Organisational profiling as foundation for service delivery baseline analysis

This article maintains that the implementation of Service Delivery Improvement Plans (White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery, 1997) could significantly be enhanced by gaining an understanding of public institutions' core processes. A process is seen as a series of activities with an input and an output with the purpose to achieve institutional strategic objectives. By profiling the DNA (layers of primary and secondary organisational processes) of public institutions, continuous process improvement initiatives would lead to more effective service delivery. To establish a baseline (current situation) it is argued that more emphasis should be placed on profiling the whole institution (macro, meso and micro institutional variables) to better understand implementation challenges such as structure, social and historical context, systems, resource utilisation, capacities, politics and culture. It is proposed that a formal organisational profile (OP) methodology be followed by public managers on strategic, tactical and operational levels to obtain a more balanced framework for identifying key variables which may impact on service delivery. OP methodology should answer the "Where are we now?"-question and profile processes, and strategic considerations from qualitative as well as statistical data. The article concludes by calling for more effort to be focused on developing more comprehensive and integrated approaches to analyse organisational processes associated with the implementation of service delivery initiatives.

[1]  Robert W. Ruekert,et al.  Marketing's Interaction with Other Functional Units: A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Evidence , 1987 .

[2]  D. G. Jones,et al.  Early Development of the Philosophy of Marketing Thought , 1990 .

[3]  Judy A. Siguaw,et al.  The Influence of the Market Orientation of the Firm on Sales Force Behavior and Attitudes , 1994 .

[4]  David J. Lemak,et al.  Beyond Process: TQM Content and Firm Performance , 1996 .

[5]  R. Ackoff.  Towards a System of Systems Concepts , 1971 .

[6]  John C. Narver,et al.  The Effect of a Market Orientation on Business Profitability , 1990 .

[7]  Donald E. Carter,et al.  Ce Concurrent Engineering: The Product Development Environment for the 1990s , 1992 .

[8]  D. S. Sink,et al.  Planning and Measurement in Your Organization of the Future , 1989 .

[9]  G. Day.  The Capabilities of Market-Driven Organizations , 1994 .

[10]  Peter Checkland,et al.  Systems Thinking, Systems Practice , 1981 .

[11]  Randall Y. Odom,et al.  Organizational Values and Value Congruency and Their Impact on Satisfaction, Commitment, and Cohesion: An Empirical Examination within the Public Sector , 1991 .

[12]  N. Venkatraman,et al.  Beyond business process redesign: redefining Baxter's business network. , 1992, Sloan management review.

[13]  T. Malone,et al.  Toward an interdisciplinary theory of coordination , 2003 .

[14]  Michael L. Tushman,et al.  Information Processing as an Integrating Concept in Organizational Design. , 1978 .

[15]  Eric K. Clemons,et al.  Identifying Sources of Reengineering Failures: A Study of the Behavioral Factors Contributing to Reengineering Risks , 1995, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[16]  Michael Hammer,et al.  Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate , 1990 .

[17]  P. Senge.  THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE , 1997 .

[18]  John Jeston,et al.  Business Process Management: Practical Guidelines to Successful Implementations , 2006 .

[19]  Paul Forrester,et al.  Organizational growth demands concurrent engineering , 1997 .

[20]  Lee Frost-Kumpf.  Total Quality Management in Government , 1994 .

[21]  John M. Wilson,et al.  Business Processes: Modelling and Analysis for Re-engineering and Improvement , 1995 .

[22]  S. Hayakawa.  Language in Thought and Action , 1949 .

[23]  S. Levy,et al.  Broadening the concept of marketing. , 1969, Journal of marketing.

[24]  Kulwant S. Pawar,et al.  Product design as a means of integrating differentiation , 1996 .

[25]  Andrew J. DuBrin,et al.  Fundamentals of organizational behavior: An applied perspective , 1974 .

[26]  J. Poertner,et al.  Social Administration: A Client-Centered Approach , 1991 .

