Cultures in Business Process Management

Prepared by;Muhammad Daniyal Munir

Business process management

Business process management (BPM) is a management

approach that developed with a strong focus on the adoption

of information technology (IT).

BPM emerged as a succeeding concept to total quality management

(TQM) in the 1980s and business process reengineering (BPR) in the

1990s.

Leidner and Keyworth (2006) differentiate the following relations

between the concepts culture and IT:

-The impact of culture on IT

-The impact of IT on culture

-IT culture.

Business process management

Business process management is comprised of several core areas.

Technical approach:Focuses on two aspects;-Support of business processes.-Their Design.

Holistic approach:It includes;-further organizational aspects of BPM.-perceives processes as the central core through which business isconducted.

Culture

Culture is a broad and blurry concept because it isassociated differently depending on the context.

Different Views:

Hofstede (2005) considers culture to be the “collective programming of the mind” while

Schein (2004) suggests that a group learns “a pattern of shared basic assumptions.”

The scope of culture by differentiating between two defining elements:

1. The manifestation of culture:Schein’s (2004) concept of culture differentiates three layers.a. Artifactsb. Espoused valuesc. Basic underlying assumptions

2. The scope of the referenced group:Regarding the scope of referenced group it includes:a. National cultureb. Organizational culture

Scope of Culture

Design of the Literature ReviewThree Step Process

1. Defining a research basis:

BPM journal Journal databases BPM conference Conference database

Source Emerald Emerald, EBSCO BSP,

ABI Inform

Google, books, hard

copies

AIS Electronic Library

Search term I Business Process

Management

Journal

“Business process

management” OR

BPM

Culture “Business process

management”

Search field I Publication title Document

title/abstract

Full text Title/abstract

Search term II [AND] “business

process

management” OR

BPM

[AND] culture [OR] cultural [OR] BPM

Search field II Document

title/abstract

Full text Full text Title/abstract

Three Step Process

2. Extracting and categorizing relevant research:

This step aims to provide a quantitative overview of relevant research on

culture topics in BPM.

They defined two categories of relevant papers.

1. Research that mentions culture’s role in BPM.

2. Research that elaborates on cultural aspects in BPM.

Three Step Process

3. Analyzing research on culture in BPM:

It provides the qualitative approach on the research. It is based on twodimensions. The group referred to- included the group referred to when discussing

culture.

The relationship between BPM and culture- discussed three relationshipsbetween culture and BPM.

-Culture as an independent factor influencing BPM.-Culture as a dependent factor influenced by BPM.-Culture as BPM culture.

Results of the Research

-Quantitative results of the research have identifiedpapers including the cultures role in BPM. The resultsshow that the topic was under-researched already in theBPM community.

-Overall, qualitative results of research analysis allows for a more detailedstatement on the current state of the research. It includes results on: BPM and work group culture BPM and organizational culture. BPM and national culture

-Detailed analysis of culture in BPM added a new dimension of culture inaddition to the previous three. It is referred to as culture as an importantaspect in BPM.

The Cultural Framework/ Cultural Model

Discussion

Impact:

The BPM model represents the foundation for future research on BPMculture and its relationship to interfering group cultures.

The managerial impact of the literature review lies in the orientation itprovides for practice. It helps foresee dimensions of possible conflicts thatare based on cultural aspects.

Discussion

Limitations:

Concerning the framework, they are aware that it can be discussed to what extent one should speak of a Business Process Management culture or a business process culture since process orientation not only affects management.

The findings of our structured literature review revealed only a small sample of articles resulting in restricted generalizations.

Discussion

Future research:

The results of the literature review call for further researchregarding several aspects of culture’s role in BusinessProcess Management.

Future research considers the following questions:

What characterizes the concept of a Business Process Managementculture in detail?

What measures are suitable to achieve a cultural fit between a BusinessProcess Management culture and its cultural context?

What determines the relationship between Business Process Managementculture and national, organizational, and work group cultures?

Conclusion

The literature review gives two insights on research

considering culture in Business Process Management.

1. Quantitative Overview

2. Qualitative Analysis

Conclusion

Literature review involves major sources of:

Business Process Management community.

Business Process Management journal.

Business Process Management conference.

Several journal and conference databases.

Conclusion

Based on the review, our three research objectives

have been achieved:

a) We provided an overview of existing research on culture within the

domain of Business Process Management.

b) we developed a frame of reference regarding culture in Business

Process Management.

c) we derived potential areas for future research in the field.