After several months on the job, Roger Cahill called a meeting with all department
heads and stated:
Having had the chance to observe operations now for several months, it isobvious to me that we do not have sound business processes in place in a great many areas. We are creating problems for ourselves that are impacting product quality, delivery timeliness, efficiency, costs, and, my greatest concern, customer satisfaction.
Competition within our marketplace is heating up, and we need to quickly get on top of our processes to regain the confidence of our customers and makeBOLDFlash their first choice when purchasing.
Cahill the n presented examples of the internal business processes in use atBOLDFlash. To highlight the broad nature of the problem throughout the Mobile Division, he presented troublesome process examples from every department. (A
subset of the examples follows.)To reinforce the importance of establishing solid business processes, Cahill closed by
saying: Within the next 45 days, we will focus on establishing clear, efficient, defined
busines s processes and gain agreement on these processes among alldepartments. This is now your top priority.
As you read the following process-related memos, consider how other departmentheads and their staff members might interpret the processes being introduced or revised and what their reaction might be. Also consider whether the communications
are clear, unambigu ous, and workable. Are there gaps or assumptions? Are there anycommon themes among the memos?