[27]  Keith Harrison-Broninski,et al.  Human Interactions: The Heart And Soul Of Business Process Management: How People Reallly Work And How They Can Be Helped To Work Better , 2005 .

[28]  B. Sugarman.  The Well-Managed Human Service Organization: , 1989 .

[29]  Eugene H. Melan,et al.  Process management: A unifying framework for improvement , 1989 .

[30]  G. Hofstede,et al.  Measuring organizational cultures: A qualitative and quantitative study across twenty cases. , 1990 .

[31]  K. Atuahene–Gima,et al.  Market Orientation and Innovation , 1996 .

[32]  Oliver E. Williamson,et al.  Economics and Organization: A Primer , 1996 .

[33]  M. C. Knowles,et al.  Improving Organisational Effectiveness Through Organisational Analysis , 1997 .

[34]  H. Simon,et al.  Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organization. , 1959 .

[35]  Frank Tait.  Enterprise Process Engineering: A Template Tailored for Higher Education. , 1999 .

[36]  B. Denning,et al.  Changing the essence: by Richard Beckhard and Wendy Pritchard, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco (1992), 96 pp., £14.95. , 1993 .

[37]  Greg Brue,et al.  Six Sigma For Managers , 2002 .

[38]  Peter M. Senge,et al.  Bookshelf - High Output Management, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization , 2006, IEEE Softw..

[39]  Stanley F. Slater,et al.  Market oriented isn't enough : build a learning organization : commentary , 1994 .

[40]  F. Webster.  The rediscovery of the marketing concept , 1988 .

[41]  Earl R. Babbie,et al.  The practice of social research , 1969 .

[42]  Eddie Anderson,et al.  Operations Management—Strategy and Analysis , 1987 .

[43]  T. Davenport,et al.  Case Management and the Integration of Labor , 1994 .

[44]  Yehuda Shenhav,et al.  From Chaos to Systems: The Engineering Foundations of Organization Theory, 1879-1932. , 1995 .

[45]  Thomas Packard Dsw.  Participation in Decision Making, Performance, and Job Satisfaction in a Social Work Bureaucracy , 1989 .

[46]  E. Zajac,et al.  FROM TRANSACTION COST TO TRANSACTIONAL VALUE ANALYSIS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE STUDY OF INTERORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES* , 1993 .

[47]  Shouhong Wang,et al.  The Implementation of Business Process Reengineering , 1995, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[48]  M. Hammer,et al.  Reengineering the Corporation , 1993 .

[49]  R. Bagozzi.  A Prospectus for Theory Construction in Marketing , 1984 .

[50]  Pamela L. Alreck,et al.  The Survey Research Handbook , 1984 .

[51]  C. B. Schoonhoven.  Problems with contingency theory: testing assumptions hidden within the language of contingency "theory.". , 1981, Administrative science quarterly.

[52]  Richard Beckhard,et al.  Organizational Transitions: Managing Complex Change , 1977 .

[53]  Varun Grover,et al.  Special Section: Toward a Theory of Business Process Change Management , 1995, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[54]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Market orientation: Antecedents and consequences , 1993 .

[55]  How organizations work: Taking a holistic approach to enterprise health , 2007 .

[56]  G. Cronje,et al.  Management Principles: A Contemporary Edition for Africa , 2004 .

[57]  J. Pennings.  The Relevance of the Structural-Contingency Model for Organizational Effectiveness. , 1975 .

[58]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  The Structuring of Organizations , 1979 .

[59]  John C. Narver,et al.  Market orientation, customer value, and superior performance , 1994 .

[60]  V. Vroom,et al.  Leadership and decision-making , 1975 .

[61]  Adrian Payne,et al.  Developing a marketing-oriented organization , 1988 .

[62]  Robert W. Ruekert,et al.  The Organization of Marketing Activities: A Contingency Theory of Structure and Performance , 1985 .

