RE: What charts does a CEO need?

["Bawn, Loren" <LBAWN@dhs.state.ia.us>]

Dan Swart suggests we embark upon a thread to explore what charts might be
meaningful to a CEO of a large organization, and also whether we might
expand the topic to discuss what charts might be useful to the various
levels between the CEO and line staff.

I believe I would find value in such a thread.  The phrase "One person's
step is another's process" has been rolling around my brain for a couple
months now.  I'm beginning to wonder if this thought, combined with SIPOC
(system diagram showing suppliers>>inputs>>processes>>outputs>>customers)
might be an appropriate vehicle for policy deployment.  The idea would be to
map the system at the highest level, where it is likely that many subsystems
would build up to single "boxes" in the macro process.  This system would be
the responsibility of top management.  The mapping could then continue to
expand each of these macro "chunks", until it had reached a level of
specificity meaningful to the particular level of the organization.  Since
I'm still kicking aound this idea, I haven't tested the theory yet, and I'm
wondering how far such an approach could be taken.  If we assume that each
manager is responsible for "the system" it seems we ought to start at the
top and work our way toward better defining what systems are within whose
span of authority.

If this were to play out, it may suggest what would be appropriate measures
for each level of specificity.  I will do my best to follow this thread in
depth.  I hope others are interested.

Keep the Faith,
Loren Bawn
Executive Officer for Community Systems
Iowa Department of Human Services
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