Get the right process right: Understanding the "salience/worth" matrix

Many measurable benefits of process change - time, staff, cost, and accuracy - result in worse, not better, business performance. Total quality management, reengineering, the learning organization, virtual organization, and the like have shown how to get a process right, but they give little idea as to which process to get right. The salience/worth matrix is the basic analytical tool for determining which processes most deserve attention and investment. Deliberate changes in process salience and worth are made either reactively, in response to business environment changes, or proactively, to gain an advantage over the competition.