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Article
Publication date: 21 October 2019

Patricia Bazan and Elsa Estevez

The purpose of this paper is to assess the state of the art of social business process management (Social BPM), explaining applied approaches, existing tools and challenges and to…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the state of the art of social business process management (Social BPM), explaining applied approaches, existing tools and challenges and to propose a research agenda for encouraging further development of the area.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology comprises a qualitative analysis using secondary data. The approach relies on searches of scientific papers conducted in well-known databases, identifying research work related to Social BPM solutions and those contributing with social characteristics to BPM. Based on the identified papers, the authors selected the most relevant and the latest publications, and categorized their contributions and findings based on open and selective coding. In total, the analysis is based on 51 papers that were selected and analyzed in depth.

Findings

Main results show that there are several studies investigating modeling approaches for socializing process activities and for capturing implicit knowledge possessed and used by process actors, enabling to add some kind of flexibility to business processes. However, despite the proven interest in the area, there are not yet adequate tools providing effective solutions for Social BPM. Based on our findings, the authors propose a research agenda comprising three main lines: contributions of social software (SS) to Social BPM, Social BPM as a mechanism for adding flexibility to and for discovering new business processes and Social BPM for enhancing business processes with the use of new technologies. The authors also identify relevant problems for each line.

Practical implications

Some SS tools, like wikis, enable managing social aspects in executing business processes and can be used to coordinate simple business processes. Despite they are commonly used, they are not yet mature tools supporting Social BPM and more efficient tools are yet to appear. The lack of tools preclude organizations from benefitting from implicit knowledge owned by and shared among business process actors, which could contribute to better-informed decisions related to organizational processes. In addition, more research is needed for considering Social BPM as an approach for organizations to benefit from the adoption of new technologies in their business processes.

Originality/value

The paper assesses the state of the art in Social BPM, an incipient area in research and practice. The area can be defined as the intersection of two bigger areas highly relevant for organizations; on the one hand, the management and execution of business processes; and on the other hand, the use of social software, including social media tools, for leveraging on implicit knowledge shared by business process actors to improving efficiency of business processes.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 26 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 April 2017

Martin Lehnert, Alexander Linhart and Maximilian Roeglinger

Despite an obvious connection, business process improvement and business process management (BPM) capability development have been studied intensely, but in isolation. The authors…

2378

Abstract

Purpose

Despite an obvious connection, business process improvement and business process management (BPM) capability development have been studied intensely, but in isolation. The authors thus aim to make the case for the research located at the intersection of both streams. The authors thereby focus on the integrated planning of business process improvement and BPM capability development as this is where, in the authors’ opinion, both streams have the closest interaction. The authors refer to the research field located at the intersection of business process improvement and BPM capability development as process project portfolio management. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors structure the field of process project portfolio management drawing from extant knowledge related to BPM, project portfolio management, and performance management. The authors also propose a research agenda in terms of exemplary research questions and research methods.

Findings

The proposed structure shows which business objects and interactions should be considered when engaging in process project portfolio management. The research agenda contains exemplary questions structured along the intersections of BPM, project portfolio management, and performance management.

Research limitations/implications

This paper’s main limitation is that it reflects the authors’ individual viewpoints based on experiences of several industry projects and prior research.

Originality/value

This paper addresses a neglected research field, opens up new avenues for interdisciplinary BPM research, and contributes a novel perspective to the ongoing discussion about the future of BPM.

Article
Publication date: 26 November 2019

Peyman Badakhshan, Kieran Conboy, Thomas Grisold and Jan vom Brocke

Business Process Management (BPM) is key for successful organisational management. However, BPM techniques are often criticized for their inability to deal with continuous and…

4768

Abstract

Purpose

Business Process Management (BPM) is key for successful organisational management. However, BPM techniques are often criticized for their inability to deal with continuous and significant change and uncertainty. Following recent calls to make BPM more agile and flexible towards change, this study presents the results of a systematic literature review (SLR) of agile concepts in BPM. Analysing and synthesising previous works and drawing on agility research in the field of IS, this paper introduces a framework for agile BPM. Integrating different components that define agility in the context of BPM, this framework offers a number of important implications. On the theoretical side, the authors argue that the concept of agile BPM departs in some important ways from traditional BPM research. This, in turn, points to various opportunities for future research. On the practical side, the authors suggest that emerging technologies, such as process mining, embody important features that help organisations to be more responsive to change. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

To assess the state of the art of agility in the BPM research, the authors conducted an SLR. More specifically, the authors drew on the approach of vom Brocke et al. (2009, 2015), which consists of five steps: defining the scope of the review; conceptualising the topic; searching for literature; analysing and synthesising literature; and developing a research agenda.

Findings

This study presents the results of a systematic review of agile concepts in BPM. This study then proposes a resulting research framework that can be used to strengthen the concept of agile BPM and provides an agenda for research in this rapidly growing and increasingly necessary area of BPM.