[63]  Mario A. Pei.  The story of language , 1950 .

[64]  Mario Pei.  All About Language , 1954 .

[65]  Piers Feetham,et al.  The art of framing , 1997 .

[66]  Rachel Cooper,et al.  New product development practices in American and British firms , 2000 .

[67]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Market orientation: The construct, research propositions, and managerial implications. , 1990 .

[68]  Robert W. Ruekert,et al.  Marketing's Role in the Implementation of Business Strategies: A Critical Review and Conceptual Framework , 1987 .

[69]  Henry C. Lucas,et al.  The Role of Information Technology in Organization Design , 1994, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[70]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  A Task Contingent Model of Work-Unit Structure. , 1974 .

[71]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  Alternative forms of fit in contingency theory. , 1985 .

[72]  Geary A. Rummler,et al.  Improving Performance: How to Manage the White Space on the Organization Chart , 1990 .

[73]  Hans-Jörg Bullinger,et al.  Turbulent times require creative thinking: New European concepts in production management , 1999 .

[74]  Karl T. Ulrich,et al.  Product Design and Development , 1995 .

[75]  Ken Platts,et al.  Operations strategy and performance : papers from the 1st International Conference of the European Operations Management Association, University of Cambridge, U.K., 27-29 June 1994 , 1994 .

[76]  Vic Gilgeous.  Workshops for improving manufacturing effectiveness , 1995 .

[77]  R. Kanter.  The Change Masters , 1983 .

[78]  Thomas H. Davenport,et al.  Process Innovation: Reengineering Work Through Information Technology , 1992 .

[79]  J. Child.  MANAGERIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH COMPANY PERFORMANCE‐PART II. A CONTINGENCY ANALYSIS , 1975 .

[80]  Ian M. Mitchell,et al.  Strategic Organization Design: Concepts, Tools & Processes , 1990 .

[81]  Peter F. Drucker,et al.  The Coming of the New Organization , 2001 .

[82]  Victor Paashuis.  The Organisation of Integrated Product Development , 1997 .

[83]  Willem Verbeke,et al.  Do Organizational Practices Matter in Role Stress Processes? A Study of Direct and Moderating Effects for Marketing-Oriented Boundary Spanners , 1996 .

[84]  S. Harris.  The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization, by Peter Senge, New York: Doubleday/Currency, 1990 , 1990 .

[85]  C. Moorman.  Organizational Market Information Processes: Cultural Antecedents and New Product Outcomes , 1995 .

[86]  Rosann L. Spiro,et al.  The marketing concept in perspective , 1988 .

[87]  Jan Bilderbeek,et al.  R&D Performance Measurement: More than Choosing a Set of Metrics , 1997 .

[88]  John C. Narver,et al.  Does Competitive Environment Moderate the Market Orientation-Performance Relationship? , 1994 .

[89]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  The Concept of Fit in Contingency Theory. , 1984 .

[90]  Durward K. Sobek,et al.  Another look at how Toyota integrates product development , 1998 .

[91]  Sultan Kermally.  From the conference series , 1995 .

[92]  I. C. Kerssens-van Drongelen,et al.  R&D Performance Measurement in Large and Medium-Sized Dutch Companies , 1996 .

[93]  Kevin Crowston,et al.  What is coordination theory and how can it help design cooperative work systems? , 1990, CSCW '90.

[94]  Sarah Cook.  Practical Benchmarking: A Manager's Guide to Creating a Competitive Advantage , 1995 .

[95]  R. E. Miles,et al.  Causes of Failure in Network Organizations , 1992 .

[96]  R. Patti,et al.  Managerial leadership and service quality: toward a model of social work administration. , 1989, Administration in social work.

[97]  James M. Sinkula.  Market Information Processing and Organizational Learning , 1994 .

[98]  E. Schein.  Three Cultures of Management: The Key to Organizational Learning , 1996 .

