Dr Thomas Kohlborn, Dr Oliver Mueller, Professor Jens Poeppelbuss and Dr Maximilian Roeglinger
Thomas Kohlborn, Oliver Mueller, Jens Poeppelbuss and Maximilian Roeglinger
More than two decades after the early works about Business Process Management (BPM) were published by the discipline's thought-leaders of that time, the authors were interested in…
Abstract
Purpose
More than two decades after the early works about Business Process Management (BPM) were published by the discipline's thought-leaders of that time, the authors were interested in getting an assessment of what BPM has been able to achieve so far, what promises have been fulfilled, and where BPM should be heading in the future. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the above issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted an interview with Professor Michael Rosemann, one of today's authorities in the BPM field, who shared with us his thoughts on ambidextrous BPM.
Findings
According to Michael Rosemann, the BPM community has, since its conception, put much effort in mastering exploitative BPM that focusses on analyzing and automating single processes as well as on improving such processes step-by-step. However, explorative BPM, which emphasizes radical process change, process innovation and the enabling of new business models, still is in its infancy. Professor Rosemann therefore calls for ambidextrous BPM integrating exploitative and explorative capabilities, more interdisciplinary as well as a closer collaboration between academia and practice.
Originality/value
In this interview, Michael Rosemann points to directions of future development for the BPM community, particularly with respect to explorative BPM. Michael Rosemann also highlights the skillset explorative BPM researchers and professionals should have.
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Stephan Bögel, Stefan Stieglitz and Christian Meske
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel role model-based approach for modelling collaborative business processes. The authors present an architecture for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel role model-based approach for modelling collaborative business processes. The authors present an architecture for subject-oriented business process modelling relying on the role concept and the demonstration of collaboration patterns expressed by role models.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors present a literature review and they identify requirements for collaborative business process modelling. Moreover, roles are introduced as the enabling concept for collaborative business process modelling. The concept of roles offers a dynamic type aspect as a linking element to business process modelling as well as the ability to model collaboration aspects as they are central elements of social software.
Findings
The authors propose a role-based approach to use the potential of social media for business process modelling of collaborative processes. The approach helps to overcome traditional business process modelling drawbacks like “model-reality divide” and “lost innovations.”
Research limitations/implications
The proposed approach and derived prototype architecture have not been tested yet and therefore still need to be empirically proved and verified. However, the conceptual work will help other researchers as well as practitioners to further elaborate the model and to develop prototypes.
Practical implications
The paper includes implications for the improvement of business process modelling in team-based and knowledge-centric organizations, which strive for an optimization of collaboration management.
Originality/value
This work is the first to introduce a role model-based approach to overcome traditional drawbacks of business process modelling.
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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…
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.
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The purpose of this paper is to propose a solution for automating the task of matching business process models and search for correspondences with regard to the model semantics…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a solution for automating the task of matching business process models and search for correspondences with regard to the model semantics, thus improving the efficiency of such works.
Design/methodology/approach
A method is proposed based on combining several semantic technologies. The research follows a design-science-oriented approach in that a method together with its supporting artifacts has been engineered. It application allows for reusing legacy models and automatedly determining semantic similarity.
Findings
The method has been applied and the first findings suggest the effectiveness of the approach. The results of applying the method show its feasibility and significance. The suggested heuristic computing of semantic correspondences between semantically heterogeneous business process models is flexible and can support domain users.
Research limitations/implications
Even though a solution can be offered that is directly usable, so far the full complexity of the natural language as given in model element labels is not yet completely resolvable. Here further research could contribute to the potential optimizations and refinement of automatic matching and linguistic procedures. However, an open research question could be solved.
Practical implications
The method presented is aimed at adding to the methods in the field of business process management and could extend the possibilities of automating support for business analysis.
Originality/value
The suggested combination of semantic technologies is innovative and addresses the aspect of semantic heterogeneity in a holistic, which is novel to the field.
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Ana Sofia Antunes, Paulo Rupino da Cunha and João Barata
The purpose of this paper is to present a lightweight approach to help diagnose and eliminate issues in existing business processes, which cause participants to resist following…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a lightweight approach to help diagnose and eliminate issues in existing business processes, which cause participants to resist following them as modelled. The analysis is made accessible by the use of drillable graphical dashboards.
Design/methodology/approach
Two action research cycles in two distinct industries were used to test and refine the approach, while also solving the specific organizational issues.
Findings
The approach was considered simple to use and proved capable of identifying pain points causing friction in the smooth operation of business processes. Various longer-term positive effects were reported by one of the organizations that is ISO 9001-certified.
Research limitations/implications
This type of research benefits from experiments in new cases with different contexts that can challenge it. In particular, it would be interesting to evaluate the approach in an organization with a more ad hoc view of processes, as opposed to the more standards-based cases of this paper.
Practical implications
Using the proposed approach to tune the processes, so that participants are more willing to follow them, removes some inconsistency of operations and potential non-conformities in audits.
Social implications
The proposed approach is aimed at the “social sustainability” of the business processes, as it seeks to eliminate people grievances with those processes and make them sustainable in the long term.