Originality/value

In this paper, the authors establish a shared understanding of agile BPM and develop an agile BPM framework that represents the current state as well as implications for research and practice in agile BPM.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 26 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 July 2016

Mohammad Ehson Rangiha, Marco Comuzzi and Bill Karakostas

The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for social business process management (BPM) in which social tagging is used to capture process knowledge emerging during the…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for social business process management (BPM) in which social tagging is used to capture process knowledge emerging during the design and enactment of the processes. Process knowledge concerns both the type of activities chosen to fulfil a certain goal and the skills and experience of users in executing specific tasks. This knowledge is exploited by recommendation tools to support the design and enactment of current and future process instances.

Design/methodology/approach

The literature about traditional BPM is analysed to highlight the limitations of traditional BPM regarding management of ad hoc and semi-structured processes. Having identified this gap, an innovative BPM framework based on social tagging is proposed to address these limitations. This model is exemplified in a real case scenario and evaluated through the implementation of a prototype and a case study in real world non-profit organisation.

Findings

An overview of the social BPM framework is presented, introducing the concepts of role and task recommendation, which are supported by social tagging. The prototype shows the buildability of the social BPM framework as an extension of a Wiki platform. The case study demonstrates that the social BPM framework improves user collaborativeness in designing and executing process instances.

Research limitations/implications

The applicability of the framework is targeted to ad hoc and possibly semi-structured business processes and it does not extend to highly procedural and codified processes. A single case study limits the generalisability of the evaluation results.

Originality/value

The social BPM framework is the first to introduce task and role recommendation supported by social tagging to overcome the limitations of traditional BPM models.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 April 2018

Dharshani Thennakoon, Wasana Bandara, Erica French and Paul Mathiesen

There is wide acknowledgment that training people from all levels of an organization in process management activities and “process thinking” is a major contributor to the success…

1113

Abstract

Purpose

There is wide acknowledgment that training people from all levels of an organization in process management activities and “process thinking” is a major contributor to the success or failure, and sustainability of business process management (BPM). BPM training is provided in almost all BPM initiatives and involves the investment of valuable financial, human, information and other resources. However, little research has focused on this area. As a result, there is a lack of guidance for organizations in conducting value adding BPM training. The purpose of this paper is to consolidate the current published knowledge on BPM training in the form of a descriptive literature review to paint a picture of the existing work, identify gaps and propose a program of work for the future.

Design/methodology/approach

A structured descriptive literature review was conducted to understand the current status of literature on training in the domain of BPM. Of an initial search of 90 publications, 64 publications, published between 1994 and 2015, were filtered and reviewed based on their relevance to answer the research question: What has BPM literature mentioned of training people for BPM? This study proposes a research agenda based on this. A grounded theory coding approach was employed, where NVivo 10 was used as a tool to support the analysis.

Findings

A total of 234 codes (representing emerging themes) were inductively identified from the data. These codes were further analyzed, resulting in eight core themes pertaining to training in the BPM context.

Research limitations/implications

The paper presents a vivid descriptive overview of the current status of research in BPM training identifying gaps in the literature and presents a research agenda which supports a call for action.

Originality/value

The paper is the first known of its kind to compile the status of literature focused on BPM training and recommend a research agenda based on such.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 24 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2014

Jan vom Brocke, Theresa Schmiedel, Jan Recker, Peter Trkman, Willem Mertens and Stijn Viaene

The purpose of this paper is to foster a common understanding of business process management (BPM) by proposing a set of ten principles that characterize BPM as a research domain…

13900

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to foster a common understanding of business process management (BPM) by proposing a set of ten principles that characterize BPM as a research domain and guide its successful use in organizational practice.

Design/methodology/approach

The identification and discussion of the principles reflects the viewpoint, which was informed by extant literature and focus groups, including 20 BPM experts from academia and practice.

Findings

The authors identify ten principles which represent a set of capabilities essential for mastering contemporary and future challenges in BPM. Their antonyms signify potential roadblocks and bad practices in BPM. The authors also identify a set of open research questions that can guide future BPM research.

Research limitations/implications

The findings suggest several areas of research regarding each of the identified principles of good BPM. Also, the principles themselves should be systematically and empirically examined in future studies.

Practical implications

The findings allow practitioners to comprehensively scope their BPM initiatives and provide a general guidance for BPM implementation. Moreover, the principles may also serve to tackle contemporary issues in other management areas.

Originality/value

This is the first paper that distills principles of BPM in the sense of both good and bad practice recommendations. The value of the principles lies in providing normative advice to practitioners as well as in identifying open research areas for academia, thereby extending the reach and richness of BPM beyond its traditional frontiers.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 20 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 November 2022

Claus Nottbrock, Amy Van Looy and Steven De Haes

Organizations invest in novel digital innovations to improve their business processes. These innovations, including Industry 4.0 technologies, enable full organizational…

Abstract

Purpose

Organizations invest in novel digital innovations to improve their business processes. These innovations, including Industry 4.0 technologies, enable full organizational integration with business process management (BPM), thereby requiring interorganizational relationship (IOR) capabilities. Many organizations lack knowledge about areas of interorganizational (IO) capability for integrating digital innovations into their value chains. They therefore have difficulty understanding that, as a socio-technical concept, digitalization surpasses the intraorganizational level and requires tools to develop mandatory IOR capabilities. The authors’ systematic literature review (SLR) explores these capabilities within the discipline of BPM. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

This SLR follows the standard methodology for structuring a broad research field. The authors assessed capabilities relevant to manufacturing organizations from 58 academic articles published between 2011 and 2021.

