Managers, Who Needs Them?

I delivered my process presentation last week at San Francisco State University’s inaugural Business Process Management (BPM) course. My IT governance presentation has been a fixture in their Master’s program for five years now, but it was the first time I spoke on the topic of process and process management. 

I wasn’t sure how my presentation would fit in the new class. The professor shared the syllabus with me and the two textbooks he is using are Integrated Business Processes with ERP Systems and Process Improvement Essentials: CMMI, Six SIGMA, and ISO 9001. They are good books for introducing graduate students to BPM, but I feared their specificity was in stark contrast to my general process discussion. The goal of my process presentation is to help organizations understand why their process efforts continually fail and how process, when it is done right, can produce incredible results by transforming the way work is done in an enterprise. 

I shared my uncertainty about the applicability of the general nature of my presentation with the class and by the end of the evening I found my pessimism was for naught. The students asked numerous questions and they responded very favorably to the potential advantages a process-centric organization has over a function-centric organization (the pervasive construct in enterprises today). The professor felt my process discussion provided the missing link” between the two textbooks and he wants to make it a fixture in his BPM course.  I was happy to hear I would be delivering my process presentation to future master students but that actually wasn’t the highpoint of my evening.  What delighted me most was the very animated and positive response I received to one particular aspect of my presentation- the view that process makes managers unnecessary.

You read that correctly. If an enterprise has processes that are appropriately designed, thoughtfully and thoroughly implemented, and passionately and relentlessly managed, then there is no need for managers. 

I was first exposed to this idea when I attended the process master curriculum at Hammer and Company http://www.hammerandco.com/. The late Dr. Michael Hammer led the courses and he floored me when he made the statement that “managers deliver no value to customers.” His made this assertion while discussing his views on “value-adding work” (VA) and “non-value-adding work” (NVA). Value-adding work is work that customers care about because it delivers tangible value to the customer i.e. a technician making a repair. Non-value-adding work is work the customer couldn’t care less about i.e. the assignment and scheduling of the technician. The NVA is necessary because the repairman can’t make the repair if he is not assigned or scheduled, but the assigning and scheduling delivers no value to the customer. 

The differentiation and identification of VA and NVA is essential to good process because the best processes keep NVA to a bare minimum. There will always be administrative and management overhead in every process, but minimizing this NVA minimizes process cycle time and cost. Far too many of our processes suffer under the weight of preventable NVA that makes them slower, less flexible, less agile, ineffective, inefficient, and bureaucratic. Good process not only minimizes NVA, it automates it as much as possible. Most repair organizations today have automated the assignment and scheduling of their technicians. 

A function-centric organization has loads of NVA because it is plagued by process fragmentation and organizational boundaries. This construct requires significant amounts of NVA to be performed by managers and administrators to get work done. A function-centric organization requires assigning and scheduling, checking and controlling, communication and liaison, tracking and overseeing, intervening and expediting, reconciling and negotiating, and interfacing and integrating.  In a function centric organization managers are essential to address this NVA and it keeps them very busy. Notice how I never said they do work – the work that delivers value to customers.

Now consider a process centric organization. The process design defines the work that needs to be done and describes who does it, how it is done, where it is done, and when it is done. Customers trigger the process, process team members do the work, and process monitoring, measurement, and assurance ensures outcomes are achieved. What do functional managers do in this process scenario? Nothing! A process-centric construct has no need for functional managers. Empowered by a sound process design, process teams obviate most of the NVA because they are knowledgeable about the work, the business, and customers. Almost all supervision becomes unnecessary when workers are enabled by this knowledge, motivated around outcomes, and given the accountability to make decisions. The process and front-line personnel address assigning, deciding, prioritizing, problem-solving, and approving. 

Now I am sure you are already thinking about all of the other “stuff” that needs to be done, and you likely noted I already mentioned one of those things above - process monitoring, measurement, and assurance ensuring outcomes are achieved. You’re right, but those things are not done by functional managers, they are done by Process Owners and Resource Coaches. 

I’m not splitting hairs here. Functional managers are monumentally different than Process Owners and Resources Coaches. Check out these high-level descriptions of these essential process roles:

Process Owner

Owns and provides the process design

• Develops, documents, implements, and improves process design
• Ensures process design is understood and adopted (compliance)
• Determines appropriate levels of standardization
• Manages interfaces and assists with exceptions and surprises

Serves as champion and advocate for the process

• Secures required resources (e.g., personnel and funding)
• Represents process within the organization and ensures alignment to enterprise goals

Monitors process performance and the environment, initiating action as appropriate

• Understands customer needs; sets process performance requirements
• Accountable for process performance (effectiveness and efficiency)
• Watches for changes in business requirements and operating environment (e.g., technology, organization, benchmarks, and regulation)
• Measures and monitors process performance
• Ensures process performance problems are tracked and resolved 

Resource Coach 

Assesses demand and hires/provides staff to processes

• Works with Process Owners to assess resource demands and ensure they have the right people at the right time in the right place
• Maintains cost effective pool of staff to support processes
• Ensures appropriate capability and capacity within resource centers
• Ensures strength within functional area/discipline
• Facilitates growth and advancement within functional area/discipline

Develops and assists personnel

• Guides, mentors, and develops employees
• Helps resolve employee performance problems (employee advocate)
• Facilitates resolution of technical problems

Administers performance management of personnel

• Collects personnel performance input from Process Owner and Process Team and conducts reviews
• Administers compensation

These are very challenging and demanding roles. The Process Owner is the Individual with process accountability and authority. The Resource Coach is responsible for the care and feeding of process team members.

Look at that last sentence again. Resource Coaches are responsible for the “care and feeding” of process team members. How much time do conventional functional managers spend devoted to that cause? Heck, think about how much time functional managers spend simply on employee development. It is one of the most neglected dimensions of a manager’s role. Why? Think about that list of NVA that functional managers must accomplish to ensure functional work gets done. How can managers spend time on employee development when their days are filled with assigning and scheduling, checking and controlling, communication and liaison, tracking and overseeing, intervening and expediting, reconciling and negotiating, and interfacing and integrating. 

I asked the graduate students how cool would it be if somebody asked them what their boss does and their answer was, “My boss enables and empowers me to do the best work I can and ensures I am happy and fulfilled in doing it.” The entire class let out a collective “ahhhhh.” I then crushed their moment of daydreaming bliss with the reality that few organizations will ever become truly process-centric given how entrenched function-centric constructs are in most enterprises today. It is too bad because Dr. Hammer’s research found process-centric enterprises require on average 20% fewer management positions (after functional managers fill the Process Owner and Resource Coach positions).

I’ve delivered my process presentation dozens of times now and the contention that managers deliver no value to customers always elicits a tepid and skeptical response – even after I present the argument. Many of us spent years getting our functional manager/executive positions and we aren’t eager to surrender our turf and relinquish our status. It is all we know. That is why I am delighted my process presentation is a fit in SFSU’s Master’s program. Their graduate students could be our future leaders and it gives me hope that maybe someday they will be in a position to eliminate the suboptimal and wasteful role of managers – and replace them with Process Owners devoted to process and enterprise success and Resource Coaches dedicated to the care and feeding of workers. With roles like that, who needs managers?

~ Steve ~

Comments

[Allan Mills]

This is a great discussion about alignment of roles and responsibilities in an organization and the processes delivering value to the customer. I also like how you break the descriptions of the process roles into digestible small pieces.