The Psychology of Quality and More

Process Ownership

This is best described by considering what the difference is between a Process Manager and a Process Owner. 

A simple view is that a Process Owner owns the design of the process, whilst a Process Manager owns the operation of the process. Thus there might be one New Product Introduction Process, which is owned by the Divisional Marketing Manager. At any one time, there may be several products being introduced to the market, each being managed by a separate Process Manager.

The Process Owner may (or may not) own the overall operation of the process and thus may be responsible for ensuring that the Process Managers are capable of managing the process and also do so in practice.

Can the Process Owner and the Process Manager be the same person? Of course.

Can the Process Manager change the design of the process? Yes, provided the process itself allows for changes (process definitions may be very loose, assuming expertise of the people working in the process, or may be very tightly defined). Depending on the formality of the situation, the Process Manager may be allowed to make practical changes or may be required to get permission from the Process Owner or even require review and sign-off from a whole range of other people. 

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