[99]  W. Powell,et al.  Interorganizational Collaboration and the Locus of Innovation: Networks of Learning in Biotechnology. , 1996 .

[100]  R. Wensley.  A Critical Review of Research in Marketing , 1995 .

[101]  Managing Strategic Change in the NHS , 1989 .

[102]  Kulwant S. Pawar,et al.  Establishing Concordance within Concurrent Engineering Teams , 1999 .

[103]  Timothy J. Galpin.  Connecting culture to organizational change , 1996 .

[104]  Michael Hammer,et al.  The Reengineering Revolution - the Handbook , 1995 .

[105]  J. Werbel,et al.  Universalistic and Contingency Predictions of Employee Satisfaction and Conflict. , 1979 .

[106]  William J. Kettinger,et al.  BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING: Building a Comprehensive Methodology , 1993 .

[107]  Chris J. Backhouse,et al.  Understanding concurrent engineering implementation: A case-study approach , 1998 .

[108]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  Measuring And Assessing Organizations , 1980 .

[109]  J. P. Peter.  Construct Validity: A Review of Basic Issues and Marketing Practices , 1981 .

[110]  M. Venkatraman.  It-enabled business transformation: from automation to business scope redefinition , 1994 .

[111]  P. F. Anderson.  Marketing, Strategic Planning and the Theory of the Firm , 1982 .

[112]  Matthew Ainscough,et al.  Concurrent Engineering within British Industry , 2000, Concurr. Eng. Res. Appl..

[113]  Alain Pinsonneault,et al.  Survey Research Methodology in Management Information Systems: An Assessment , 1993, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[114]  Jr. Henry C. Lucas,et al.  The T-form organization : using technology to design organizations for the 21st century , 1995 .

[115]  H. Maylor.  Concurrent new product development: an empirical assessment , 1997 .

[116]  A. Majchrzak,et al.  Breaking the Functional Mind-Set in Process Organizations , 1996 .

[117]  Kazuhisa Takemura,et al.  Influence of Elaboration on the Framing of Decision , 1994 .

[118]  David A. Taylor.  Business engineering with object technology , 1995 .

[119]  H. Harrington.  Business process improvement : the breakthrough strategy for total quality, productivity, and competitiveness , 1991 .

[120]  Susan Albers Mohrman,et al.  Designing Team-Based Organizations: New Forms for Knowledge Work , 1995 .

[121]  Noel M. Tichy,et al.  Managing strategic change , 1983 .

[122]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  A Framework For Organization Assessment , 1976 .

[123]  Kevin Crowston,et al.  Tools for inventing organizations: toward a handbook of organizational processes , 1993, [1993] Proceedings Second Workshop on Enabling Technologies@m_Infrastructure for Collaborative Enterprises.

[124]  F. Herzberg.  One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees? , 2008 .

[125]  Jan Jorgensen,et al.  Some surprising things about collaboration—Knowing how people connect makes it work better , 1996 .

[126]  Dennis C. Kinlaw.  Continuous Improvement and Measurement for Total Quality: A Team-Based Approach , 1992 .

[127]  Bill Delaney,et al.  TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR , 1993 .

[128]  Franklin S. Houston.  The Marketing Concept: What it is and What it is Not , 1986 .

[129]  Youngjin Yoo,et al.  PRODUCTIVITY GAINS OF BPR Achieving Success Where Others Have Failed , 1995 .

[130]  M. Hammer,et al.  REENGINEERING THE CORPORATION: A MANIFESTO FOR BUSINESS REVOLUTION , 1995 .

[131]  Donna B. Stoddard,et al.  The Reality of Business Reengineering: Pacific Bell's Centrex Provisioning Process , 1996 .

[132]  Ajay K. Kohli,et al.  Market Intelligence Dissemination across Functional Boundaries , 1996 .

[133]  Hong Liu.  Market Orientation and Firm Size:: an empirical examination in UK manufacturing firms , 1995 .

