by Organizational Work Flow
“A workflow consists of an orchestrated and repeatable pattern of business activity enabled by the systematic organization of resources into processes that transform materials, provide services, or process information. It can be depicted as a sequence of operations, the work of a person or group, the work of an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms.”
There is a wide variety of workflows in organizations, starting with the recruitment process, employee onboarding to purchase process, invoicing process, accounts payable and employee exit.
Each of the above processes involves multiple people providing information or approvals. Other departmental processes such as marketing collateral preparation, sales discount process, product promotions, project management, and operations management also require collaboration for effective decision making.
During the initial stage of an organization, the processes are simple and can be completed in just a couple of steps. Spreadsheets and emails are good enough to manage all processes efficiently. But as the organization grows, the processes evolve and there is a need for a sophisticated tool that is more business-specific, yet as user-friendly as a spreadsheet.
These tools need to be flexible enough to accommodate a wide variety of use cases and still be cost-effective and add significant value to the organization. Automation of workflows become a necessity and help the organization keep stride with the growth and handle the rapid increase in customers.
Processes Every Organization Should Automate
- Document Approval Workflow
A document approval process begins with creating the draft, review by self, and send to the manager for approval. If rejected, the document will be sent back with comments to update and the updated document will be sent again for approval. Once approved, the final document will be saved and sent to the respective stakeholders.
- Expense Approval Process
Expense claim is an important activity in every company, for all teams including Sales, HR, and IT.
The finance team can reduce their burden with a streamlined workflow for the review process. An expense form with relevant fields should be filled, along with receipts attached with comments, and sent for approval. The process may have the option to reject or clarify the items in the expense request.
- New Employee Onboarding Workflow
This business process workflow simplifies the HR department’s job. It starts by collecting an employee’s personal information in a form, along with a digital signature, and routes information and approval to various interested parties, such as IT, Department Manager, and HR, so that the HR team has everything ready when the employee comes into the office on the first day.
- Leave Approval Workflow
Having an automated and transparent system that provides visibility to the employees helps increase morale and loyalty in an organization. The leave approval workflow is one of the simplest workflows a company can automate. Leave request forms filled in by an employee can be quickly reviewed and acted upon by the respective manager. The system can automatically notify the employees so that they can plan their vacation.
- New Customer or Vendor Addition Workflow
The strength of a business lies in the type of customers a company has and the vendors who help them bring out products or services.
A simplified workflow process will allow a new customer or vendor to simply fill in a couple of basic details in a form on the website. The information will seamlessly flow into the application and be routed to a manager for approval. A unique identification number will be generated and a welcome kit will be sent to the customer. These speeds up the vendor approval process and streamlines new additions.
- Invoice Approval Workflow
It is easier than ever to send invoices to a customer with a business process workflow.
The template will have the invoice details to be filled in before you send the invoice to a customer for the services rendered. Once payment is received, the system can automatically reconcile. The automation software can also send reminders and follow up with the customers for payments that are overdue.
Developing Work Integration Positions
For the energy company to achieve organizational integration, it must align its company strategy, culture, staff skills, technology, structure and management style with its goal of producing energy in an ecologically sustainable manner. Alignment includes ensuring the entire organization, from CEO to new entry-level employee, is working toward the same goals. It also involves providing insight and transparency to stakeholders regarding decision-making.
This process involves training employees, using public relations to educate stakeholders, and maintaining communication and verification systems. Stevens Institute of Technology emphasizes alignment and integration as a serious business need.
Integration relates to how the different areas of the company coordinate their operations. A highly-integrated company has strong connections between departments and product lines, with each section working under a cohesive set of rules and strategies. Integrated companies are highly vertical and hierarchical in nature. These companies operate from a “top-down” mindset, where the management dictates the structure of each department rather than allowing the individual departments to set their own agendas.
Many Japanese firms are well-known for their practices in creating highly integrated corporate cultures. Employees may be expected to participate in group exercises, recitations of company mottos, and a style of dressing or behaving all meant to instill an integrated sense of corporate identity.
Prioritization and Time Constraints
One factor that determines whether a company practices differentiation or integration is how each department sorts its priorities. For instance, sales staff focus on bringing in revenue, while accountants place their attention on reducing costs, but both priorities contribute to increasing the company’s profits. Another type of prioritization involves how departments handle time constraints. In a software company, the development staff work in terms of months or years, while the customer support staff must come up with solutions in hours or days.
Communication Methods Dictate the Approach
Communication methods also dictate whether a company employs a more differentiated or more integrated approach. As an example, sales staff deal primarily in face-to-face or telephone communications, while information technology workers depend on e-mail and text messages. The marketing department may also use less formal language when communicating, where legal staffers are trained to parse every word for multiple meanings. When departments must work together, they must develop an integrated communication strategy to achieve their goals.
