Clarifies the roles (R - Responsibility, A - Authority, E - Expertise, W - Work) organizations and/or specific individuals play, in performing a specific business activity within the enterprise.
Applications
- To identify and document roles.
- To identify anomalies (such as responsibility without authority or work without expertise) and opportunities for redesign.
- To identify requirements for new job descriptions.
Procedures
- List the enterprise activities being examined.
- Record the RAEW for each cell.
- Identify and describe the exceptions.
- Develop an action plan.
Instructions
The first step in the RAEW analysis is to determine the scope of the enterprise activities relating to customer satisfiers, for this exercise. These will be placed on the vertical axis of a matrix (see example that follows). The job functions, roles, organizations, or individuals will be placed on the horizontal axis of the matrix. Activities derived from a value stream or process work flow can also be used to populate the matrix. Alternatively, identify the RAEWs for each activity on a work flow diagram (see example).
Record, in the cells of the matrix, which organization units have the Responsibility, Authority, Expertise, or Work roles to carry out each activity. These roles are defined as follows:
- Responsibility - To have accountability and answerability for carrying out an activity.
- Authority - To apply control, power, and influence to successfully complete an activity,
- Expertise - To possess skill and knowledge about a particular subject matter needed to complete an activity.
- Work - To actually perform, accomplish, or produce an end product, as a result of an activity.
For each activity, each of the four roles must be addressed at least once, and each organization or group must play some role. If more than one organizational unit is responsible or authorized for a given activity, examine the lower level activities to remove any ambiguity, and confirm.
The completed matrix is used for discussion purposes to show the cooperation and interaction needed between individuals and groups, and to identify anomalies. Certain combinations of these attributes support success, while others inhibit it. Successful combinations include:
- authority and expertise - this would be seen in an oversight role, a head coach
- responsibility and authority - this would be seen in a managerial role, a sales manager
- expertise and work - this would be seen in an operational role, customer service representative
- responsibility and expertise - this would be seen in a consulting role, a lawyer
It is important to identify anomalies such as:
- Authority without Responsibility - This results in the wrong job being done or conflicting priorities for people across the enterprise. Direction is being given without the accountability for anything.
- Responsibility without Authority - This results in the task not being completed because the person who is accountable for it cannot direct anyone to perform it.
- Work without Expertise - This results in lower quality product or services because the people who perform the tasks don't have the correct skill set.
Another useful way to display the roles (RAEW) is to annotate them on the work flow diagram(s) for the value stream or process being reengineered. Once the work flow is fleshed out and agreed to, identify the roles (RAEW) associated with each activity and discussion on the flow diagram (see example below). From this information, opportunities for redesign can be derived based on anomalies that are present/discovered. This information can also be used to help drive organizational interaction diagrams (see
Organization Interaction Diagramming) and/or as input into job/work descriptions. The final step is to identify actions required to address the anomalies and develop an appropriate action plan.
Examples