[134]  J. Farley,et al.  Corporate Culture, Customer Orientation, and Innovativeness in Japanese Firms: A Quadrad Analysis , 1993 .

[135]  K. Eisenhardt,et al.  Accelerating Adaptive Processes: Product Innovation in the Global Computer Industry , 1995 .

[136]  Gilbert A. Churchill.  A Paradigm for Developing Better Measures of Marketing Constructs , 1979 .

[137]  Ing-Long Wu,et al.  Understanding senior management's behavior in promoting the strategic role of IT in process reengineering: use of the theory of reasoned action , 2003, Inf. Manag..

[138]  Ian Hacking,et al.  Why does language matter to philosophy , 1975 .

[139]  J. E. Swiss.  Adapting Total Quality Management (TQM) to Government. , 1992 .

[140]  Chon-Huat Goh,et al.  A Hierarchical System of Performance Measures for Concurrent Engineering , 1997 .

[141]  Thomas H. Davenport,et al.  Managing Information about Processes , 1995, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[142]  D. Dougherty.  Interpretive Barriers to Successful Product Innovation in Large Firms , 1992 .

[143]  Subhash C. Lonial,et al.  Market orientation and performance in the hospital industry. , 1995, Journal of health care marketing.

[144]  R. W. Hanssen.  Reducing delivery times in engineer-to-order firms by using the concepts of concurrent engineering , 1997 .

[145]  Lawrence L. Martin.  Total Quality Management:: The New Managerial Wave , 1993 .

[146]  Kevin Crowston,et al.  The interdisciplinary study of coordination , 1994, CSUR.

[147]  Henry L. Tosi,et al.  Contingency Theory: Some Suggested Directions , 1984 .

[148]  S Holloway,et al.  Assessing prospects for organizational change: the uses of force field analysis. , 1992, Administration in social work.

[149]  A. Hyde,et al.  The Proverbs of Total Quality Management: Recharting the Path to Quality Improvement in the Public Sector , 1992 .

[150]  W. Bennis.  On Becoming a Leader , 1989 .

[151]  Ravi S. Achrol,et al.  Evolution of the Marketing Organization: New Forms for Turbulent Environments , 1991 .

[152]  R. Deshpandé,et al.  Organizational Culture and Marketing: Defining the Research Agenda , 1989 .

[153]  John C. Narver,et al.  Market Orientation and the Learning Organization , 1995 .

[154]  Alan K. M. Au,et al.  The Effect of Marketing Orientation on Company Performance in the Service Sector , 1995 .

[155]  William J. Kettinger,et al.  Business Process Change: A Study of Methodologies, Techniques, and Tools , 1997, MIS Q..

[156]  E. Tory Higgins,et al.  Goals and Framing: How Outcome Focus Influences Motivation and Emotion , 1995 .

[157]  G. Stephen Kelsey.  Flatten the Pyramid and Speed Product Development , 1995 .

[158]  Michael J. Earl,et al.  Strategies for Business Process Reengineering: Evidence from Field Studies , 1995, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[159]  Richard J. Mayer,et al.  Information Integration for Concurrent Engineering (IICE) IDEF3 Process Description Capture Method Report , 1992 .

[160]  M. A. Mische,et al.  Reinventing through reengineering : A methodology for enterprisewide transformation , 1996 .

[161]  Kenneth N. Waltz.  The New World Order , 1993 .

[162]  Will McNally,et al.  Total Quality Management. Three Steps to Continuous Improvement , 1992 .

[163]  Michael Hammer,et al.  Beyond Reengineering: How the Process-Centered Organization Is Changing Our Work and Our Lives , 1996 .

[164]  E. A. Hall,et al.  How to Make Reengineering Really Work , 1994 .

[165]  Charles D. Wrege,et al.  Frederick W. Taylor: The Father of Scientific Management : Myth and Reality , 1991 .

[166]  K. Weick.  The social psychology of organizing , 1969 .