No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Measures of process harmonization
... (Nesheim 2011;Muenstermann et al. , 2010a The process is not only documented, but such documentation is governed in a manner that the process execution can be conducted in a regulated way (as per the documentation). The process is controlled or directed by rule, principle, and standards K Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research (Nesheim 2011;Romero et al. 2015b) This set of items establishes the measures for harmonization of standards in the context of BPS to merge process variants. It consists of the following: -The number of documents that are required for different processes, -The percentage of common activities among the processes being harmonized, -Different software applications deployed by the processes, and -Percentage of common and different roles involved ...
... We call for future research to understand the process of unification in more depth. Other work e.g., Romero et al. (2015b), has argued the need to understand in greater detail the process of unifying variants, but that work is yet in its genesis. Methods used herein for BPS more broadly, can be adapted to conceptualise process unification more specifically, and to derive measures of process unification. ...
... "The number of different software applications in used in the process" (Romero et al. 2015b) 1.1.3 Information technology used in different processes"The percentage of common roles in the process"(Romero et al. 2015b) ...
‘Business Process Standardization’ (BPS) is a practice intended to achieve consistency across underlying organizational processes, in support of service-delivery excellence and optimization of costs and benefits. Given the growing importance of BPS, there is need in both research and practice for clearer conceptual understanding of the notion. Following a systematic literature review approach, prior work on Business Process Standardization is synthesized and extended using tool-supported qualitative data analysis techniques, to derive an evidence-based, holistic conceptualization of BPS. We distil seven stages of BPS execution, propose a refined definition for BPS, and identify measures that gauge the several conceptual themes of BPS. The findings provide solid theoretical foundations, and practicable guidelines for future BPS researchers and practitioners.
... Data richness refers to "the technical design of the business process in terms of the activities that constitute the business process and in terms of the data items that are passed through the business process" (Romero et al. 2015b, p. 41). Romero et al. (2015b) show in a quantitative study that the percentage of the common activities in the process, the number of different documents used as input, and the number of different outputs significantly influence process harmonization success. ...
... In a quantitative study, Schäfermeyer et al. (2012) identify a significant negative impact of high process complexity on process standardization success. A similar finding is derived by Romero et al. (2015b) who also empirically demonstrate that organizations with less complex processes have more harmonized processes. Accordingly, to achieve harmonized and/or standardized processes, organizations should aim to reduce the complexity of their processes (Romero et al. 2015b). ...
... A similar finding is derived by Romero et al. (2015b) who also empirically demonstrate that organizations with less complex processes have more harmonized processes. Accordingly, to achieve harmonized and/or standardized processes, organizations should aim to reduce the complexity of their processes (Romero et al. 2015b). ...
Prozessstandardisierung wird nach wie vor forciert, um die Effizienz in Unternehmen zu steigern. Eines der prominentesten Beispiele aus der jüngsten Zeit ist die prozessorientierte Neuausrichtung der Lufthansa Gruppe, welche mithilfe von Prozessstandardisierung Synergien zwischen den Tochterairlines und den zugehörigen Prozessen schaffen möchte. Obwohl Prozessstandardisierung und die zugrundeliegende Managementdisziplin Business Process Management keine neuen Phänomene sind, erzeugen sie in Unternehmen dennoch einige Schwierigkeiten. Bisherige Forschungsarbeiten zeigen, dass vor allem fehlende Methoden zur Identifizierung von geeigneten Prozessen (Schäfermeyer et al. 2012), kulturelle Barrieren (vom Brocke and Sinnl 2011), sowie fehlende Prozessorientierung, aber auch fehlende Identifikation und Motivation auf Seiten der Mitarbeiter (Grau and Moormann 2014) Hauptgründe für das Scheitern von Prozessprojekten sind. Bei der Standardisierung von Prozessen kommt ein weiterer Faktor hinzu: die Akzeptanz der Mitarbeiter, die dem neuen Prozessstandard folgen sollen. In den meisten Fällen haben die Unternehmen, in denen standardisiert werden soll, bereits dokumentierte Prozesse oder die Mitarbeiter haben eigene Routinen, um ihre Aufgaben abzuarbeiten. Der neue Standard nutzt diese bereits existierenden Prozesse als Aufsatzpunkt oder ersetzt diese komplett. Aufgrund der radikalen Einflussnahme auf die tägliche Arbeit der Mitarbeiter, müssen diese im Rahmen der Prozessstandardisierung besonders berücksichtigt und ihre Akzeptanz gegenüber der veränderten Prozesse sichergestellt werden. Um die komplette Bandbreite der Mitarbeiterakzeptanz hinsichtlich Prozessstandardisierung abzudecken, wird im Folgenden der Terminus Prozessveränderungsakzeptanz verwendet. Der erste Schritt in Richtung Prozessveränderungsakzeptanz wird durch eine prozessorientierte Arbeitsweise der Mitarbeiter gemacht. Diese neue Arbeitsweise beinhaltet sowohl die Möglichkeiten und Fähigkeiten, aber auch die Bereitschaft der Mitarbeiter in prozessorientierter und standardisierter Art und Weise zu denken und zu handeln. Um dies zu erreichen, müssen Organisationen zunächst die Faktoren verstehen, welche die Bereitschaft und die Motivation von Mitarbeitern prozessorientiert zu denken und zu handeln beeinflussen. Die aktuelle BPM-Literatur wendet sich zwar zunehmend den Mitarbeitern zu, indem BPM-Kultur (Hammer 2007; vom Brocke and Sinnl 2011; Willaert et al. 2007) sowie Mitarbeiterschulung und -befähigung (Kohlbacher and Gruenwald 2011a; Leyer et al. 2014; Škrinjar and Trkman 2013) immer häufiger diskutiert werden. Dennoch fokussiert sich die BPM-Literatur immer noch zu wenig auf die psychologischen Aspekte von Prozessmitarbeitern. Um Akzeptanz der Mitarbeiter gegenüber veränderten und standardisierten Prozessen zu erreichen, muss gänzlich verstanden werden, welche Faktoren diese beeinflussen. Diese Dissertation beleuchtet detailliert die individuelle Perspektive der Prozessmitarbeiter und analysiert die Faktoren, welche die Prozessveränderungsakzeptanz von Mitarbeitern erhöht. Die übergeordnete Forschungsfrage der vorliegenden Dissertation lautet: Welche individuellen und motivatorischen Faktoren beeinflussen die Mitarbeiterakzeptanz gegenüber Prozessveränderungen? Diese Forschungsfrage (sowie deren abgeleiteten Forschungsfragen) wird mithilfe von neun Forschungsbeiträgen sowie eines multimethodischen Ansatzes beantwortet. Das Fundament für diesen Ansatz stellen zwei Literaturanalysen dar, welche sowohl die verschiedenen Dimensionen von Prozessorientierung sowie Erfolgsfaktoren der Prozessstandardisierung beleuchten. Darauf aufbauend wurde der Einfluss von ausgewählten Faktoren auf die Prozessorientierung sowie die Prozessveränderungsakzeptanz von Mitarbeitern mithilfe von Fragebögen in unterschiedlichen Unternehmen und Industrien vermessen. Auf Grundlage dieser Daten wurden anschließend