Process

Intro

Processes are the rules gov­ern­ing the inner work­ings of a com­pany. Processes, whether for­mal or in­for­mal, doc­u­mented or un­doc­u­mented, de­scribe how the work is done, how it should be done. They make pos­si­ble qual­ity con­trol. They co­or­di­nate com­plex, in­ter­re­lated ac­tiv­i­ties. Those who have the say about processes, have the say about how the work is done.

But what if Amer­i­cans and Ger­mans do not share a com­mon un­der­stand­ing of what makes for an ef­fec­tive process? What if they dif­fer in the role of processes, in how they are con­structed and mod­i­fied? What if the two cul­tures di­verge in how they live processes day-to-day, pro­ject-for-pro­ject, when co­or­di­nat­ing their work with sup­pli­ers and cus­tomers?

Ger­mans and Amer­i­cans who col­lab­o­rate need to un­der­stand not only each other’s in­di­vid­ual processes, but more im­por­tantly the think­ing be­hind those processes. If they do not the inner work­ings of the com­pany grind to a halt.

Success Factor • Guaranty vs. Tool • Deductive vs. Inductive • Discipline vs. Deviation • Process as Power