The goal of operations management is to maximize efficiency while producing goods and

services that effectively fulfil customer needs. Countless operating decisions must be made
that have both long- and short-term impacts on the organization’s ability to produce goods
and services that provide added value to customers. If the organization has made mostly good
operating decisions in designing and executing its transformation system to meet the needs of
customers, its prospects for long-term survival are greatly enhanced. This essay will discuss
the assertion that Organizational success greatly depends on the business processes adopted
for transforming inputs into outputs. It also explain why business managers need to pay
particular attention to the developments in the social cultural environment.

The Business Process design and development of an organization must vividly be taken into
very keen consideration as it amount for the effectiveness to enhance organizations’ overall
business performance, (Wright and Snell, 1991). It is also known to be a way to naturally
achieve integrated business quality with efficiency and discipline management. For the
success of any organization, there must be measurement, monitoring and analysis in order for
them to reach their optimal performance level. Performance can be described as an
accomplishment of a given task measured against preset known standards of accuracy,
completeness, cost, and speed (Andrews and Brewer, 2014). Furthermore, one of the areas
within the Business Intelligence (BI) arena that is catching a lot of attention in today’s world
is the Business Performance Management (BPM). As a matter of certainty, it was positioned
as one the highest ten technology area that the CIO needed to put more attention (Boyne,
2006). Basically, the BPM entails a situation whereby the business strategy of an
organization and its technology structure are put together as a result of achieving a standard
organizational goals and objectives.

In open systems theory, organizations regulate technical flows between input, throughput,
and output processes that are connected to the organizational (Walker, 2007). Like all
organizations, public organizations depend heavily on their external environment for survival.
Interactions with the interdependent environment provide public organizations with the
necessary information and resources to achieve their goals. Examples of these resources are
people, knowledge, money, services, and technology (Ajami and Goddard, 2014). The input
of these resources is jointly transformed within the organization. This throughput process is
characterized by adjusting the structures and processes of the organization’s internal
components, as well as strategic human resource management in order to steer employee
behaviour (Trehan and Trehan, 2009). The result of this transformation is the organizational

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output: the products and services that follow from recurring and patterned activities that
regulate the (technical) flows between input and output.

The perspective of organizations as open systems emphasizes the importance of an

organization’s policy center, control center, operations, and the flows among them (Frynas,
and Mellahi, 2015). The first of such technical flows in a public service organization
comprises the goals and performance standards set for the organization by a policy center, in
response to demands, preferences, and orders from the organizational environment. The
second flow is the transmission, by the policy center, of the goals and performance standards
to a control center within the organization. A third technical flow consists of information
between the control center and the operational level often comprised of (street-level)
professionals and case workers. A fourth flow of resources and information enables managers
to exploit the environment to obtain raw (input) materials. The third and fourth flows enable
the operational level to establish a fifth flow: the transformation of input from the
environment, such as raw materials, (monetary) resources, and people, into products and
services (Andrews and Brewer, 2014).

In the context of primary schools, and many other (smaller) public service organizations,
functions at the policy level and the control level are often combined into the responsibilities
of a high-ranking manager. School principals combine the two functions. They set goals and
performance standards and communicate instructions to their teaching and support staff.
However, more often than not, resources such as school funding are managed and allocated
by the school principal and turned into output through the alignment of instructional practices
for teachers and support staff (Boyne, 2006). Thus, school principals are boundary spanners
between the school environment and their school. For example, school principals must be
aware of (changing) benchmark levels for arithmetic and language as set by government
agencies. School principals have to translate these (changing) demands into specific goals,
targets, and instructions for their school staff. They also need to facilitate information
exchange between themselves and their staff at the operational level (Frynas, and Mellahi,
2015).

Most organizations that have made an attempt to move toward process orientation agree that
it does indeed provide numerous benefits, including cost savings through a more efficient
execution of work, improved customer focus, better integration across the organization, etc.
Main advantages of process-based organizational structure, in comparison to functional one,

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are in economical design of business processes, as well as in reducing cycle time, while there
is also a dramatically increased flexibility of the firm along with improved customer
satisfaction (Galbraith, 2002). Namely, even though processes don’t appear on the balance
sheet as such, managers intuitively recognize that they are assets, not expenses organizations
(Lynch and Cross, 1991). A key source of process benefit is improving hand-offs between
functions, which can occur only when processes are broadly defined organizations (Lynch
and Cross, 1991). A process orientation leads to cycle time reduction by doing a good job of
coordinating work across functions. In addition, some costs are reduced with a process
organization. The faster time cycles mean reduced inventories and faster receipt of cash. The
reduced working capital translates into reduced costs of carrying inventory and cash. Other
costs are reduced because duplication of work across functions is eliminated. A process
organization eliminates such redundant activities, verifying input once for all functions
(Boyne, 2006).

