Many organisations fail in their attempt to adopt business process management (BPM). Although general critical success factors (CSFs) are well understood, we argue that CSFs are not the same for all stages of BPM adoption. The purpose of this article is to identify the CSFs in different stages of BPM adoption. A case study approach was used to analyse a successful BPM adoption in a public company. The article provides empirical insights about CSFs in individual stages of BPM adoption. We find that the guidance of external consultants was very important, although this factor is not commonly recognised in the literature. The article shows that the identification of well-known CSFs of BPM adoption gives only a limited view since the factors change between stages. Organisations need to carefully identify the stage and prepare a roadmap for their BPM adoption.

Purpose The paper investigates differences in the success of business process management (BPM) initiatives and their connection with organizational culture. The purpose of this paper is to identify propositions on characteristics of BPM initiative that are favorable for its success according to dominant organizational culture. Therefore, the authors’ aim was to identify connections of organizational commitment to BPM and dimensions of business process orientation (BPO) with dominant organizational culture. Design/methodology/approach As a research design, the authors used a questionnaire to collect data on the BPM adoption practices of organizations in Austria, Croatia and Slovenia with more than 50 employees. BPM adoption was measured with BPO and organizational culture with Competing Values Framework (CVF). Non-parametric tests have been applied for the analysis. On this survey data, the authors conducted statistical tests to identify those factors that discriminate successful from unsuccessful BPM initiatives. Findings The study revealed empirical insights about characteristics of successful BPM initiatives in different organizational cultures. There are several statistically significant differences with respect to the success of BPM adoption. The chance of success appears to be higher: when the BPM initiative is rolled out in the entire organization if the organization has Clan, Market or Hierarchy culture; when the BPM is run on a continuous basis in Hierarchy culture and repeatedly in Adhocracy culture; when a top-down approach is used in organizations with Market or Hierarchy dominant culture; when the BPM initiative has a strategic role and formal responsibilities are defined in Clan and Hierarchy cultures. Originality/value The authors’ empirical findings provide the basis for the formulation of detailed propositions on the interaction of various factors and their impact on BPM adoption in connection to organizational culture. In this way, the authors’ contribution is situated in the inductive research cycle and informs theory building for BPM adoption.

Purpose – There is very little literature about improving and managing knowledge-intensive business processes (KIBPs). Since innovation plays an important role in knowledge work, these processes are different from traditional business processes, for which most business process management (BPM) methods have been developed, and therefore KIBPs should be improved differently. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of BPM in the case of KIBPs by describing some methods that can be applied to manage and improve KIBPs. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a case study of a BPM project in the public sector, where most processes are knowledge-intensive. In conducting the longitudinal case study, established guidelines for interpretive case study research were followed. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Findings – The paper presents some findings about the methods that can be applied for BPM in the case of KIBPs. It shows that the main phases of a BPM project can be the same as in a typical project; however, within each project phase different methods have to be applied. Appropriate methods for modelling the existing processes were workshops and interviews. Qualitative methods were suitable for the analysis phase, while it was not necessary to develop detailed to-be models in the business process redesign phase. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the body of knowledge on BPM in the case of KIBPs. Previous findings from the literature claiming that participative, incremental and continuous methods are suitable for improving KIBPs were confirmed. The case study also showed that proper project management, communication, the active role of top management and the involvement of external consultants during BPM projects are very important.

No abstract

No abstract