die unterschiedlichen Forschungsfragen unter Zuhilfenahme verschiedener theoretischer Konzepte, wie beispielsweise der Job Characteristics Theory, sowie unter Verwendung von verschiedenen Methoden analysiert. Besonders von Bedeutung für eine detaillierte Analyse der Prozessveränderungsakzeptanz ist ein fundiertes Verständnis über Arbeit an sich sowie über Arbeitsbedingungen, welche die Motivation der Mitarbeiter positiv beeinflussen. Eine etablierte Theorie in diesem Kontext stellt die Job Characteristics Theory dar, welche den positiven Einfluss von sogenannten Arbeitscharakteristika (mediiert durch sogenannte psychologischen Stadien) auf die Arbeitsleistung der Mitarbeiter (wie beispielsweise Motivation, gute Arbeitsergebnisse, aber auch geringere Fehltage) postuliert. Die vorliegende Arbeit transferiert die Job Characteristics Theory auf das Thema Prozessveränderungsakzeptanz und untersucht den Einfluss der einzelnen Faktoren auf selbige. Neben den einzelnen Arbeitscharakteristika spielt auch die Bedeutung, die ein Mitarbeiter seiner Arbeit zuspricht (Meaningfulness of Work), eine entscheidende Rolle, ob Prozessveränderungen akzeptiert werden. Da Veränderungen (und vor allem Prozessstandardisierung) an sich häufig mit gefühlten Einschränkungen und Beschneidung des eigenen Verantwortungsbereichs einhergehen, werden diese von den Betroffenen als bedrohlich wahrgenommen. Gerade die Einschränkung des eigenen Wirkungsbereiches (durch beispielsweise geänderte und strikte Prozessvorgaben), hindert die betroffenen Mitarbeiter nach ihren eigenen höheren Zielen zu streben, wodurch eine sogenannte disharmonische Arbeitssituation erzeugt wird. Konkret bedeutet dies, dass Mitarbeiter Dinge tun müssen, die sie entweder nicht können oder nicht mögen. Aufgrund dieses gestörten Gleichgewichts sinkt die gefühlte Bedeutung der Arbeit, was jedoch vom Individuum vermieden wird. Im Umkehrschluss bedeutet dies, dass sobald das aktuelle Gefühl der Bedeutung der eigenen Arbeit angegriffen wird, die Bereitschaft Neues zu akzeptieren sinkt. Neben der gefühlten Bedeutung, die ein Mitarbeiter seiner Arbeit zuspricht, spielt auch das Gefühl, als Person selbst sowie mit seinen Tätigkeiten eingebettet in einen großen, ganzen Prozess zu sein, eine bedeutende Rolle. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wird dieser Aspekt theoretisch aufgearbeitet und das Konstrukt Job Construals entwickelt sowie operationalisiert. Die beiden Aspekte, Job Construals und Meaningfulness of Work, weisen einige Ähnlichkeiten auf, sind aber in ihrer Ausrichtung sehr verschieden, was auch zu einer gewissen Rivalität zwischen den beiden Konzepten führt. Während sich Job Construals auf die Verbindung zwischen den Aktivitäten eines Mitarbeiters und den anderen Aktivitäten innerhalb eines Prozesses sowie deren Verbundenheit bezieht, fokussiert Meaningfulness of Work die Möglichkeit mithilfe der Prozesstätigkeiten höhere implizite Ziele zu erfüllen. Für eine ganzheitliche Betrachtung, wird in dieser Arbeit auch der Einfluss einer Process Governance-Struktur sowie der eines BPM-Systems auf die Prozessveränderungsakzeptanz von Mitarbeitern betrachtet. Die Process Governance-Struktur wurde mithilfe eines Action Design Research-Ansatzes entwickelt, evaluiert und mittlerweile flächendeckend implementiert. Der Einfluss des BPM-Systems wurde mit einem quantitativen Ansatz analysiert. Die im Rahmen dieser Arbeit gewonnen Erkenntnisse tragen dabei auf vielfältige Weise zum Stand der Forschung bei. So werden theoretische und empirische Erklärungen für den Einfluss der einzelnen Arbeitscharakteristika auf die Prozessveränderungsakzeptanz sowie die Bedeutung von Meaningfulness of Work und Job Construals dargestellt. Ferner wird das Konstrukt Job Construals in die Literatur eingeführt und ein zugehöriges Messmodell vorgestellt. Damit erweitert diese Arbeit die Erkenntnisse und auch den Fokus der bisherigen Forschung zu Prozessmanagement sowie Change Management. Zudem werden weitere Einflussfaktoren (wie beispielsweise eine Governance-Struktur oder ein BPM-System) detailliert analysiert. Des Weiteren leistet diese Arbeit wichtige Implikationen für die Praxis. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen die Bedeutung von Meaningfulness of Work und Job Construals für die erfolgreiche Veränderung von Prozessen. Unternehmen, die solche Veränderungen anstreben, dürfen neben nicht minder wichtigen Faktoren, wie beispielsweise einer Process Governance-Struktur, ihre Mitarbeiter nicht aus dem Fokus verlieren. Ganz konkret bedeutet dies, die Mitarbeiter aktiv in die Veränderungen einzubeziehen, ihnen die Möglichkeiten zu geben, sich und ihre Erfahrungen in die neuen Prozesse einzubringen sowie ihnen durch gezieltes Training und eine zielgruppenorientierte Darstellung der Prozesse ein gutes Gefühl der Eingebundenheit zu geben.
... Finally, several case studies surveyed the role and influence of the contextual factors, and the harmonization result was measured with the measurement model. One of the core findings is: "The harmonization of IT is high in organizations with a high number of mergers and acquisitions" (Romero, Dijkman, Grefen and van Weele, 2015;Romero, 2014;Romero, Dijkman, Grefena, van Weele and de Jong, 2015;Romero et al., 2011). Although there are numerous valuable results for process harmonization and indices for the specialty in the case of an M&A, a descriptive methodology for the harmonization process is not part of that work. ...
... Fernandez and Bhat (2010) defined process harmonization as "process of designing and implementing business process standardization across different regions or units so as to facilitate achievement of the targeted business benefits arising out of standardization whilst ensuring a harmonious acceptance of the new processes by different stakeholders". Process harmonization reduces the differences in standardized processes and defines the degree of their variation (Ricken and Steinhorst, 2005;Romero, Dijkman, Grefena, van Weele and de Jong, 2015) "by capturing their commonality and variability in a consolidating and Table III. efficient manner, without attempting to make different processes identical" (Romero, Dijkman, Grefena, van Weele and de Jong, 2015). ...
... Process harmonization reduces the differences in standardized processes and defines the degree of their variation (Ricken and Steinhorst, 2005;Romero, Dijkman, Grefena, van Weele and de Jong, 2015) "by capturing their commonality and variability in a consolidating and Table III. efficient manner, without attempting to make different processes identical" (Romero, Dijkman, Grefena, van Weele and de Jong, 2015). Process harmonization does not try to make standards uniform but looks how standards fit together (Ricken and Steinhorst, 2005). ...
Purpose: Post merger integration (PMI) has received much attention in recent years due to an increasing number of merger and acquisitions (M&As). Process harmonization plays an important role during the PMI. The objective of this article is to find out if there is any methodology available for process harmonization in the post merger integration phase. From a PMI/M&A perspective, business process management (BPM)/quality management perspective and change management perspective existing literature is analysed.
Design/methodology/approach: A structured literature review covering a wide field of publications in the interface of BPM, quality management and post merger integration related publications is used to identify process harmonization methodologies after M&A and disclosing interrogations for future research.
