Despite cries from practice and academia, stakeholder engagement in Business Process Ma(BPM) is an under-explored area of research. Developing a comprehensive understanding of what factors influence stakeholder engagement is the first step towards addressing this. While diverse factors are briefly mentioned in prior literature, there has not been any holistic synthesis nor empirical investigation to this. This study presents the first empirically supported framework of stakeholder engagement factors for process improvement projects. The framework was built with a synthesis of literature applying Kassin’s [1] social psychology framework as a theoretical lens, and empirical insights from a rich case study conducted at an Australian Financial service provider. The framework presents five levels namely; ‘micro’, ‘meso’, ‘exo’, ‘macro’, and ‘chrono’ which represents different ‘systems’ that host a range of factors that influence stakeholder engagement in process improvement projects. It provides an invaluable point of reference for BPM practitioners when designing stakeholder engagement and intervention programs, especially to develop sustainable strategies for change that enables successful outcomes. It also is a solid foundation and springboard for further academic research.
Stakeholder engagement is well established as a critical success factor in Business Process Management (BPM) projects. Yet, guidelines to identify the relevant stakeholder groups and their specific activity is lacking. This study addresses this gap through a typological framework of stakeholder groups in process improvement (PI) projects. The framework is developed inductively from an in-depth case study and contextualized through a synthesis of literature from two different areas; process management and stakeholder research. The resulting framework offers a comprehensive matrix of six diverse stakeholder groups based on their affiliation to a BPM project and their role in the process. The framework differentiates between internal and external stakeholders and identifies three categories of each, namely; those impacted by; a catalyst for; and/or a facilitator of; the process improvement efforts. The framework recognizes the fundamental differences between BPM stakeholders with insight into the origin of those differences and provides a basis for planning and executing engagement activities with different stakeholder groups.
Stakeholder engagement is well established as a critical success factor in Business Process Management (BPM) projects. Yet, guidelines to identify the relevant stakeholder groups and their specific activity is lacking. This study addresses this gap through a typological framework of stakeholder groups in process improvement (PI) projects. The framework is developed inductively from an in-depth case study and contextualized through a synthesis of literature from two different areas; process management and stakeholder research. The resulting framework offers a comprehensive matrix of six diverse stakeholder groups based on their affiliation to a BPM project and their role in the process. The framework differentiates between internal and external stakeholders and identifies three categories of each, namely; those impacted by; a catalyst for; and/or a facilitator of; the process improvement efforts. The framework recognizes the fundamental differences between BPM stakeholders with insight into the origin of those differences and provides a basis for planning and executing engagement activities with different stakeholder groups.
Continuously managing business processes is globally a high organisational priority. The necessity for organisation-wide process management approaches (as opposed to ad hoc initiatives) is widely recognised. Yet, the required skills and capabilities for such enterprise-wide BPM is a well-known gap, with little resources to date to address this. This teaching case is based on the Bank of Queensland (BOQ—one of the oldest financial institutions in Australia). The narrative provides an overview of a range of Enterprise level business process management (hereafter referred to as ‘E-BPM’) activities that have taken place to date at BOQ to build its E-BPM capability. The teaching case presents how the development of E-BPM capability is a continuous journey which requires applied management and strong governance, and articulates some of the issues encountered when embedding BPM within an organisational structure. Based on the case, a series of student activities pertaining to E-BPM practices covering key aspects of BPM governance, strategic alignment, culture, people, IT, methods, etc., is provided (with model answers). This case is complemented by a rich set of teaching notes, making it a valuable resource that can be easily and directly applied for E-BPM training.
It's widely acknowledged that the identification and engagement of stakeholders is a critical success factor for Business Process Management (BPM). Despite this, to date there has been a limited and inconsistent approach to stakeholder identification and scant attempts to holistically identify the factors which impact their engagement. This research addresses these gaps, presenting two models. The first model is a BPM stakeholder model designed to identify and enumerate all important stakeholders. The second model presents a holistic, systems-view of the factors influencing stakeholder engagement. Both models synthesises existing knowledge and provides empirical support from an in-depth case study.
