A ZERO WAGE INCREASE AGAIN?

In my opinion, Mark should award the wage increase to deserving minority who adds
value to their products and services. They should lay off employees who are no longer
an asset to the company. This is because they generate additional costs than the
benefit it derives from the fruit of their labor. Undeniably, an angry backlash would surely
occur if this sudden discharge from work after the zero wage increase in a row happens.
But it is more advantageous on their part because there is no spare money in the
budget that can be distributed to employees due to insufficient and substandard work
employed. The management should be wary of the performance of their employees, no.
of absences and incentives implemented that can boost their motivation to do work
exemplary. The management should also gather customer feedbacks and may assign
supervisors who would monitor their employees under their department. These
unnecessary behaviors of their employees should call their attention by giving, for
example a demerit that may adversely affect their salary. The incentive is such an
effective move. Management may reward the best employee of the month for a free
vacation or a free purchase of the companys product. Although there might still a
dilemma if a wage increase is the best investment scheme this savings should be
disbursed. Indeed, it is more preferable than installing a better security system because
what drives the lost inventory as a rising issue of the company is because employees
looks for other ways that may compensate the inadequate pay they received. If they
decided to discharge underperforming employees, this might be of great help.
Research:

10 Keys for Successful Process

Improvement Programs (Part 1)
1.

Choose the right business area to improve

Although every part a business will probably benefit from a business process
improvement project, some processes will return much bigger benefits than
others. However, it is very important that the first area chosen has the potential to
return big benefits. Many successful BPI projects have been considered failures,
simply because the return on investment wasnt large.
Choosing a large complex area for the first project is not a good idea and
significantly increases the risk of failure. There is high probability that your team
will run out of energy and money before the project is complete. It is very
important that you to learn to walk before you run.

By carefully selecting the first BPI project, you should be able to realize big
benefits quickly. The attention this attracts will create momentum to tackle further
BPI projects.
Choose a high profile business process with potential for quick and large

gains

Don not choose a business process that is plagued with political problems

Do not choose a process that is too large or complex

Choose an area with a willing and able process owner

2.

Start with a problem statement, vision, objectives and scope

Business process improvement should be treated as a project and not a routine

daily activity. Organizations that treat BPI as something that their already overstretched staff should simply fit in around their normal daily activities are not
successful and nothing worthwhile actually results.
Starting with a well-written clearly defined problem statement, vision, and project
scope ensures that the project team and stakeholders have a common
understanding of what is expected. BPI needs to be set up as a project with the
following attributes:

A problem statement

A clear, measurable set of objectives such as reduce customer complaints

by 10% or reduce processing time by 2 days.

A clearly defined scope.

A clear plan of who is responsible for delivering what, by when.

Properly allocated resources (people and money).

3.

Use a Process Classification Framework

Todays global companies face an unprecedented amount of change. Technology

has blurred the lines between business segments, allowing ambitious companies
to enter new industries with game-changing offers. And in the wake of the recent
recession, emerging-market multinationals have gained strength, market share,
and sophistication, presenting an increasing threat to incumbent players.

However, recent advances in business process management (BPM) software,

tools, approaches, and process reference models have made these goals more
achievable. These changes have allowed organizations to become more
responsive and improve core business processes as conditions change, using
standardized, industry- and function-specific best practices.
For business process improvement, frameworks and reference models help
support process analysis, design, and modeling activities. Starting with a process
framework or reference model can significantly accelerate these activities,
providing analysis professionals with a strong foundation on which to build. A
framework helps organizations in three key areas: benchmarking, content
management, and business process definition. The cost of not using a process
framework is the additional time it takes the process design team to develop their
own process model and obtain process consensus from the project stakeholders.
There are a number of process reference models available, including: Accenture,
APQCs Process Classification Framework (PCF), SAP, Supply Chain Council,
the Telecommunications Management Forum, and the Value Chain Group. The
Process Classification Framework (PCF) developed by APQC in 1992, is a widely
used business tool. This open source framework is commonly referenced in
business books, incorporated into numerous consulting methodologies for
process improvement and re-engineering, and has been translated into many
languages, including Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Polish, and Portuguese.
Benchmarking and process measurement activities are generally too costly to
undertake without the use of a process framework or reference model. Using a
process framework or reference model as a common language reduces the effort
required for benchmarking activities. Internally, organizations need a common
way to describe the work they do so that it can be consistently and repeatedly
measured. Externally, organizations normalize their internal processes against
the process framework or reference model, and depend on the objective,
standard definitions in the framework to enable the comparison of processes
across organizational boundaries.

Content management activities rely on common taxonomies. Using a process

framework or reference model as the basis for a content management taxonomy
helps knowledge managers quickly build consensus among various stakeholders,
even when the structure of the reference model doesnt precisely map to existing
enterprise process models. The process framework or reference model acts as
an interface between the way the content is organized and the way work is
performed. Business analysts and process improvement teams should seriously
consider using a process classification framework.
4.

Use Agile methods

The best way to mange a business process improvement project is to apply agile
development methods. Break the project into small iterations that are of fixed
duration (2-4 weeks) of time. Tangible deliverables should be produced as part of
each iteration. The work performed in each iteration should be prioritized and the
project team should focus their efforts on high priority items first. Retrospectives
should be conducted at the end of each iteration to capture lessons learned and
to make improvements for the next iteration.
5.

Get ideas and input from both workers and managers

Often BPI projects gather a lot of managers into a room. A facilitator draws
various process maps on whiteboards; and miraculously coming up with the new
process. This just doesnt work in practice. Manager workshops have their place,
but they are often best used at the start of a BPI project, in order to get a high
level view of a business processes and to scope out the project, and later in the
project to work through a detailed model of the existing processes and to identify
and agree on improvements. Other techniques such as interviews, observations,
modeling, simulation, and benchmarking will most likely be needed to achieve the
objectives
It is simply a bad idea for BPI projects to elicit input and ideas from only
managers. Managers play a role in a business process improvement project, but
the really key people are the people that do the work. This is because the
workers actually carry out the business processes on a day-to-day basis and
know where the problems and workarounds are. They often have good ideas for

improving existing processes. Listening to them keeps them involved and makes
implementation much easier. Managers often have a view of the business
processes that does not actually reflect reality.
BPM project team members should observe workers going about their normal
activities. Relying on people simply telling you what they do, often results in big
chunks of a process being missed. Often people only discuss the sunny day
scenario when everything goes right. The biggest improvements are often
associated with removing or reducing error handling activities and eliminating
workarounds. Once a detailed model of the existing process has been prepared,
it should also be reviewed with the workers to identify improvements. Workers
often have excellent ideas for process improvement and getting their buy-in is
essential.
With rare exception, todays managers in most organizations spend most of their
time reacting to problems or critical situations; this is often referred to as crisis
management. BPM projects should spend considerable effort working with
managers to determine what information managers require to manage the
process and help them get out of crisis management and on to effectively
managing operations.
BPM projects should ensure they have a thorough understanding of the process
operates, what information is required to manage and monitor the process, and
then determine the best method to provide the information in a timely manner to
enable managers to move from reactive to proactive management and ultimately
to predictive management. These changes will greatly enhance management
maturity and provide the organization with a long-term continuous and
sustainable increase in productivity.