Findings: There is hardly any connection between post merger integration and business process harmonization to find in literature. While information technology / systems (IT/IS) integration in post merger integration is researched in various publications, a special methodology or integration approach tailored for business processes and management systems is despite numerous literature in the periphery of PMI, BPM, quality management and change management not available. Nonetheless these articles contain relevant recommendations as a part of the big picture. So here lies the optimal starting point for future research.
Research limitations/implications: Although this literature review has regarded publications of numerous databases, limitations might behind the selective citation due to thousands of articles in the field M&A, post merger integration, BPM and quality management. Further process harmonization and standardization have been regarded in largely as synonyms.
Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, no systematic literature review in this interface has previously been published.
Paper type: literature review
... The unification of processes does not mean that all processes must be unified and equal -local and individual solutions are allowed [7]. Companies with more harmonized processes have more standardized processes, synchronistic organizations that have less complex processes have more harmonized processes [19]. Companies should regard the complexity of their processes as a key factor and separate routine and non-routine processes to avoid useless overstandardization [20]. ...
... Contemporary processes demand supportive IT tools. The technical design of a business process and the information technology used for the execution of a process impact PH [19]. IT intensity in business processes contributes to process performance in terms of time, quality and efficiency and simplifies process standardization [22]. ...
... The analysis of the capabilities hypotheses identified a mixture of expected and surprising results. To the effect that a beneficial harmonization allows a mixture of individualization and standardization confirms previous studies [10,[19][20][21]. ...
... Fernandez & Bhat define process harmonization as "process of designing and implementing business process standardization across different regions or units so as to facilitate achievement of the targeted business benefits arising out of standardization whilst ensuring a harmonious acceptance of the new processes by different stakeholders" [11]. Process harmonization aligns the differences of standardized processes and defines the degree of their variation [12,13] "by capturing their commonality and variability in a consolidating and efficient manner, without attempting to make different processes identical" [13]. ...
... Fernandez & Bhat define process harmonization as "process of designing and implementing business process standardization across different regions or units so as to facilitate achievement of the targeted business benefits arising out of standardization whilst ensuring a harmonious acceptance of the new processes by different stakeholders" [11]. Process harmonization aligns the differences of standardized processes and defines the degree of their variation [12,13] "by capturing their commonality and variability in a consolidating and efficient manner, without attempting to make different processes identical" [13]. ...
... To avoid useless "overstandardization" Schäfermeyer & Rosenkranz recommend manager to differ carefully between routine processes with a low complexity and nonroutine processes with a high complexity to identify standardable processes and save time investments for non-standardable processes [10]. Romero et al. come to a similar result: companies that have less complex processes have more harmonized processes and also more standardized processes [13,51]. To support the management in priorization and selection of suitable business processes for standardization, Zellner & Laumann developed a decision tool influenced by various process characteristics [52]. ...
Post merger integration (PMI) has received much attention in recent years due to an increasing number of merger and acquisitions (M&As). Process harmonization plays an important role during the PMI. The objective of this article is to define the milestones of process harmonization and develop a phase model. Nine approaches of the BPM environment are illuminated and concluded to a process harmonization phase model and obtain corresponding milestones. BPM implementation or optimization literature has been scanned for suitable approaches. Further expert interviews have been conducted and evaluated with qualitative content analysis. A combination of the different approaches is regarded as the optimum. This article provides two central results: First, process harmonization phases are divided into management system level and process level. Second, process harmonization phases exist of analysis phase, conception phase, realization phase and verification phase. A general overview of suitable methods for each phase is provided.
... BPS is a complex phenomenon that relates to other concepts (Goel and Bandara 2016), such as 'process harmonization' (Romero et al. 2015), 'process integration' (Narayanan et al. 2011), and 'process orientation' (Seethamraju and Seethamraju 2009). Furthermore, several BPM related concepts are used in the process of BPS. ...
... Stage 7 -Unification: When implementing the standard, the process variants are unified with the defined standard. Unification refers to the activity of aligning existing variants of a process against a standard process, where consideration is given to various factors such as data, people, and technology (Romero et al. 2015). When standardizing multiple variants, challenges regarding differing mindsets, skills, data formats, and attitudes (e.g., acceptance of technology) may have to be confronted and addressed. ...
Business Process Standardization (BPS) is a strategy for improved efficiency and effectiveness of business processes. However, BPS approaches are known to vary much in practice, can consume inordinate time and resources, and are ill-understood. This study applies an exploratory analysis of BPS literature to identify alternative BPS strategies. The analysis identified three key decision-points when strategizing: (i) Approach to standardization (Bottom-up or Top-down), (ii) Choice of Master Process (Internal Exemplar, Internal Best-of-Breed, or External Exemplar), and (iii) Optimization of the Master Process (Yes or No). These alternative choices, in combination, yield 12 BPS strategies, which are described herein and instantiated by mapping 21 published BPS cases against the 12 strategy types. The resulting typology of BPS strategies can serve as a useful tool for researchers investigating BPS and may provide insight for practitioners when considering an appropriate BPS strategy, or in better understanding their existing implicit or explicit strategy.
... Accordingly, we define BPS as the unification of business process variants and their underlying actions [9,51]. Similarly to BPS, process harmonization [45] aims at the alignment of business processes, but leaves more degrees of freedom with respect to the exact implementation. Consequently, we understand process harmonization as a specific instance of process standardization. ...
... In terms of business process standardization, many authors have focused the characteristics of process execution or its effects on process performance (e.g. [45] and [41]). However, the broader socio-technical system that business processes are part of and that plays a role for process standardization has received limited The socio-technical systems view [5] attention. ...
Process standardization is for many companies a matter of strategic importance. Process standardization enables companies to provide consistent quality to customers and to realize returns of scale. Research in this area has investigated how process standardization impacts process outcomes, such as cycle time, quality, and costs. However, there are only limited insights into antecedents that lead to process standardization. Furthermore, it is not clear which contextual elements play a role when standardizing business processes. In this paper, we address this research gap by developing a theoretical model for business process standardization. The model is relevant for academics and practitioners alike, as it helps to explain and predict business process standardization by various antecedents and contextual factors.
... Process standardization refers to the act of replacing different but similar process models, or model fragments, with a single unified model, or fragment [51]. The standardized, also referred to as harmonized or consolidated, process models/fragments encode best practices for handling similar process scenarios [30]. Scenario-based process querying can be used at early stages of business process standardization initiatives to identify process models/fragments that describe similar scenarios. ...
... Table 1 summarizes the origins of the requirements in the retrieved literature. [26,53,22] [16,17,19,20,21,24,25] [26,18,22,23] Reuse [28,29] [28, 29] Standardization [30,31] [31] 2 The search and all the corresponding analysis results were updated on May 22, 2019. t 10 p 2 p 3 p 4 p 5 p 6 p 7 p 8 p 9 p 10 p 11 i t 11 p 12 Figure 1: A net system, where a ∶= "receive travel request", b ∶= "book flight", c ∶= "book hotel", d ∶= "verify travel booking", e ∶= "reject booking", f ∶= "book travel", g ∶= "archive successful booking request", h ∶= "archive unsuccessful booking request", and i ∶= "finalize booking". ...
