The Importance of Business Process Change Management

Mark Karasek, executive vice president of engineering and chief technology officer of The Chamberlain Group, teaches students the fundamentals of changing processes within organizations.

When an organization has a problem, an internal process is frequently blamed. A part of that process is often seen as standing in the way of success, even though that same process holds an organization together, said Mark Karasek, executive vice president of engineering and chief technology officer of The Chamberlain Group.

"Process is often blamed for slowing down an organization," said Karasek, whose company delivers innovative connected products and services in the residential and commercial garage door opener and vehicle access categories. "The basis for these views is the proliferation of inefficient and ineffective processes in our organizations. Good process actually helps an organization create value better, faster, and cheaper."

Karesek highlights the differences between effective and ineffective processes as part of Business Process Change Management, a course he teaches annually in Northwestern's Master of Engineering Management (MEM) program. The course introduces students to the toolsets required to help drive process improvement within a company, and that ability can help individuals create opportunities for advancement and advance their own career by creating real value.

Karasek recently spoke about the course, the challenges that come with change management, and the unique opportunities students have to bring value to an organization.

"Change is hard for organizations, even when the to-be state will be significantly better for the organization than the 'as-is' state, because change is personal." — Mark Karasek

What is the goal of the course?

The goal to teach students the toolsets of business process improvement through case studies and real-life project work. After completing the course, students should be able to have a meaningful impact on the process efficiency and effectiveness in their company, and in outside organizations they support.

The course description says the class focuses on the "systems" approach to taking a holistic view of the needs of a business. What does that mean?

Business process redesign starts with understanding the organization's value stream and strategy. The organization is a system that exists to create value for an end user in the case of for-profit businesses, or for the target recipient in the case of not-for-profit entities. Business processes should always support creating value for the end user or target recipient and the organization. Business process redesign is a tool to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the processes an organization uses to create value.

What are the most important lessons for students to know in order to understand complex change management?

Change is hard for organizations, even when the “to-be” state will be significantly better than the “as-is” state, because change is personal. People are asked to change the way they do their jobs. Some jobs are no longer necessary because the improved process is more efficient. These realities can create fear and resistance in an organization. In class, we use Dr. John Kotter’s eight-step process to create a plan for implementing process redesign in the organization. We work through how the eight steps would be used to drive change in the real-world organizations the students are studying.

Those projects account for 40 percent of students' grades. What are some examples of projects students work on?

Every student works on a real-life process redesign project. Most of the part-time students who are currently employed choose to work on a real process challenge in their company. This past year, those projects included improving the code review process in a software services company, improving the order fill rate for an online merchant, reducing cycle time for flight changes at an airline, and reducing the cost of processing rebates for a public utility. The rest of the students work on team projects for organizations that request assistance to improve a critical business process. This past year, those projects included studying and looking for improvement in a graduate program's admissions processes, and helping a Chicago-based startup incubator improve its process for checking in visitors and members.

How do you hope students will apply the lessons they learn professionally?

I hope each student has the opportunity to lead process improvement initiatives in their companies and the not-for-profit organizations they support multiple times in the future. Process is necessary to deliver value to end users and target recipients, but processes age poorly. Engineers can create real value by helping companies and not-for-profit organizations to continually improve their processes.

What do you enjoy most about the course?

I enjoy my interaction with the students, particularly around the course projects. It is fascinating to learn about the multiple organizations and their value chains, and to see the real impact the students have on those organizations with their projects.

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