228The Complete Guide to Systems Thinking and Learning
D. Business Processes—The Key to TQM—Phase D
The core of TQM is Phase
D
D
; the organization’s business processes.
Do you know what
your key 7–10 business processes are (underneath your functional departments). They need to
link together horizontally and cross functionally to create an integrated organization-system; this
will better serve the customer.
Programs vs. Processes
•Programs
are like campaigns—they have beginnings and ends.
•Processes
are different. They are ongoing so they naturally conform to the laws of
entropy. (They run down and die over time without continual reinforcement, renewal, ...
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