Process models constitute valuable artifacts for organizations. A process model formally captures the way an organization works internally and interacts with its customers and partners. Over time, more models may be created as business practices evolve (leading to different versions of models) or an organization expands, e.g., through mergers or acquisitions. It is not uncommon for large organizations to have to manage thousands of process models. Retrieval of process models with desired properties then poses a significant challenge, particularly when one is concerned with finding models that describe certain process scenarios, i.e., sequences of tasks captured in models. This paper proposes a method for automated process model retrieval based on scenario compatibility. A process model is retrieved if it has the potential to perform the specified process scenario. To allow for scenarios to be underspecified, wildcards may be used in their description. The paper reports on a formal language for scenario-based process querying, its implementation, and evaluation in the context of industrial and synthetic process models. The results show that the technique works in (close to) real time.
... In line with this, we adopt the definition of Davenport (2005) and extended by Schaefermeyer et al. (2010, p.2) for BPS as "the unification of business processes and the underlying actions within a company […]". In a less strict sense, researchers also refer to this phenomenon as business process harmonization ( Romero et al., 2015). ...
... In these studies, process standardization is operationalized with a focus on the execution perspective, i.e. how activities are performed and the degree of structuredness of process flow ( Muenstermann et al., 2010;Schaefermeyer and Rosenkranz, 2011). Romero et al. (2015) additionally link process standardization to information technology. However, other aspects, such as process governance (Tregear, 2010), documentation (Ungan, 2006), or the strategic focus of processes (vom Brocke et al., 2016), remain largely unconsidered. ...
Process-oriented companies face the dichotomy of process standardization versus process diversity. On the one hand, multinational companies try to realize returns of scale by standardization. On the other hand, markets require businesses to adapt to local needs and government regulations. As of today , there is no framework available to measure the degree of process standardization. This is both a problem for companies that want to assess their degree of standardization as well as for research that aims to investigate standardization and its connection with other concepts. In this paper, we address this research gap from the perspective of scale development. We utilize a well-acknowledged method for devising a measurement instrument to specifically and directly measure the degree of standardization in business processes. Various application scenarios and future research areas are pointed out.
... user centricity) [6]. With this regards, harmonization aims to lead to an acceptance of new processes and working patterns by stakeholders affected by the introduction of new information systems, while acknowledging different working contexts and capacity to conform to standards [7]. ...
Implementing electronic health services with a patient-centric focus while adapting to the know-how of local contexts is a challenge. This paper addresses this challenge by establishing a template of modular requirements for designing a viable Electronic Health Record (EHR) system that enables transmission and sharing of patient data across primary, secondary, and specialized care, ensuring versatility in diverse healthcare environments and across varying socio-economic landscapes. The research is anchored in design science and employs an action research strategy, using northern Brazil as empirical case. The approach builds on generic requirements from standards established by the European Union, Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR), and the Swedish ePrescription journal system. These requirements are refined and adapted to the Brazilian context through a participatory method, considering development disparities across municipalities and aligning with national policy. A key feature is the integration of knowledge graphs, which, when combined with fieldwork iterations involving healthcare professionals and patient association representatives, facilitated the extraction of patient-centric requirements. Strategies from Brazilian healthcare policies targeting chronic kidney disease, selected as a significant challenge for specialized healthcare in emergent areas, were incorporated to generalize the design of EHR modules aimed at prevention and monitoring of population at risk. Results support that harmonization towards legacy system is strongly advised and discourage the introduction of systems designed from scratch.
... Firstly, at a theoretical level, this study contributes by adding new insights to the theoretical body of knowledge on the regulation and management of conditions of employment in the South African workplace. Although harmonisation and conditions of employment have been studied and regulated in different contexts such as traditional employee consolidation like mergers and transfers where prescriptive regulations exist (Lohrke et al., 2016;Romero, 2015;Schönreiter, 2018), this study exposes multiple complexities and unique insights into harmonisation in a specific context, that of insourcing previously outsourced employees. It highlights literature and regulative frameworks of conditions of employment in the workplace through investigating patterns of challenges and opportunities in the process of harmonisation where traditional boundaries of consolidation are challenged. ...
Orientation: The study was conducted in two higher education institutions that underwent insourcing and harmonisation of conditions of employment for support services.Research purpose: This study aims to determine how harmonisation shapes outcomes among support service labour in selected higher education institutions and to develop a management framework to harmonise conditions of employment following insourcing.Motivation for the study: The study capitalises on organisational complexities in higher education institutions that experienced insourcing of support services employees to address concerns assumed to be premised on historical exclusionary and exploitative employment practices. The study documents the experience and perceptions of institutional stakeholders in creating new knowledge on harmonisation following insourcing.Research approach/design and method: Employing a qualitative approach, 16 interviews were conducted with selected multi-level management and personnel directly involved in a harmonisation.Main findings: The study found tangible and intangible aspects, processes and other psychological perspectives on implementing harmonisation across employment levels. Furthermore, it was found that an efficient and effective harmonisation framework is required. Effective harmonisation for inclusion was viewed as being compromised by factors such as government intervention, and a lack of policy, framework and legislation to guide the process.Practical/managerial implications: Practical recommendations are provided for implementing harmonisation strategies following insourcing across employment levels in South African higher education institutions.Contribution/value-add: The study contributes to novel theory on harmonisation after insourcing and provides a management framework for harmonisation of conditions of employment.
... user centricity) [6]. With this regards, harmonization aims to lead to an acceptance of new processes and working patterns by stakeholders affected by the introduction of new information systems, while acknowledging different working contexts and capacity to conform to standards [7]. ...
The primary challenge this research addresses is the lack of harmonization of healthcare technologies in emergent regions. Despite the high demand for digital transformation in the healthcare domain, a significant disparity remains in the capacity to implement digitized health services that leverage electronic identification for patient-centricity and adapt to the know-how processes that depend on the specificity of local contexts. This paper aims to bridge this gap by establishing a template of modular requirements supporting the design of viable Electronic Health Recored (EHR) transmitting and sharing of patient data through primary, secondary and specialized care, also being adaptable to diverse healthcare environments and scalable across varying socio-economic landscapes. The research is anchored in design science and conforms to an action research strategy having northern Brazil as an empirical case. The exaptation process extracted suggested requirements from standards set forth by the European Union, the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) and the Swedish ePrescription journal system, subject to be adapted to the Brazilian healthcare context using a participatory approach characterised by divergent developmental landscapes across municipalities. Harmonization requirements were refined from Brazilian healthcare policies for the digitization of healthcare. Patient-centricity requirements were extracted through fieldwork iterations from a target audience of Healthcare Professionals and Patient Associations representatives. Strategies from Brazilian healthcare policies addressing chronic kidney disease, selected as a significant challenge for specialized healthcare in emergent areas, were integrated to generalize the design of EHR modules for the prevention and monitoring of the population at risk.
... In this study, the partial least squares (PLS) method was selected to examine the model. PLS has been extensively adopted in empirical software engineering studies (e.g., Romero et al. 2015;Akgün et al. 2015;Campanelli et al. 2018;Russo 2021;Russo and Stol 2021) because PLS is a distribution-free technique (i.e., the estimation is not affected by the complexity of the model or nonnormality of the data) (Lee et al. 2020a(Lee et al. , 2020b and can overcome multicollinearity issues (Hair et al. 2012(Hair et al. , 2013Russo and Stol 2021). Additionally, PLS is insensitive to sample size considerations and is suitable for both very small and very large samples compared to covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) (Hair et al. 2012;Akgün et al. 2015;Russo and Stol 2021). ...
