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The process of management, and the management of information as an essential element of general managerial practice, is addressed from the perspective of the manager. Information has always been a key element in the performance of a business and the effectiveness of management, and information technology can now transform the use of this information to give managers substantial benefits in business planning and decision making. It is considered that information must be integrated into an organisation′s overall management and planning system rather than being controlled by specialist IT professionals and that the manager has to be responsible for: people, their motivation and training; business systems, culture and environment; and the organisation′s data resource. The ways in which business information processes can be analysed and modelled are reviewed and it is explained that information models can enable a better understanding of the organisation by showing it in a new and sometimes enlightening way. Some of the many complex issues associated with managing the change process and achieving successful implementation of the technologies are considered.

The application of lean and quality improvement methods is very common in process improvement projects at organisational levels. The purpose of this research is to assess the adoption of Lean Six Sigma™ approaches for addressing a complex process-related issue in the coal industry.

The sticky coal problem was investigated from the perspective of process-related issues. Issues were addressed using a blended Lean value stream of supply chain interfaces and waste minimisation through the Six Sigma™ DMAIC problem-solving approach, taking into consideration cross-organisational processes.

It was found that the tendency to “solve the problem” at the receiving location without communication to the upstream was, and is still, a common practice that led to the main problem of downstream issues. The application of DMAIC Six Sigma™ helped to address the broader problem. The overall operations were improved significantly, showing the reduction of sticky coal/wagon hang-up in the downstream coal handling terminal.

The Lean Six Sigma approaches were adopted using DMAIC across cross-organisational supply chain processes. However, blending Lean and Six Sigma methods needs to be empirically tested across other sectors.

The proposed methodology, using a framework of Lean Six Sigma approaches, could be used to guide practitioners in addressing similar complex and recurring issues in the manufacturing sector.

This research introduces a novel approach to process analysis, selection and contextualised improvement using a combination of Lean Six Sigma™ tools, techniques and methodologies sustained within a supply chain with certified ISO 9001 quality management systems.

This study aims to analyze the business process management (BPM) applicability to a destination country-brand of a Latin American developing country and present a new process model for it.

This is a qualitative exploratory study whose unit of analysis is the BPM applicability to the destination country-brand of a Latin American developing country. Primary data were obtained through in-depth interview with the developing country's tourism international promotion agency. The secondary data were government reports and research papers on country-brand studies. Data analysis was carried out using stakeholder business context model, architecture processes, pain/gain matrix and BPMN for modelling.

The results present a new process model for country-brand management to reduce existing barriers. Three steps were carried out: analysis and modelling of the current processes of country-brand management; presentation of the current processes' problems and analysis and modelling of future processes country-brand management.

A theoretical contribution is provided in the literature on processes and country-brands since no previous studies relate these concepts and present a process-oriented management analysis for country-brands.

The main practical contribution was to identify the country-brand management problems, propose solutions to them and generate a new process model for country-brands that can be used as a managerial tool for national tourism organizations to improve their brands.

The present study is original as it approaches the first analysis of country-brand development with an emphasis on its process management.

The purpose is to examine the risk management processes and methods used in determining project feasibility in the early stages of the property development process by Australia/New Zealand property developers, including Monte Carlo simulation, Bayesian models and real option theory embedded in long-term property development and investment decision-making as instruments for providing flexibility and managing risk, uncertainty and change.

A questionnaire survey of 225 Australian and New Zealand trader developers, development managers, investors, valuers, fund managers and government/charities/other relating to Australia/New Zealand property development companies' decision-making processes in the early stages of the development process prior to site acquisition or project commencement – the methods used and confidence in their organisations' ability to both identify and manage the risks involved.

Few of the organisations sampled use sophisticated methods; those organisations that are more likely to use such methods for conducting risk analysis include development organisations that undertake large projects, use more risk analysis methods and have more layers in their project approval process. Decision-makers have a high level of confidence in their organisation's ability to both identify and manage the risks involved, although this is not mirrored in their actual risk management processes. Although the majority of property developers have a risk management plan, less than half have implemented it, and a third need improvement.