Implementing BPO as a way of organizing and operating in an organization will improve

internal coordination and break down the functional silos that exist in most companies.
Research has shown that this increase in cooperation and decrease in conflict improve both
short- and long- term performance of an organization (Tenner and DeToro, 1996).
Furthermore, the more business process oriented an organization is, the better it performs
both from an overall perspective as well as from the perspective of the employees.

Although along process orientation is constantly improved organizational performance

mentioned, there are rare authors which have empirically investigated that relationship.
Literature shows that BPO is critical in reducing conflict and encouraging greater
connectedness within an organization, while improving business performance. Their results
indicate a surprisingly strong relationship between BPO and overall performance.
Considering all the factors that can potentially affect business performance, this finding is
compelling (Tenner and DeToro, 1996).

However, experiences are showing that companies are managing their business processes
with different success, what depends on established balance between organizational structure
and organization’s environment. In another words, not all the news about process
transformation has been good. Many firms have found that even dramatic levels of process
improvement often do not translate into better business performance organizations (Lynch
and Cross, 1991). Furthermore, most organizations only have some of their processes well

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defined and are only beginning to use process measures and process management techniques
to control their organizations (Lynch and Cross, 1991). All aforementioned emphasizes even
more the importance of studying a process orientation as an important factor in modern
business.

Business managers need to pay particular attention to the developments in the social cultural
environment because the influence of social cultural environment on companies is real and
widespread. Companies are affected by more than one culture at a time. Through their
subsidiaries located in various countries, they are exposed to different national cultures.
Culture in particular country directly, or indirectly, reflect on the achieved performance of
companies. On the basis of the results obtained from various surveys, it can be concluded that
successful multinational companies develop acceptance and understanding of cultural
differences among various country and learn how to take advantage of opportunities, and
cope with disadvantages that arise from different national cultures (Frynas, and Mellahi,
2015). In addition to a company's interactions with the market and its customers, socio-
cultural factors also impact a company's internal decision-making process. For example,
changing gender roles and increasing emphasis on family life have led to increased respect
for maternity and paternity leave with organizations. Additionally, attitudes toward racial
discrimination and sexual harassment have changed drastically over the years as a result of a
socio-cultural change.

In summary, Organizations are continually under competitive pressures and forced to re-
evaluate their business models and underlying business processes. Business processes
represent a core of the functioning of an organization because the company primarily consists
of processes, not products or services. In other words, managing a business means managing
its processes. Managers need to pay attention to societal and cultural changes because they
can have an impact on the company based on how its target audience’s attitudes and moods
shift over time. Socio-cultural factors can involve social attitudes, beliefs, education, legal
structure and political ideology.

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References

Ajami, A.R., Goddard, J.G. (2014). International Business: A Course on the Essentials, New
York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc.

Andrews, R., & Brewer, G. A. (2014). Social capital and public service performance: Does
managerial strategy matter. Public Performance & Management Review, 38(2), 187–213.

Boyne, G. A. (2006). Public service performance: Perspectives on measurement and

management. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Frynas, J.G. and Mellahi, K. (2015). Global Strategic Management, Oxford: Oxford
University Press.

Galbraith, J. R. (2002). Designing organizations: An executive guide to strategy, structure,

and process. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Lynch & Cross (1991). Measure up-The essential guide to measuring business performance.
London: Mandarin.

Tenner, A. R., & DeToro, I. J. (1996). Process redesign: The implementation guide for
managers. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Trehan, M., Trehan, R. (2009). Government and Business, New Delhi: V. K. Enterprises.

Walker, R. M. (2007). Strategic management and the performance of public organizations:

Testing venerable ideas against recent theories. Journal of Public Administration Research
and Theory, 17(3), 357–377.

Wright, P. M., & Snell, S. A. (1991). Toward an integrative view of strategic human resource
management. Human Resource Management Review, 1(3), 203-225.

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