Contemporary business and software environments are highly competitive and rapidly evolving, resulting in software projects that are highly customized and changeable during development. Therefore, software process tailoring (SPT) is important as software teams conduct SPT to adjust shared development processes and evolve the project to better meet unique and dynamic needs. SPT is a special type of teamwork in which members’ active participation and critical input are necessary for understanding and synthesizing various business and technical concerns that may be divergent and conflictual and then jointly identifying an integrated tailoring solution. In this context, this study examines members’ decisive and critical involvement in SPT and adopts a motivational perspective to explore how motivation can facilitate SPT performance. Specifically, we use empowerment theory to develop a model to theorize and examine how psychological empowerment (PE) in terms of meaningfulness, autonomy, potency, and impact motivates software teams to efficiently and effectively conduct SPT. The model also considers the power distance (PD) to understand how it functions in team-based critical thinking and decisional processes to energize team members’ participative effort. The investigation surveyed 102 software development teams and used partial least squares (PLS) to analyze the data. The results show that PE in terms of the four components has various influences on SPT performance and that PD has nonsignificant moderating effects. This study contributes to the software engineering literature by uncovering the contextual mechanism underlying the relationship between PE and PD in SPT. The limitations and possible extensions of this study are also outlined for future research.
... Studies in this area regarded the evaluation of the ways co-production relationships between software developers and users improve the outcomes of a development project [167]. As well as the advancement of a measurement model to quantify the level of process harmonization in an organization [143]. A detailed analysis for each paper is presented in Table 8, where interested readers can also find additional details, such as the published venue and the publication year. ...
Software Engineering (SE) researchers are increasingly paying attention to organizational and human factors. Rather than focusing only on variables that can be directly measured, such as lines of code, SE research studies now also consider unobservable variables, such as organizational culture and trust. To measure such latent variables, SE scholars have adopted Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), which is one member of the larger SEM family of statistical analysis techniques. As the SE field is facing the introduction of new methods such as PLS-SEM, a key issue is that not much is known about how to evaluate such studies. To help SE researchers learn about PLS-SEM, we draw on the latest methodological literature on PLS-SEM to synthesize an introduction. Further, we conducted a survey of PLS-SEM studies in the SE literature and evaluated those based on recommended guidelines.
This study highlighted the importance of software process tailoring (SPT) in modern software projects characterized by dynamic and evolutionary development. SPT is a collaborative practice, and the existing literature has focused on team-based knowledge aspects in performing SPT, whereas the quality of team interactions has rarely been discussed to address its conflictual nature. This study examined the teamwork quality (TWQ) framework with two team behavioral factors, namely team reflexivity and member autonomy, and developed a research model to explore how TWQ fits in the SPT’s conflicting context and how autonomy and reflexivity affect TWQ to promote SPT. The results showed that TWQ is essential for dealing with challenging tasks in SPT. The results also supported the evidence that reflexivity positively affects TWQ while member autonomy harms TWQ. When examining the mediating effect to see how TWQ operationalizes as an intermediate in the relationship between the two factors and SPT performance, this study found that reflexivity directly and indirectly boosts SPT performance. Member autonomy and SPT performance are independent when TWQ is the mediator. However, without TWQ, member autonomy negatively impacts SPT effectiveness and efficiency.
Software process improvement (SPI) is a knowledge- and learning-intensive activity that is critical in software development. The literature reveals several major knowledge-based antecedents, namely, exploration, exploitation, absorptive capacity (AC) and knowledge sharing (KS), that are shown to be crucial for SPI. Since SPI is a gradual implementation program, from this perspective, the different roles and effects of these antecedents and how they are associated with various levels of progress in SPI success remain unknown. To address this gap, we propose a research model that combines the four antecedents to examine their comparative influence on successful SPI implementation. To reflect the different levels of SPI success, we employ capability maturity model integration (CMMI) maturities. A survey method is used to examine the model based on 413 CMMI-certified organizations in China. The results show that KS has the most explanatory power in contributing to SPI success at all maturity levels. In a further investigation of different maturities, we find that the dominant knowledge antecedents vary depending on distinct maturity levels. The rationale for the above findings, as well as the theoretical and practical implications and limitations of this study, are discussed and summarized.
Contemporary software projects are unique and volatile, leading development teams to modify standard development processes and continue to make adjustments as needed. Adjusting software project development to accommodate the variance and dynamics is called software process tailoring (SPT). Because SPT critically determines how projects are conducted, its performance merits investigation. However, the extant literature lacks empirical evidence of the underlying effects that operate and influence the performance of SPT. Specifically, SPT is a team-based activity that requires the exchange of knowledge and opinions among members to yield an integrative tailoring solution; SPT is also a highly conflicting process involving task and temporal conflicts. Given these characteristics, teams’ operational mechanisms that increase SPT performance remain unknown. To address the aforementioned gaps, this study adopts the transactive memory systems (TMS) theory to develop a research model to explore how a team's TMS affects SPT performance with task conflict and shared temporal cognitions (STC) acting as moderators. By examining 102 software project teams, we found that TMS has a positive impact on SPT performance. Surprisingly, task conflict reduces the effect of TMS on SPT performance, whereas STC amplifies the influence of TMS-SPT performance.
There is no doubt that globalization and harmonization impact not only pharmaceutical industry but also other public health program and trait. This article provides an overview of the ICH process and overall global impact of ICH Quality guidelines on the regulatory authorities of developed and developing countries. Regulatory requirement for pharmaceutical or medicinal product are not straight forward and differ around the world. Major differences exist with regard to data requirements and standard testing. The global activity of harmonization of drug standards are wide ranging and encouraging, thus providing many opportunities both to industry and regulatory authorities. The impact of ICH quality guideline particularly non-ICH countries is discussed—specifically the significant impact of ICH Q3a and Q3b from quality point of view as well as the accessibility of drugs at reasonable prices.
Provides a nontechnical introduction to the partial least squares (PLS) approach. As a logical base for comparison, the PLS approach for structural path estimation is contrasted to the covariance-based approach. In so doing, a set of considerations are then provided with the goal of helping the reader understand the conditions under which it might be reasonable or even more appropriate to employ this technique. This chapter builds up from various simple 2 latent variable models to a more complex one. The formal PLS model is provided along with a discussion of the properties of its estimates. An empirical example is provided as a basis for highlighting the various analytic considerations when using PLS and the set of tests that one can employ is assessing the validity of a PLS-based model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Today's organizations are struggling with increasing business process complexity and face serious problems when standardizing business processes. A possible strategy seems to be to enhance standardization efforts in order to ensure standardization success. In this paper, we analyze the triangle relationship between standardization effort, business process complexity, and business process standardization. We test the hypotheses that higher business process complexity is related to higher standardization effort and lower business process standardization as well as that higher standardization effort is related to higher business process standardization. We report on the development and testing of a conceptual model that allows to understand the impact of business process complexity on business process standardization and standardization effort. Findings from a survey among 255 business process management experts are used to evaluate our hypotheses. Our results suggest that business process complexity has to be considered as an important driver of standardization effort and constrains business process standardization. Moreover, we show that higher standardization effort cannot compensate for higher business process complexity to ensure business process standardization.
Process modeling is an emergent area of Information Systems research that is characterized through an abundance of conceptual work with little empirical research. To fill this gap, this paper reports on the development and validation of an instrument to measure user acceptance of process modeling grammars. We advance an extended model for a multi-stage measurement instrument development procedure, which incorporates feedback from both expert and user panels. We identify two main contributions: First, we provide a validated measurement instrument for the study of user acceptance of process modeling grammars, which can be used to assist in further empirical studies that investigate phenomena associated with the business process modeling domain. Second, in doing so, we describe in detail a procedural model for developing measurement instruments that ensures high levels of reliability and validity, which may assist fellow scholars in executing their empirical research.
