Pockets of Creativity in Business Processes

Abstract

Creative processes, for instance, the development of visual effects or computer games, increasingly become part of the agenda of information systems researchers and practitioners. Such processes get their managerial challenges from the fact that they comprise both well-structured, transactional parts and creative parts. The latter can often not be precisely specified in terms of control flow, required resources, and outcome. The processes' high uncertainty sets boundaries for the application of traditional business process management concepts, such as process automation, process modeling, process performance measurement, and risk management. Organizations must thus exercise caution when it comes to managing creative processes and supporting these with information technology. This, in turn, requires a profound understanding of the concept of creativity in business processes. In response to this, the present article introduces a framework for conceptualizing creativity within business processes. The conceptual framework describes three types of uncertainty and constraints as well as the interrelationships among these. The study is grounded in the findings from three case studies that were conducted in the film and visual effects industry. Moreover, we provide initial evidence for the framework's validity beyond this narrow focus. The framework is intended to serve as a sensitizing device that can guide further information systems research on creativity-related phenomena.

Enhancing Creativity in Groups -- Proposition of an Integrated Framework for Designing Group Creativity Support Systems

“…Due to uncertainties with respect to the product characteristics, the output has to be permanently modified and adjusted to existent and emerging requirements [65]. In consequence, multiple iterations between convergent and divergent processes are performed.…”

The extent of EFQM effectiveness in routine and non-routine organizations based on multivariate techniques: an empirical study

“…Issues such as (1) the effectiveness of the other BEMs on a larger sample of routine and non-routine organizations, (2) the impact of the size of the routine and nonroutine organizations on the result of the assessment process based on BEMs, and (3) the effect of national cultures on the results of routine and non-routine organizations assessment can be considered as areas for further research. The above questions were extracted from the studies conducted by Seidel et al (2010), Seidel (2011) andLillrank (2003).…”

“…According to the definition for different types of processes given by Lillrank (2003) and based on the studies by Seidel et al (2010) and Seidel (2011), uncertainty in processes can be quantified using uncertainties in input (resource), process, and output (product). Therefore, a score sheet with three sections input (I), process (P), and output (O) was designed and in each section the associated characteristics were considered.…”

“…On the other side, due to the importance of business processes performance, many researchers have focused on the improvement of process management models (Spanyi 2010;Van Looy et al 2011;Palmberg 2009;Seidel et al 2010;Hampson and Junor 2005;Seidel 2011;Schafermeyer et al 2010) and more specifically on standardizing process (Schafermeyer et al 2010;Ungan 2006;Rosenkranz et al 2010), challenges and barriers in different organizations. Some of the most important challenges that process management faces are complexity, creativity, and uncertainty in some of the processes Hampson and Junor 2005;Seidel 2011;Schafermeyer et al 2010;Ungan 2006;Rosenkranz et al 2010).…”

Handbook on Business Process Management 2

“…Over the last few years, we have studied organizations from the creative industries in order to explain how creativity influences business processes and their management (Seidel et al 2008b;Seidel 2009). The creative industries are generally regarded as those which focus on creating and exploiting intellectual property (Hartley 2005).…”