Originality/value
Although there is a lot written about process improvement, the literature is scarce in lightweight, pragmatic approaches to identify and resolve the social aspects that cause participants to deviate from the processes, or see them as a burden instead of valuable help for their everyday tasks.
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Julian Krumeich, Benjamin Weis, Dirk Werth and Peter Loos
The business operations of today's enterprises are heavily influenced by numerous of internal and external business events. With the Event Driven Architecture and particularly the…
Abstract
Purpose
The business operations of today's enterprises are heavily influenced by numerous of internal and external business events. With the Event Driven Architecture and particularly the Complex Event Processing (CEP), the technology required for identifying complex correlations in these large amounts of event data right after its appearance has already emerged. The resulting gain in operational transparency builds the foundation for (near) real-time reactions. This motivated extensive research activities especially in the field of Business Process Management (BPM), which essentially coined the term Event-Driven BPM (EDBPM). Now, several years after the advent of this new concept, the purpose of this paper is to shed light to the question: where are we now on our way towards a sophisticated adoption of the CEP technology within BPM?
Design/methodology/approach
The research methodology of this paper is a structured literature analysis. It basically follows the procedure proposed by vom Brocke et al. (2009). This verified five-step process – entitled “Reconstructing the giant” – allowed a rigorous study. As a result, various research clusters were derived, whose state-of-the-art exposed existing research gaps within EDBPM.
Findings
First of all, the paper provides a concise conceptual basis on different application possibilities of EDBPM. Afterwards, it synthesizes current research into six clusters and highlights most significant work within them. Finally, a research agenda is proposed to tackle existing research gaps to pave the way towards fully realizing the potentials of the paradigm.
Originality/value
So far, a comparable study of the current state-of-the-art within EDBPM is non-existent. The findings of this paper, e.g. the proposed research agenda, help scholars to focus their research efforts on specific aspects that need to be considered in order to advance the adoption of the CEP technology within BPM.
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The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and…
Abstract
The Bureau of Economics in the Federal Trade Commission has a three-part role in the Agency and the strength of its functions changed over time depending on the preferences and ideology of the FTC’s leaders, developments in the field of economics, and the tenor of the times. The over-riding current role is to provide well considered, unbiased economic advice regarding antitrust and consumer protection law enforcement cases to the legal staff and the Commission. The second role, which long ago was primary, is to provide reports on investigations of various industries to the public and public officials. This role was more recently called research or “policy R&D”. A third role is to advocate for competition and markets both domestically and internationally. As a practical matter, the provision of economic advice to the FTC and to the legal staff has required that the economists wear “two hats,” helping the legal staff investigate cases and provide evidence to support law enforcement cases while also providing advice to the legal bureaus and to the Commission on which cases to pursue (thus providing “a second set of eyes” to evaluate cases). There is sometimes a tension in those functions because building a case is not the same as evaluating a case. Economists and the Bureau of Economics have provided such services to the FTC for over 100 years proving that a sub-organization can survive while playing roles that sometimes conflict. Such a life is not, however, always easy or fun.
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This chapter offers insight on how existing paradigms within Black Studies, specifically the ideas of racial capitalism and the Black Radical Tradition, can advance sociological…
Abstract
This chapter offers insight on how existing paradigms within Black Studies, specifically the ideas of racial capitalism and the Black Radical Tradition, can advance sociological scholarship toward greater understanding of the macro-level factors that shape Black mobilizations. In this chapter, I assess mainstream sociological research on the Civil Rights Movement and theoretical paradigms that emerged from its study, using racial capitalism as a lens to explain dynamics such as the political process of movement emergence, state-sponsored repression, and demobilization. The chapter then focuses on the reparatory justice movement as an example of how racial capitalism perpetuates wide disparities between Black and white people historically and contemporarily, and how reparations activists actively deploy the idea of racial capitalism to address inequities and transform society.
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Deana A. Rohlinger, Ben Kail, Miles Taylor and Sarrah Conn
Purpose – Although scholars have long been interested in how social movements use mass media to forward their goals, sociological research almost exclusively focuses on the…
Abstract
Purpose – Although scholars have long been interested in how social movements use mass media to forward their goals, sociological research almost exclusively focuses on the ability of activist groups to get their ideas and organizations in general audience, mainstream media coverage. This paper contributes to a more systematic understanding of media coverage outcomes by broadening the range of outlets considered relevant to political discourse. In addition to mainstream venues, we consider conservative and liberal/left outlets in our analysis of social movement organization media coverage.
Method – Using negative binomial regression, we analyze how organizational characteristics, organizational frames, political elites, and event type affect the rates of social movement organization media coverage in mainstream and partisan news venues.
Findings – We find that the independent variables play very different roles in mainstream and partisan media coverage outcomes. Specifically, while organizational characteristics and frames often enhance the media coverage outcomes of activist groups in mainstream venues, political elites have no effect at all. In contrast, organizational characteristics and frames do not affect social movement media coverage in partisan outlets, whereas political elites and event type do.
Originality of the paper – Conceptually, this research broadens how scholars think about the relationship between social movement groups and mass media as well as the factors that influence media outcomes.