Explore insights on process hierarchy in business management, focusing on functional and end-to-end structures. Gain useful strategies from the latest discussion led by an industry expert.
A new blog post of Caspar Jans was published on Feb 28, 2025 with the original title:
S04E02: Process Hierarchy and Politics
Overview:
This blog post discusses the importance of structuring business processes through a process hierarchy. It emphasizes maintaining two separate but interconnected hierarchies: a functional decomposition hierarchy and an end-to-end process hierarchy, underscoring their roles in process management and ownership.
Core content:
- The author experienced three meetings with clients discussing process hierarchy, highlighting its significance in business management.
- A functional hierarchy decomposes business domains into sub-domains, essential for process ownership.
- An end-to-end hierarchy connects processes across functional borders, facilitating comprehensive governance and management.
- Assigning ownership of end-to-end processes can be politically complex and should be handled carefully.
- Real-world process variations across regions or products necessitate thoughtful strategy in process hierarchy design.
Learnings:
- Understanding the dual-hierarchy concept is crucial for effective business process management.
- Process ownership is impacted by the functional breakdown and necessitates strategic assignment based on process influence.
- Flexibility and adaptability in process design are vital when addressing variations across different operational contexts.
- The insights from clients can vary widely, even if the core discussions remain consistent.
- Effective governance of business processes requires careful consideration of cross-functional linkages.
The original content was published in English.
