Business Process Improvement: A Stakeholder and Organisational Capabilities Approach

Feras Abou Moghdeb (2011). Business Process Improvement: A Stakeholder and Organisational Capabilities Approach PhD Thesis, School of Business, The University of Queensland.

       
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Author Feras Abou Moghdeb
Thesis Title Business Process Improvement: A Stakeholder and Organisational Capabilities Approach
School, Centre or Institute School of Business
Institution The University of Queensland
Publication date 2011-10
Thesis type PhD Thesis
Total pages 259
Total colour pages 36
Total black and white pages 223
Subjects 15 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
Abstract/Summary Australian organisations are affected, regardless of their will, by technical, economic, political and social challenges. The impact of these challenges is reflected in the increasing number of Australian organisations entering into insolvency appointments: 11,758 (2005), 12,486 (2006), 12,018 (2006), 14,173 (2007), and 14,580 (2009) (ASIC 2010). As a result, organisations from all industries are in constant search for potential mechanisms to assist in their survival. This situation may be why process improvement has been the number one CIO priority in 2006-2009, and why it is expected to still be one of the top priorities by 2012 (Gartner 2009) Business Process Improvement (BPI) is an area that is applicable to all organisations regardless of their size, structure, geographical location, and industry. This research aims to investigate means to achieve higher levels of business process improvement (HLOI) in large, for-profit, Australian organisations. Starting from organisational theories, this research proposes a ten-factor a priori model. Stakeholder Theory, Social Network Analysis, and Organisational Capabilities Theory are primarily used as bases for this research. Two main proposed antecedents of HLOI are explained: aligning the key stakeholders’ requirements, and obtaining specific BPI-based organisational capabilities. This study relies on a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, including: a preliminary literature review, 3 existing BPI case studies conducted at another tertiary institution, involving 6 people in a pilot case study and 11 in two main case studies, reviewing 992 papers from the elite IS Basket of 6 journals, involving 12 judges in an expert study, 25 respondents in a pilot survey, and obtaining 144 valid responses in a national survey involving all industries. Results demonstrate that traditionally promoted factors such as Effective Communication, Continuous Top Management Support and Resources Availability have little effect on directly increasing the levels of improvement. Practitioners are seeking to continuously achieve more with less. Aligning key stakeholders’ project-related requirements, improving key stakeholders’ levels of centrality, and creating organisation-specific BPI organisational capabilities were found to have roles in the achievement of HLOI. The implications of the research’s findings can be of value to current practitioners. For instance, finding that centrality is more important than effective communication may suggest that using web-based social network tools such as Facebook by key stakeholders can play a role in improving the level of connectedness and subsequently achieving HLOI. Also knowing that organisational capabilities, and not resources availability, play a significant role in the achievement of HLOI may guide organisations in better utilising their resources in the short-run to develop and nourish BPI capabilities in the long-run. Future research will investigate these findings in other settings.
Keyword Business Process Improvement
BPI
Organisational Theory
Capabilities
Alignment
Stakeholders
Culture
Additional Notes 87-88, 101-103, 105-106, 109-111, 113-116, 149, 156, 169-170, 172, 176, 243-255, 257-259

 
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Created: Wed, 26 Oct 2011, 16:04:48 EST by Mr Feras Abou Moghdeb on behalf of Library - Information Access Service