The authors surveyed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) practices in three organizational journals from 1985 to 1999 to investigate purposes for conducting EFA and to update and extend Ford, MacCallum, and Tait’s (1986) review. Ford et al. surveyed the same journals from 1975 to 1984, concluding that researchers often applied EFA poorly (e.g., relying too heavily on principal components analysis [PCA], eigenvalues greater than 1 to choose the number of factors, and orthogonal rotations). Fabrigar, Wegener, MacCallum, and Strahan (1999) reached a similar conclusion based on a much smaller sample of studies. This review of 371 studies shows reason for greater optimism. The tendency to use multiple number-of-factors criteria and oblique rotations has increased somewhat. Most important, the authors find that researchers tend to make better decisions when EFA plays a more consequential role in the research. They stress the importance of careful and thoughtful analysis, including decisions about whether and how EFA should be used.
Improvements in the software process have been going on for several decades. Under the rubric of software engineering, the primary thrust has been better discipline, methods and automated technology to support software development. SPI guided by organizational process maturity principles has emerged in the U.S. in the last 12 years, the charge being led by the SEI (Humphrey, 1989), and now internationally by the emerging ISO SPICE initiative. Achieving a mature process establishes a project management and engineering foundation for quantitative control of the software process, which becomes the basis for continuous process improvement. An organization with a mature process will take full responsibility for executing its planned commitments.
Web surveys appear to be attaining lower response rates than equivalent mail surveys. One reason may be that there is currently little information on effective strategies for increasing response to Internet-based surveys. Web users are becoming more impatient with high-burden Web interactions. The authors examined the decision to respond to a Web survey by embedding a series of experiments in a survey of students at the University of Michigan. A sample of over 4,500 students was sent an e-mail invitation to participate in a Web survey on affirmative action policies. Methodological experiments included using a progress indicator, automating password entry, varying the timing of reminder notices to nonrespondents, and using a prenotification report of the anticipated survey length. Each of these experiments was designed to vary the burden (perceived or real) of the survey request. Results of these experiments are presented.
Organizational research suggests that the way information is used is likely to be a function of the presence of organizational systems or processes, in addition to individual manager activities. The author suggests that firms vary their emphasis on certain organizational market information processes, such as information acquisition, information transmission, conceptual use of information, and instrumental use of information. The author argues that the emphasis is determined, in part, by the congruence, or fit, among an organization's cultural norms and values and theorizes that the presence of these organizational information processes affects new product outcomes. Survey results indicate that clans dominate the other cultures in predicting organizational market information processes, suggesting that information processes are fundamentally “people processes” that involve commitment and trust among organizational members. The results have important implications for balancing internal and external orientations within firms. The results also indicate that the information utilization processes, especially those that are conceptual in nature, are strong predictors of new product performance, timeliness, and creativity, indicating that competitive advantage is tied to information utilization activities in firms.
The principal goal of this study was to determine the financial and organizational impacts of project management. This study began with the development of a project management maturity model and an analysis methodology to assess the maturity of project management processes. The project management maturity analysis methodology consists of 148 multiple-choice questions that measure project management maturity, and cover 8 knowledge areas and 6 project phases. The maturity model and methodology were then applied by benchmarking 38 different companies and government agencies in 4 different industries. This assessment methodology provides solid and comparative studies on project management practices across industries and companies within an industry. It also provides a set of tools for organizations to use in identifying key areas of opportunity for improvement in project management.
The statistical tests used in the analysis of structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error are examined. A drawback of the commonly applied chi square test, in addition to the known problems related to sample size and power, is that it may indicate an increasing correspondence between the hypothesized model and the observed data as both the measurement properties and the relationship between constructs decline. Further, and contrary to common assertion, the risk of making a Type II error can be substantial even when the sample size is large. Moreover, the present testing methods are unable to assess a model's explanatory power. To overcome these problems, the authors develop and apply a testing system based on measures of shared variance within the structural model, measurement model, and overall model.
A critical element in the evolution of a fundamental body of knowledge in marketing, as well as for improved marketing practice, is the development of better measures of the variables with which marketers work. In this article an approach is outlined by which this goal can be achieved and portions of the approach are illustrated in terms of a job satisfaction measure.
- This paper describes the process of inducting theory using case studies from specifying the research questions to reaching closure. Some features of the process, such as problem definition and construct validation, are similar to hypothesis-testing research. Others, such as within-case analysis and replication logic, are unique to the inductive, case-oriented process. Overall, the process described here is highly iterative and tightly linked to data. This research approach is especially appropriate in new topic areas. The resultant theory is often novel, testable, and empirically valid. Finally, framebreaking insights, the tests of good theory (e.g., parsimony, logical coherence), and convincing grounding in the evidence are the key criteria for evaluating this type of research.
Process harmonization is a complex initiative carried out by large companies seeking to standardize the process variants being executed by different business units across several countries or regions. Motivations for this exercise include cost pressures, mergers and acquisitions, customer satisfaction, need for agile and flexible processes, risk reduction in outsourcing processes etc. The complexity of this exercise is inherent as it involves multiple regions with special needs and characteristics, existing process and IT systems evolved over time, organizational dynamics around different business groups, etc. While a literature survey reveals quite a few cases of process harmonization, there are not many descriptions or research on the best approaches or methodologies to be used. In this chapter, we first define and examine the drivers of process harmonization. Subsequently, the challenges and constraints associated with such initiatives are identified, followed by some example cases. Further, we analyze a case study in detail to understand the practices followed. Based on these analyses, we propose a methodology to execute process harmonization initiatives.
The Tactical Tomahawk Cruise Missile Systems (TTCMS) provides ideal basis for the US and UK naval warfighters to carry out their military operations as per the fast changing targets and enemies. It adds much more capability to control the Tomhawk missiles, direct, redirect, mission plan and replan, keeping the system interfaces easy to use for the personnel on board. The TTWCS software development environment consists of a network of Hewlett Packard (HP) workstations and servers, all running HP UNIX. It benefits from an incremental software development model that offers improved quality, reduced cost and better adherence to schedule over spiral or waterfall development.
The business process orientation (BPO) concept comprise the components of an organization that offer vantage points for understanding process thinking. To date, BPO has become a key component of what companies and client companies should look like.
Examines the psychological processes involved in answering different types of survey questions. The book proposes a theory about how respondents answer questions in surveys, reviews the relevant psychological and survey literatures, and traces out the implications of the theories and findings for survey practice. Individual chapters cover the comprehension of questions, recall of autobiographical memories, event dating, questions about behavioral frequency, retrieval and judgment for attitude questions, the translation of judgments into responses, special processes relevant to the questions about sensitive topics, and models of data collection. The text is intended for: (1) social psychologists, political scientists, and others who study public opinion or who use data from public opinion surveys; (2) cognitive psychologists and other researchers who are interested in everyday memory and judgment processes; and (3) survey researchers, methodologists, and statisticians who are involved in designing and carrying out surveys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Many claims are being made about the advantages of conducting surveys on the Web. However, there has been little research
on the effects of format or design on the levels of unit and item response or on data quality. In a study conducted at the
University of Michigan, a number of experiments were added to a survey of the student population to assess the impact of design
features on resulting data quality. A sample of 1,602 students was sent an e-mail invitation to participate in a Web survey
on attitudes toward affirmative action. Three experiments on design approaches were added to the survey application. One experiment
varied whether respondents were reminded of their progress through the instrument. In a second experiment, one version presented
several related items on one screen, while the other version presented one question per screen. In a third experiment, for
one series of questions a random half of the sample clicked radio buttons to indicate their answers, while the other half
entered a numeric response in a box. This article discusses the overall implementation and outcome of the survey, and it describes
the results of the imbedded design experiments.
