The Hindu Business Line : Adding value to work

In any organisation, every single activity is designed to achieve the same end result: Organisational effectiveness. Managements must also pay attention to tasks that are very trivial in nature and which can be performed by anybody with minimal training. These are not the core jobs and are essentially non-value-adding. For instance, routine activities such as payroll administration, compliance with statutory regulations for effective implementation of labour laws, whic h do not undergo any significant change, can be outsourced by organisations.

IDENTIFYING ROOT CAUSES

The exercise of eliminating or minimising non-value-added work should ideally start with identifying the root causes of why such work gets done in the first place. It does not often require more than elementary common sense to identify such causes, which are common across many organisations, irrespective of the type. Lack of role clarity is a main cause.

This happens when more than one person gets to do the job or a portion of it, and for certain reasons that include ego problems, there is a lack of communication between those who actually do it. The end result is confusion, and then the boss intervenes to get the work done in the way he or she wants it. Much time is wasted in the bargain, and the “somebody, nobody and everybody” game gets played over and over again.

Non-value-added work also results in a huge amount of time being lost, often unconsciously. For instance, when the same issues are repeatedly discussed in meetings, or when insecure bosses insist on taking the smallest of decisions. Some bosses, for example, get their subordinates to make several drafts before sending a simple inter-office communication. The ‘system’ itself can be complicated at times. For example, when the ‘system’ demands collection of a huge amount of data, interpreting it becomes difficult. Non-value added work also gets done when the organisation becomes too bureaucratic. This puts pressure on the no-nonsense high performers, who cannot proceed at a fast pace. Unwilling or inefficient subordinates are a cause of non-value added work.

Since work does not get done properly, much time is wasted in course correction. Lack of co-ordination and communication also results in non-value added work. In several organisations, each department head imposes “his own way of doing things”, which never gets corrected by the top management.

SETTING THINGS RIGHT

The main aim of the organisation should be to identify how and why non-value-added work happens in some department(s). The involvement of the CEO is absolutely essential. Since every organisation is unique, no “one-size-fits-all” approaches will work. Any modern organisation also needs to be wary of the so-called ‘culture’ variable.

In the name of ‘culture’, many senior employees resist any change and, more so, if the set-up is bureaucratic. Simpler procedures should be put in place. Eliminating or minimising non-value-added work should not be a choice; it must be an imperative of any modern organisation that aims to become competitive.

(The author is a Chennai-based freelance writer.)

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