For an historical perspective of business processes and if you believe, as we do, in business processes as an important ingredient to the structure of an enterprise then we suggest you read Michael Hammer's "The Agenda". He begins with a look at business up through the recent decline of the late 90's boom period. He shows how the past two decades have spawned a host of managerial innovations which created the boom economy of the late 1990's - "Companies did not do well because times were good. Rather, times were good because companies did well."
Here are a few excerpts:
As the new customer economies began to replace the old supplier economies managers in the 80's and 90's created and deployed an arsenal of management strategies to replace the assumptions and techniques that had existed since the days of Alfred P. Sloan and Henry Ford.
Too many companies got carried away by the excesses of the "new economy" and took their eyes off the Operations ball.
When you think of business processes you think of managing all aspects of the enterprise, especially having to do with operations. These activities often marry hard skills, such as cost controls, with soft skills such as relationships. This is why most of our activities for soft skills in daily operations are managed through existing processes which provide structure critical for the organization. A great benefit for front-line managers is to have activities to lead soft skills, like relationships, to compliment existing managerial activities.
Our experiences indicate that the closer you get to the front-lines of an enterprise, the greater the need for managers to simultaneously manage and lead through activities. This is primarily due to their being in-the-middle between responsibilities for results from senior management, their own activities, as well as the actions of their team members. The 'Team Leadership Practice' gives managers an activity for leading a continuous process of asking, sharing and assessing feedback to build and maintain relationships. We view this Practice as both a valuable career skill for managers as well as an important tool for the operations team and, indeed, the enterprise. This is because it compliments and provides follow-through for existing managerial processes.
The key leadership activity is that of providing the opportunity for everyone taking care of customers to be involved and participate in 'asking'. Ninty-five percent non-verbal, a fundamental human activity for maintaining attention, intentions, and experiences. With practice, these activities foster focus, commitments, and learning. An old idea, based in the entrepreneurial spirit, asking keeps the connection or dialogue between services/products and customers for better understanding..
