White Space

[swatiraohnlu]

In process management, the White Space as described by Geary A. Rummler and Alan P. Brache in 1991, is the area between the boxes in an organization chart or the area between the different functions: Very often no one is in charge or responsible for the White Space. The important handoffs between functions are happening here, and this is very often the area where an organization has the greatest potential for improvements. In the White Space things often "fall between the cracks" or "disappear into black holes", resulting in misunderstandings and delays. To manage the White Spaces is a way to improve process performance of an organization.

 

[swatiraohnlu]

In a Harvard Business Review article in March, 2001, Maletz and Nohria describes "white space" as an area within a company where the existing corporate culture does not apply, somewhat like a skunk works. They wrote, "white space exists in all companies...where rules are vague, authority is fuzzy, budgets are nonexistent, and strategy is unclear..." If white space is undefined, then the rest of the corporation operates in what they call "black space." The study completed by the authors analyzed entreprenurial activity in the white space area of corporations. They determined that there are four key challenges to successful white space projects: establishing legitimacy, mobilizing resources, building momentum, and measuring results.