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Process Owners

Whenever there is a need to implement any kind of operational innovation, there always exists some kind of inertia from within the organization. This is because of the change that different people associated with the process have to undergo in their normal daily routine and agenda.
Here comes the need of a Process Owner, who typically is a senior executive in the organization, who initiates these changes in that setting. The Process Owner needs to be a driving force behind the successful implementation of the new ways adopted by the company.

When Aravind decided to further cut down its costs, it focused on the procurement part of its surgical processes. For this, they took help of David Greene², who was already working with Aravind in various responsibilities. David initiated the change process by studying different activities attached to procurement and zeroed down on setting up better research facility to independently work on cutting down costs in the make-up of IOL (Intra-Ocular Lens used in cataract surgeries). He very well acted as a process owner setting up various targets for the researchers working under him.

Within a span of less than two years, Aravind was successful in designing and manufacturing IOL at their own facilities which cost them around $ 10 compared to $ 1500-2000 when they initiated the change. This would not have been successful, if David Greene would not have been given full ownership of the Aurolab set up keeping operational innovation in mind.

Full-time Design Team

When Apollo Hospitals⁴ was playing with the idea of possibilities of operational innovations with Tele-medicine, it was clear that it will be setting aside a dedicated team of executives and doctors for testing the feasibility. Part-time assignment to a process redesign team at times leads to frustrations and a lack of dedication to the assigned job. Moreover, it also questions the commitment of the company for the idea, given the sparse resources it has spared for the initiative.

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2. www.aravind.org
4. www.apollohospitals.com

* Contributed by: -
Dr. Shreyas Goswami is a II Year Business Management student at XLRI, Jamshedpur. He is an MBBS doctor from B. J. Medical College, Ahmedabad, and had extensive work experience in the Healthcare Sector prior to joining XLRI.
This Paper was adjudged one of the Best 8 Papers in "Ashwamedh Paper Writing Contest" organized by XIMB.