monitoring, improving and managing these processes. We can say that for the application of the process approach it is necessary to describe, optimize and automate the processes. The most qualitative it can be done with the help of special systems. Particularly the process approach to management assists in those departments where a high level of standardization is initially required and where all processes are as much as possible written out - this is accounting, economic, planning department and so on.