Property development organisations should incorporate more modern and sophisticated models of risk analysis to determine the uncertainty of, and risk in, a change of input variables in their financial viability appraisals. Practical application includes using such multiple techniques as what-if scenarios and probability analysis into feasibility processes and utilise these specific techniques in the pre-acquisition stages of the property development process and, specifically, in the site acquisition process to support decision-making, including a live risk register and catalogue of risks, including identification of and plans for mitigation of project risks, as a form of risk management.

First study to examine the extent of the decision-making methods used by property developers in the pre-acquisition stage of the development process.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of total quality management (TQM) practices in terms of leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, teamwork, process management, information, and analysis on organizational performance in Jordanian telecommunications companies. In addition, the mediating effect of knowledge management (KM) processes is tested.

A survey instrument was used to gather empirical data, and it was distributed to all managerial and non-managerial employees. A total of 477 questionnaires were valid for analysis, resulting in a response rate of (97 percent). Factor analysis and multiple regression analyses were used to test the study’s hypotheses.

Customer focus and process management were found to have an insignificant impact on organizational performance, while teamwork had the strongest impact on KM processes. The results also revealed that only knowledge sharing and application processes had a significant impact on organizational performance. More importantly, KM processes fully mediated the impact of TQM practices on organizational performance, except for teamwork, which had a partial mediating effect.

This study was limited to a survey of the headquarters of three telecommunication companies: Zain, Orange, and Umniah, in Amman City.

Originality of the paper lies in testing the influence of TQM practices on organizational performance in a novel context, where most TQM initiatives fail for one reason or another.

Significant numbers of business process management (BPM) projects fail. Their failure is attributed toward many factors. Among them, low quality of BPM is one reason. Some of the tasks in BPM have their roots in business process reengineering (BPR). The literature has cited many different critical success and failure factors for quality BPM and BPR. Lack of software tools is one of the technology-oriented factors that results in poor BPM and BPR. This paper aims to build a generic feature set offered by software tools for process modeling their analysis implementation and management. It presents an objective analysis in identifying weaknesses and strengths of these tools, primarily for BPM.

A method is proposed to evaluate the quality of process reengineering and management delivered by software tools. It consists of four phases: feature extraction, tool selection, data extraction and tool evaluation.

The data gathered is quantified to test research hypotheses, the results are statistically significant and highlight multiple areas for future improvements. Moreover, the cluster visualizations created also help to understand the strengths and weaknesses of BPM/BPR tools.

Despite the research approach used, there is a chance of subjectivity when it comes to evaluating different tools.

The paper includes implications for practitioners and researchers for choosing appropriate software tool for process modeling, analysis, implementation and management, matching their requirements with BPM and BPR. It also identifies features that are missing in these tools.

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of BPM and supporting tools, relates them to key stages of BPM life cycle and BPR methodologies. It also identifies various areas for further development in these tools.

The current study probes the multi-dimensional link between total quality management (TQM) and knowledge management (KM) and investigates how different TQM's dimensions impacts KM processes and how this nexus impacts organizational performance (operational and financial performance) by considering KM as an intermediating variable between TQM and organizational performance.

Six TQM practices are taken from “Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award”, namely leadership, customer focus, strategic planning, human resource management, process management and information and analysis; KM processes include knowledge creation, acquisition, sharing and application and organizational performance comprises operational and financial performance. The researcher put together data from different sized services and manufacturing firms, from small, to medium and large firms located in the United Kingdom (UK).

The results suggested that a positive correlation existed between TQM, KM and organizational performance. KM is also shown to have quite a strong and positive influence on firm operational and financial performance and partially mediates the relationship between TQM and corporate performance. Dimensional analysis indicates that leadership, strategic planning, customer focus and HRM have a significant positive impact on all KM process, while mixed results have been found for process management and information and analysis. The contextual analysis indicates that except for knowledge creation, TQM plays an equally significant role for the majority of manufacturing establishments and services firms.