Twenty-two decision groups in three manufacturing and three research and development organizations are studied to identify the characteristics of the environment that contribute to decision unit members experiencing uncertainty in decision making. Two dimensions of the environment are identified. The simple-complex dimension is defined as the number of factors taken into consideration in decision making. The static-dynamic dimension is viewed as the degree to which these factors in the decision unit's environment remain basically the same over time or are in a continual process of change. Results indicate that individuals in decision units with dynamic-complex environments experience the greatest amount of uncertainty in decision making. The data also indicate that the static-dynamic dimension of the environment is a more important contributor to uncertainty than the simple-complex dimension.
Maturity models are valuable instruments for IT managers because they allow the assessment of the current situation of a company as well as the identification of reasonable improvement measures. Over the last few years, more than a hundred maturity models have been developed to support IT management. They address a broad range of different application areas, comprising holistic assessments of IT management as well as appraisals of specific subareas (e. g. Business Process Management, Business Intelligence).
The evergrowing number of maturity models indicates a certain degree of arbitrariness concerning their development processes. Especially, this is highlighted by incomplete documentation of methodologies applied for maturity model development.
In this paper, we will try to work against this trend by proposing requirements concerning the development of maturity models. A selection of the few well-documented maturity models is compared to these requirements. The results lead us to a generic and consolidated procedure model for the design of maturity models. It provides a manual for the theoretically founded development and evaluation of maturity models. Finally, we will apply this procedure model to the development of the IT Performance Measurement Maturity Model (ITPM3).
Manfred Bundschuh is IT quality manager with AXA Service AG, Cologne, Germany as well as president of DASMA e.V., the German metrics organization. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005. All rights are reserved.
Purpose
– Business process management (BPM) is a key concept in information systems (IS) research that helps to connect business strategy with the use of technology in an organization. Contemporary BPM research is no longer only about methods, procedures, or tools for managing or modeling processes but about assessing and developing BPM capability in organizations. For this purpose, a vast collection of maturity models has been designed by practitioners and scholars alike. Such models are used to assess the status quo and benchmark it against other organizations, and, most important, to guide the development of BPM capability. With this study, the paper challenges the maturity model perspective of such development models.
Design/methodology/approach
– In this study, methods of qualitative IS research are employed to address the research objectives.
Findings
– The paper shows that maturity model-based guidance would be inadequate. Instead, other concept-external factors resulting from organizational and environmental characteristics appear to be important indicators. The theory discussion introduces alternative takes on BPM capability development, lays out implications for BPM practice, and presents potentially fruitful paths for future research in the area of BPM capability development.
Originality/value
– This paper challenges the current perspectives and contributes a new direction for conceptualizing BPM capability development.
Context: Maturity models offer organizations a simple but effective possibility to measure the quality of their processes. Emerged out of software engineering, the application fields have widened and maturity model research is becoming more important. During the last two decades the publication amount steadily rose as well. Until today, no studies have been available summarizing the activities and results of the field of maturity model research. Objective: The objective of this paper is to structure and analyze the available literature of the field of maturity model research to identify the state-of-the-art research as well as research gaps. Method: A systematic mapping study was conducted. It included relevant publications of journals and IS conferences. Mapping studies are a suitable method for structuring a broad research field concerning research questions about contents, methods, and trends in the available publications. Results: The mapping of 237 articles showed that current maturity model research is applicable to more than 20 domains, heavily dominated by software development and software engineering. The study revealed that most publications deal with the development of maturity models and empirical studies. Theoretical reflective publications are scarce. Furthermore, the relation between conceptual and design-oriented maturity model development was analyzed, indicating that there is still a gap in evaluating and validating developed maturity models. Finally, a comprehensive research framework was derived from the study results and implications for further research are given. Conclusion: The mapping study delivers the first systematic summary of maturity model research. The categorization of available publications helps researchers gain an overview of the state-of-the-art research and current research gaps. The proposed research framework supports researchers categorizing their own projects. In addition, practitioners planning to use a maturity model may use the study as starting point to identify which maturity models are suitable for their domain and where limitations exist.
Organizational research suggests that the way information is used is likely to be a function of the presence of organizational systems or processes, in addition to individual manager activities. The author suggests that firms vary their emphasis on certain organizational market information processes, such as information acquisition, information transmission, conceptual use of information, and instrumental use of information. The author argues that the emphasis is determined, in part, by the congruence, or fit, among an organization's cultural norms and values and theorizes that the presence of these organizational information processes affects new product outcomes. Survey results indicate that clans dominate the other cultures in predicting organizational market information processes, suggesting that information processes are fundamentally "people processes" that involve commitment and trust among organizational members. The results have important implications for balancing internal and external orientations within firms. The results also indicate that the information utilization processes, especially those that are conceptual in nature, are strong predictors of new product performance, timeliness, and creativity, indicating that competitive advantage is tied to information utilization activities in firms.
Over the past years, a wide range of maturity models have been developed by practitioners as well as academics for the purpose of measuring and preprocess scribing certain aspects of information systems "maturity". Since, to our knowledge, no classification system for maturity models exists to date, the rising number of maturity models implicates problems with respect to retrievability and reusability. Aiming at enhancing the time consuming and exhausting search and selection of appropriate assessment models, a classification approach for IS maturity models is presented in this paper. Based on a broad literature review that yields 117 maturity models which are analysed in detail, the following classification characteristics are proposed: (a) a set of general model attributes that describe basic characteristics (such as the topic addressed by the model, the primary source or the targeted audience), (b) maturity model design attributes (relating to the construction and organisation of the model) and (c) maturity model use attributes (such as application method or tool support).
We have built and tested a decision tool which will help organisations properly select one business process maturity model (BPMM) over another. This prototype consists of a novel questionnaire with decision criteria for BPMM selection, linked to a unique data set of 69 BPMMs. Fourteen criteria (questions) were elicited from an international Delphi study, and weighed by the analytical hierarchy process. Case studies have shown (non-)profit and academic applications. Our purpose was to describe criteria that enable an informed BPMM choice (conform to decision-making theories, rather than ad hoc). Moreover, we propose a design process for building BPMM decision tools.
Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), or partial least squares path modeling (PLS) has enjoyed increasing popularity in recent years. In this context, the use of hierarchical latent variable models has allowed researchers to extend the application of PLS-SEM to more advanced and complex models. However, the attention has been mainly focused on hierarchical latent variable models with reflective relationships. In this manuscript, we focus on second-order hierarchical latent variable models that include formative relationships. First, we discuss a typology of (second-order) hierarchical latent variable models. Subsequently, we provide an overview of different approaches that can be used to estimate the parameters in these models: (1) the repeated indicator approach, (2) the two-stage approach, and (3) the hybrid approach. Next, we compare the approaches using a simulation study and an empirical application in a strategic human resource management context. The findings from the simulation and the empirical application serve as a basis for recommendations and guidelines regarding the use and estimation of reflective-formative type hierarchical latent variable models in PLS-SEM.
