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Welcome to Epicenter Development Group's newsletter EPICentral. The purpose of this newsletter is to highlight fundamental ideas that have helped organizations develop and maintain great manufacturing and service operations. We hope that you find our EPICentral newsletter helpful and would welcome your comments on its content.
Clarify Roles with Responsibility Charting
A client recently approached me about their difficulty with decision making. Their concerns represent the typical questions that many of our clients have had. For example, if several departments are working together to complete a project, who gets to make the final decisions on project direction and solutions to pursue? In addition, who needs to be “kept in the loop” on project progress? When not clearly defined, people found themselves getting massive amounts of email concerning projects that don’t involve them. So what’s the answer to this dilemma? A Responsibility Chart is one example of a simple and practical tool that can eliminate or simplify these types of problems.
A Responsibility Chart is a chart which clarifies each individual’s role on a project. The chart is set up using the following steps:
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Create a blank grid on paper or in a spreadsheet.
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List all of the major tasks and decisions that must be made for a particular project. This information goes on each row of the chart.
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List all of the people that will be involved in the project. This information goes in each column of the chart.
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Fill out the grid by assigning one role for each person for completing each task. You can create any role “categories” that you want, but some common roles are as follows:
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Responsibility (R) – This is the person who is ultimately responsible (accountable) for making sure a task is completed or making sure that the final decision is carried out. Assign only one person to be responsible for each task.
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Approval Required (A) – This is the person or people who must review and approve a specific decision. Consider limiting the number of people that have this role for one task since it is often difficult to get consensus with a larger group.
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Support (S) – This is a person who provides logistical support and resources for completing a project. They are extremely important because they complete the work of the project. Their assignments, therefore, need to be very clear, specific and measurable.
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Inform (I) – This is a person who must be kept “in the loop” on the project status and direction, but they do not have any influence on the task or decisions being made.
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If a particular person is not to be involved in a task, then you can either leave their space blank or put a "---" in the space.
Example Grid for a Problem Solving Project
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People
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Actions and Decisions
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Tom
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Chris
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Beth
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Greg
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Paul
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Phil
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Create problem solving team.
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A
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---
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---
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---
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R
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I
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Describe the problem.
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R
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A
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A
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A
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---
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I
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Implement containment actions.
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R
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S
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S
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S
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A
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I
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Define and verify root causes.
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R
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A
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A
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A
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---
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I
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Choose and verify permanent corrective actions.
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R
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A
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A
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A
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---
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I
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Implement permanent corrective actions.
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R
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S
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S
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S
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A
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I
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Modify systems to prevent recurrence of the problem.
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---
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S
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S
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S
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R
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I
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Project debrief/celebration.
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R
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---
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---
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---
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---
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I
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Tom is the project leader and is responsible for getting team activities complete.
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Chris, Beth and Greg are team members and are involved in completing the project steps and implementation.
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Paul is the project sponsor and must approve all containment and permanent corrective actions. He also is responsible for modifying the company's systems to prevent recurrence of the problem in the future.
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Phil is the company president. He is not involved in this project but would like to be kept "in the loop" on the project status.
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Final Thoughts: It is important that there are clear roles and responsibilities whenever doing a group project or activity. A Responsibility Chart is one tool that can be helpful in defining and communicating this information. It is simple, easy to understand and can later be used to evaluate projects that are “stuck” or decisions that are not being followed. For this reason, consider putting a responsibility chart in your tool kit on your next project.
NEXT STEPS
If you would like more information on this topic, a listing of other project management tools or would like a brief on how responsibility charting has been used on a typical project, please contact Bill Proctor with your request at wproctor@epicentergroup.com or 216-702-0952. And, you can find previous issues of EPICentral at Newsletters.
Mr. Proctor also speaks on a variety of problem-solving and system design topics that can help companies significantly increase the success and profitability of their businesses. If you are interested in having Bill speak at one of your upcoming meetings/events or would like more information on any of the speaking topics, please visit Speaker Services or you can email Robin Milicia at Rmilicia@epicentergroup.com.
ABOUT EPICENTER DEVELOPMENT GROUP
Epicenter Development Group is an independent consulting firm that specializes in partnering with manufacturing and service firms to improve or expand their operations or relocate to more suitable facilities. We do this by integrating world-class system philosophies with traditional industrial systems engineering and organizational design tools and techniques - a process that we call GreenRoom Engineering. Through the use of GreenRoom Engineering, we can create breakthrough solutions for our clients in a fraction of the time required by traditional engineering methodologies.
The founder of Epicenter Development Group, William (Bill) Proctor, has a bachelors degree in Industrial Systems Engineering from The Ohio State University and a masters degree in Organizational Development and Analysis (with distinction) from The Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to his technical degrees, he also has accumulated twenty years of experience working within the manufacturing and service industries, has taught and presented papers on a variety of technical and non-technical subjects and is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Ohio.
To learn more about Epicenter Development Group, visit our homepage at www.epicentergroup.com.
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This newsletter is developed and published by:
Epicenter Development Group, LLC
12111 Chippewa Road
Brecksville, OH 44141
216.702.0952
www.epicentergroup.com
wproctor@epicentergroup.com
Copyright 2006, Epicenter Development Group
All rights reserved.
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