Organizational development is not just for multinationals
When organizational development comes up, many people tend to see its methods and procedures as “tools for the corporate giants”: they may work in that environment, but they certainly will not deliver results “here”—whether that means our company, industry, market, or country. While this may be true in some cases, there are several areas where organizational improvements can undoubtedly make business operations more efficient and cost-effective. We have compiled a selection of these solutions below.
Organization and planning
Compared with multinationals, SMEs typically lack structured work organization or implement it only to a limited extent. One reason is the lack of relevant training: even HR and related degree programs tend to prepare students for multinational environments, while other disciplines offer even fewer courses in this area, if any. Another reason is that the owner or managing director is usually a specialist who, for one reason or another, decided to start a business. Similarly, there is generally no team of professionals with these organizational skills. Owners usually search for answers and solutions to specific problems themselves. As a result, organizational innovation does not take place, and the company begins to operate on the basis of “this is how we have always done it.” Workflow systems offer a solution to these challenges. Implementing a system that already includes standard processes, examples, and proven solutions can deliver noticeable improvements in organizational performance immediately after deployment. xFLOWer offers this to our clients, giving smaller companies access—at no additional cost—to methods that have already proved successful at major companies internationally.
Business administration and automation
A Hungarian SME generally does not have the same resources as a large multinational corporation. This makes automation and streamlined process design even more important for SMEs, as they have less room to maneuver. At the same time, the improvements that can be achieved do not entail proportionately higher costs, so process management and automation remain affordable. In practical terms, activities that require substantially more resources at a multinational operating on a large scale can be more economical for an SME operating on a smaller scale. Importantly, the workflow system and its processes are scalable, allowing them to adapt to growth. We should also remember that many SMEs fall into a “growth trap”: insufficient funding or a lack of other resources prevents them from taking on more work, even when market opportunities exist. In these situations, workflow—and automation in particular—can serve as a tool for both reducing costs and increasing productivity, potentially helping businesses overcome these constraints.
Habits and paradigms
An organizational development project, particularly one focused on process management, can represent a major paradigm shift for a business. In the case of one of our valued clients, the owner explicitly stated that implementing the system would fundamentally change how the company operated, as rules, specific tasks, responsibilities, and documentation had not previously been defined.
This is therefore a significant undertaking, but it only needs to be done once. Moreover, the system can be implemented incrementally—unlike an ERP implementation, for example. Workflows can be introduced one at a time, without imposing a complete operational transformation on the company all at once. Admittedly, SMEs often cannot define individual functions as precisely or draw clear boundaries between the tasks of different departments. Nevertheless, it is worth striving to allocate, plan, and streamline functions and tasks. Task assignment is a key part of this, and xFLOWer can even handle it automatically.
Is it worthwhile for smaller companies too?
Absolutely. However, it is important to note that, in general, the larger the organization, the greater the benefits of implementing a workflow system. There are also specialized sectors, such as recruitment and, even more so, temporary staffing, where a company with just two, three, or five employees may use the system while handling thousands of pages of documents each month as part of its processes. If a business performs a high volume of repetitive tasks, implementing a workflow system is guaranteed to deliver significant results: lower costs, greater efficiency, and higher profits.
Summary
The first step is to review your processes and document them in whatever format works for you. This activity alone can be highly beneficial. It is worth consulting an expert who can help you design optimal business processes, support their implementation, and help overcome internal resistance. Beyond this, it is particularly important to see such a system in action, ideally during day-to-day operations. This allows you to see—quite literally—the results you could achieve by implementing the system in your own company.