Findings

Building on existing firm-centric capability frameworks, the authors developed individual capabilities into a novel framework of digital interorganizational value chain (DIOVC). The authors’ conceptual model provides a basis for researchers and practitioners to consider capabilities and the theoretical spectrum of IO value chains.

Research limitations/implications

Future studies should validate these DIOVC capabilities as input for an updated model of BPM maturity aimed at improving business process performance through digital innovations.

Practical implications

This study provides organizations with IOR knowledge, supports decision makers in governing digital innovations and develops IO capabilities to improve their value chain performance.

Originality/value

The authors’ DIOVC capability framework is robust, with constructs and dimensions grounded in the literature, demonstrating theoretical and practical relevance.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 29 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 November 2019

Dries Couckuyt and Amy Van Looy

Green Business Process Management (BPM) focusses on the ecological impact of business processes. Although it is an emerging field, different attitudes exist towards the…

1824

Abstract

Purpose

Green Business Process Management (BPM) focusses on the ecological impact of business processes. Although it is an emerging field, different attitudes exist towards the discipline’s name, the objectives and the approaches to realise them. By means of a systematic literature review, the purpose of this paper is to arrive at a common understanding of the discipline for successful development.

Design/methodology/approach

The review methodology relies on a hermeneutic framework which integrates the search, analysis and interpretation of the literature. The sample is used in a text analysis to find an appropriate definition (RQ1), a bibliometric analysis to give insights in current Green BPM contributions (RQ2) and a content analysis to present differences with conventional BPM (RQ3).

Findings

Green BPM follows a similar development as conventional BPM, namely from a more technical perspective to also including the managerial perspective. More research is required that goes beyond the traditional business process lifecycle.

Originality/value

The research questions generated a comprehensive overview about application domains and research topics, which in turn can deliver benefits for both research and practitioner-related communities. Researchers identify future research avenues, while practitioners find appropriate Green BPM techniques for their domain.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 June 2018

Monika Klun and Peter Trkman

Business process management (BPM) has attracted much focus throughout the years, yet there have been calls questioning the future of BPM. The purpose of this paper is to explore…

4216

Abstract

Purpose

Business process management (BPM) has attracted much focus throughout the years, yet there have been calls questioning the future of BPM. The purpose of this paper is to explore the current state of the field through a dynamic literature review and identify the main challenges for its future development.

Design/methodology/approach

A dynamic co-citation network analysis identifies the “evolution” of knowledge of BPM and the most influential works. The results present the developed BPM subthemes in the form of clusters.

Findings

The focus within the field has shifted from facilitating wide-ranging business performance improvements to creating introverted optimizations within a particular BPM subgroup. The BPM field has thus experienced strong fragmentation throughout the years and has accrued into self-fueling subareas of BPM research such as business process modeling and workflow management. Those subareas often neglect related disciplines in other management, process modeling and organizational improvement fields.

Research limitations/implications

The study is limited by the initial keyword choice of the authors. The subsequent co-citation analysis ameliorates the subjectivity since it produces a data set and contributions based on references.

Originality/value

A new combination of historical development and the state-of-the-art of the BPM field, by employing a co-citation and cluster analysis. This dynamic literature review presents the current state of the theoretical core and attempts to identify the crossroads that BPM has reached. The study can be replicated in the future to track the changes in the field.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 24 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 June 2011

Bjoern Niehaves and Ralf Plattfaut

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the status quo with regards to business process management (BPM) and collaboration and to show potential fields of future research in the…

2935

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the status quo with regards to business process management (BPM) and collaboration and to show potential fields of future research in the area of collaborative BPM.

Design/methodology/approach

To obtain results, authors employ the method of a systematic literature review using relevant existing guidelines. They not only search leading journals and conferences in the fields but also in ISI web of knowledge's web of science. Subsuming, 39 relevant articles are selected and analyzed with regards to concepts identified upfront.

Findings

The paper finds that collaborative BPM is a growing trend in information systems research, but that there still exist significant research gaps. Hence, it proposes a research agenda consisting out of five action fields pointing at potentially fruitful directions for future research.

Research limitations/implications

First, this paper provides an overview of the status quo in the field of collaborative BPM to young scholars. Second, it identifies five distinct research gaps that could be worth studying. However, this paper may be limited by the choice of dimensions and the selection of relevant articles.

Practical implications

This paper informs practitioners about the status quo of research on collaborative BPM. Here, especially the analysis in the dimensions collaboration partner and BPM goals can help to evaluate the practitioner's strategy.

Originality/value

The results of this paper present the status quo of collaborative BPM literature. Hence, it also identifies research gaps and derives a research agenda.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 17 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

1 – 10 of 379