The present research makes a significant contribution to the scarce literature on the relationship between TQM and KM (mainly at dimensional level), particularly in the context of the UK, and provides a detailed understanding of the relations between different TQM and KM dimensions, and how their relationship impacts on the operational and financial performance of different sizes of manufacturing and services firms.

Highlights

1. Total quality management (TQM) enhances firms' knowledge management (KM) capabilities

2. KM partially mediates the relationship between TQM and firms' performance

3. Leadership, customer focus and process management indicated insignificant impact on knowledge creation

4. TQM and KM are equally important for all sizes manufacturing and services firms

Total quality management (TQM) enhances firms' knowledge management (KM) capabilities

KM partially mediates the relationship between TQM and firms' performance

Leadership, customer focus and process management indicated insignificant impact on knowledge creation

TQM and KM are equally important for all sizes manufacturing and services firms

Research in business processes has been developed around a disciplinary approach toward the production of traditional knowledge, known as Mode 1. The problems studied with this approach are solved in a context in which academic knowledge prevails, with no major concerns regarding its practical applicability. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to propose a structure for knowledge production based on Mode 2 for business process researches.

A bibliometric research was conducted to define and conceptualize the classes of disciplinary problems, by assessing the years 2007-2012 of the Business Process Management Journal publications.

A framework for the Mode 2 knowledge production was proposed in the development of research in business process and conceptualized classes of problems related to this issue.

This work was carried out with specific focus on research in business process, so the defined classes of problems cannot be generalized.

The studies identified by this research are in the form of a disciplinary approach toward the production of traditional knowledge, known as Mode 1. This paper aims to fill the gap of a transdisciplinary production of knowledge and practical application, known as Mode 2 in the context of business process.

This paper aims to achieve fully intertwined knowledge and business processing in change processes. It proposes streamlining situated articulation work, value network analyses (VNA) and subject-oriented business process modelling (S-BPM) and execution to provide non-disruptive single and double learning processes driven by concerned stakeholders. When implementing knowledge life cycles, such as Firestone and McElroy’s knowledge life cycle, the agility of organizations is significantly constrained, in particular, when surviving knowledge claims should be implemented in the business processing environment in a seamless way.

The contribution is based on a conceptual analysis of knowledge life cycle implementations, learning loop developments and an exploratory case study in health care to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The solution towards non-disruptive knowledge and business processing allows stakeholders to actively participate in single- and double-loop learning processes.

The introduced approach supports problem and knowledge claim formulation, knowledge claim evaluation and non-disruptive knowledge integration into a business process environment. Based on stakeholder articulation, the steps to follow are: holomapping, exchange analysis, impact analysis, value creation analysis, subject-oriented modelling, business process validation and execution. Seamless support of stakeholders is enabled through the direct mapping of stakeholder and activity descriptions from value network representations to behaviour specifications (process models) on the individual and organizational layer.

Current knowledge life cycle developments and implementations can now be analyzed in a structured way. Elements of the proposed approach could be integrated in disruptive implementations to overcome current limitations of knowledge life cycles. However, further case studies need to be performed to identify hindrances or barriers of combining VNA and S-BPM, both on the technological and methodological layer. What works for expert service industries might need to be adapted for production industries, and tools or tool chains might need to be configured accordingly. Finally, the socio-economic impact of the approach needs to be explored.

The presented case study from health care reveals the potential of such a methodological combination, as cycle times can be reduced, in particular, due to the execution of role-specific process models in the respective business processing environment. It can be considered as a fundamental shift for existing change management procedures, as they require rework of the entire functional process models when addressing business processing. Now, stakeholder- or role-specific behaviour can be handled isolated and in parallel, without affecting the entire organization in case of modifications.

The proposed methodological integration has not been done before. It enables stakeholders to perform single- and double-loop change processes in a seamless way.