This study investigates the differential effects of successfully completed capability maturity model (CMM) appraisals on a firm's short-term and long-term stock performance. Our results indicate a positive share price response on the days surrounding the appraisal date for the stocks of companies obtaining the CMM appraisal. Stocks of firms successfully completing CMM appraisals generally outperform the S&P 500 index over longer-holding periods, although they do not outperform a matched sample. We find support that firms from the information technology industry, firms that are larger, firms of higher CMM maturity levels, and firms completing multiple appraisals are more likely to experience both short-term and long-term benefits from their investing in the CMM.
Organizations increasingly recognize the need to adopt a process orientation as a means of approaching challenges such as globalization, Enterprise Systems implementations or alternative improvement perspectives. A comprehensive understanding of the operational capacity to support and extend BPM strategies is critical to this endeavour. To this end, organizations require appropriate frameworks, which assist in identifying and evaluating their BPM capabilities. The development of maturity models has long been recognized as a means of assessing capabilities within a given domain. However, due to the idiosyncratic structure of many of the more than 150 available maturity models they can not be translated into tools that are embraced and applied by practitioners. To address this issue, the Delphi technique has been adopted during the development of a maturity model for Business Process Management. This paper presents the design and conduct of the Delphi Study series including the major outcomes being definitions of the six factors critical to BPM (i.e. Strategic Alignment, Governance, Methods, Information Technology, People and Culture) and the identification of capability areas whose measurement is seen to be necessary for assessing the maturity of these factors.
This article argues that Stage-Gate controls have the potential of restricting learning in a new product development project and thus hurting the performance of novel new products. Specifically, the authors examine whether control on new product development exercised through rigorous gate review criteria increases project inflexibility, which in turn leads to increased failure to learn. They also focus on whether the effect of project inflexibility is worsened when there is turbulence in the firm's technological and market environment. Furthermore, the authors study whether failure to learn can have an adverse effect on new product performance when the product is novel. Finally, they examine whether a certain relaxation in gate evaluation (gate conditionality) that has been suggested recently mitigates the adverse effect of rigorously enforced controls. The results, which are based on a survey of 120 projects that used the Stage-Gate process for new product development, show that repeated application of strictly enforced and objective evaluation criteria for improved control makes projects more inflexible. Gate conditionality does not mitigate the adverse effect of gate review criteria. Project inflexibility leads to learning failure, and this effect is worsened when the technological environment of the firm is turbulent. In turn, learning failure adversely affects the market performance of novel new products.
Many contingency researchers have argued that organizations must tailor their structures and decision making processes to fit the demands of their external environments-the exigencies of their markets. They claim, for example, that uncertain environments-those with high degrees of change and unpredictability in technology and in customer and competitor behavior-require more delegation of authority to highly trained specialists and quicker, more responsive decision making. However, such experts usually favor a slower, more analytical approach. Here, internal and external requirements appear to be inconsistent. These and similar inconsistencies indicate that the alignment among structural and process variables needed for good environmental fit seems sometimes to violate the dictates of internal consistency. It is reasonable, therefore, to expect that where such inconsistencies occur, organizations will choose between achieving internal match and external match: firms that closely match the demands of their environment will lack internal complementarity, and vice versa. The empirical research reported here demonstrates exactly this: organizations that achieve the best fit with environmental uncertainty have the weakest linkages among structural and process variables. An exploratory taxonomy supports these results. However, internal and external fit are not always incompatible. We found, for example, that fit with environmental diversity did not have any implications for internal fit. One of the implications of this research is that managers may have to perform their adaptive tasks sequentially striving for a harmonious alignment among their internal variables in order to achieve smooth functioning, but periodically disrupting this harmony to adjust to a changing environment.
This research explores the impact of process management activities on technological innovation. Drawing on research in organizational evolution and learning, we suggest that as these practices reduce variance in organizational routines and influence the selection of innovations, they enhance incremental innovation at the expense of exploratory innovation. We tested our hypotheses in a 20-year longitudinal study of patenting activity and ISO 9000 quality program certifications in the paint and photography industries. In both industries, the extent of process management activities in a firm was associated with an increase in both exploitative innovations that built on existing firm knowledge and an increase in exploitation's share of total innovations. Our results suggest that exploitation crowds out exploration. We extend existing empirical research by capturing how process management activities influence the extent to which innovations build on existing firm knowledge. We suggest that these widely adopted organizational practices shift the balance of exploitation and exploration by focusing on efficiency, possibly at the expense of long-term adaptation.
The concept of process maturity proposes that a process has a lifecycle that is assessed by the extent to which the process is explicitly defined, managed, measured and controlled. A maturity model assumes that progress towards goal achievement comes in stages. The supply chain maturity model presented in this paper is based on concepts developed by researchers over the past two decades. The Software Engineering Institute has also applied the concept of process maturity to the software development process in the form of the capability maturity model. This paper examines the relationship between supply chain management process maturity and performance, and provides a supply chain management process maturity model for enhanced supply chain performance.
The statistical tests used in the analysis of structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error are examined. A drawback of the commonly applied chi square test, in addition to the known problems related to sample size and power, is that it may indicate an increasing correspondence between the hypothesized model and the observed data as both the measurement properties and the relationship between constructs decline. Further, and contrary to common assertion, the risk of making a Type II error can be substantial even when the sample size is large. Moreover, the present testing methods are unable to assess a model's explanatory power. To overcome these problems, the authors develop and apply a testing system based on measures of shared variance within the structural model, measurement model, and overall model.
A critical element in the evolution of a fundamental body of knowledge in marketing, as well as for improved marketing practice, is the development of better measures of the variables with which marketers work. In this article an approach is outlined by which this goal can be achieved and portions of the approach are illustrated in terms of a job satisfaction measure.
This paper focuses on innovation in small food- and drink-manufacturing enterprises in two Belgian regions. The aim of the research was to identify patterns of innovative activities. Based on both literature and empirical analyses, a framework was developed to help in understanding some aspects of the determinants of innovation in small food firms. Two conclusions can be drawn from the research. On the one hand, it is clear that innovation was regarded as essential by most small food firms. Such firms tended to continuously introduce new products, develop new processes, make changes in the organisational structure and explore new markets. On the other hand, the research demonstrated that some aspects of innovation depend on the age of the company, company size and regional economic performance.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of business process standardization and how it contributes to generating business value. This research is a step towards a solid theoretical framework around business process standardization.
Design/methodology/approach
A single case study conducted in a global operating company is completed. Standardization of a certain business process (in this case the recruiting process) is shown to contribute to business value.
Findings
By standardizing its recruiting process, the company was able to reduce the “time‐to‐hire” from 92 to 69 days and the overall costs of the recruiting process by about 30 percent. The quality of the applicant data has clearly improved. Clarity and transparency of the recruiting process could be increased, while the administrative expense within the human resources (HR) departments in the distinct business locations could be reduced significantly.
Research limitations/implications
As with every case study, the generalizability of these findings is limited because the results are based on a single case only and because the focus has been solely on one process – the recruiting process – and did not include other business processes.
Practical implications
The case study can be useful for any company that intends to standardize its recruiting process. Clear indications of how to achieve business value out of process standardization are given.
Originality/value
The paper provides a clear definition of what business process standardization is and how it can lead to increased business value. Clear indications of how to achieve increased business value by business process standardization are provided for practitioners.