Essay: Review Of Proceedings From The 13th International Conference On Business Process Management.

A statement of the purpose for your essay and a brief outline of how you will discuss the selected article (one or two paragraphs). Make sure to identify the article being reviewed.

Describe the intention and content of the article. If it is a research report, discuss the research method (survey, case study, observation, experiment, or other method) and findings. Comment on problems or issues highlighted by the authors. Discuss the conclusions of the article and how they are relevant to Business Process Management. Comparing ideas in the article you are reviewing to other articles discussing related topics will add significant strength to your paper. Note that it is expected that there will be many citations referring to the paper you are reviewing.

Paper has an identified purpose (5 marks) Mark

1. i) Identifies the paper under review (1)
2. ii) States the purpose of the student essay (2)

iii) Is refined and clearly stated (1)

1. iv) Provides an overview of the papers being discussed (1)

Body of paper has appropriate content (15 marks)

1. i) Contains appropriate material (2)
2. ii) Presents a well-structured discussion (2)

iii) Uses material from other authors (3)

1. iv) Summarises and discusses the content of the article(s) (4)
2. v) Identifies and discusses the article’s conclusions (4)

References & Grammar (5 marks)

1. i) Citations are indicated correctly (Harvard) (2)
2. ii) Grammatical expression is satisfactory (3)

Redesigning Business Processes

This paper will review Business Process Management proceedings of the 13th International Conference which was conducted in the year 2015 in Innsbruck, specifically on the article of Improving Business Processes. The article talks more about the techniques of redesigning business processes and ensuring an improvement in the processes. It brings about a new technique of ensuring that there is an improvement of business process known as Rethinking of Processes. In this case, the content of this article, the research method which was used and its findings will be discussed. The relevance of this article to business process management will also be explained. Related articles will be used in order to develop a substantial and significant review essay.

Vanwersch et al, (2015, p. 4) suggest that the process of redesigning business processes is very significant because it is through this process that the business weaknesses are identified, costs of the business processes are reduced and the customer satisfaction is improved. In the process of redesigning, the business processes are first described and analyzed where the weaknesses are identified and then the necessary improvements are made (Grant, 2016). In most cases, brainstorming, which is a traditional technique of business redesigning, has been used by many businesses. However, Sanford, (2017) argue that this brainstorming technique is not very convenient nor very effective. This is because it does not allow the practitioners to identify several possible alternatives that can be used to redesign the business processes; it is just fixed to only one technique of business process redesign.

The Traditional Brainstorming technique leads the practitioners to biases and prevents them from identifying and considering other possible choices or alternatives of redesigning (McCabe, 2014). The Rethinking of Processes is an alternative technique which is more efficient than the traditional brainstorming technique. The Rethinking of Processes is mostly shortened and termed as RePro. It allows for practitioners in businesses to choose from a wide range of alternatives for redesigning their business processes, which is an opposing aspect in the Traditional Brainstorming technique. (Ferretti and Schiavone, 2016). In addition, through RePro, practitioners are relieved of the costs, time and procedures of hiring experts or consultants to help them in finding and identifying better, attractive and applicable redesigns of the business process. Vanwersch et al, (2015, p. 4) have only named and highlighted two business process redesign techniques. However, Kettinger, Teng, and Guha, (2013, p. 56) suggest that there are more than ten techniques which can be practiced in various areas like in the process of software development, in manufacturing, in the planning of businesses as well as in healthcare.

The RePro technique was developed as an alternative to the Traditional Brainstorming technique. It makes use of principles which are seen as solutions which have been put into application earlier and found to be applicable in other settings. All the RePro principles are 46 in number and are classified into 9 categories which are designed in favor of the aspects or conditions of the business process which can be subjected to improvement (Vanwersch et al, 2015, p. 8). Apart from the principles, the RePro technique makes use of a process improvement procedure which allows for systematic analysis of the principles in order to identify the best solution which fits into a particular problem. This procedure starts by introducing and explaining the procedure, followed by the generation of ideas, idea sharing, discussion of the limitations of the ideas and finally assigning ranks to the generated ideas.

The Traditional Brainstorming Technique Vs The RePro Technique

The evidence of the efficiency of RePro has been brought up through a controlled experiment research design which compares and evaluates its performance with the Traditional Brainstorming technique. The experiment used 89 students who were Industrial Engineering graduates. However, these experiment participants had no experience in the generation of process redesigns; they were not experts and therefore, they could have not provided the relevant and useful findings and conclusions (Vanwersch et al, 2015, p. 15). They were however subjected to a short training on process modeling in order to equip them with relevant knowledge and skills which would help them in the proceedings of the experiment.

The task of the experiment involved generating improvement ideas on the process of performing a surgery on patients with eye cataracts. Cataracts of the eye are caused by the blocking or clouding of the eye lens which results to decrease in the ability of vision (Vanwersch et al, 2015, p. 12). The authors of this article worked with the selected participants to ensure efficiency of the experiment where they laid out the objectives of the redesign, the limitations of the redesigns and also considered the problems that were identified by patients as well as the employees (Vanwersch et al, 2015, p. 11). A pre-test, as well as a pilot study, were carried out before the real experiment in order to evaluate the understandability of the description by the participants and also to estimate the time required to complete the entire experiment. Some participants were exposed to use the traditional brainstorming redesign technique while others were subjected to the use of the RePro redesign technique. Afterward, participants on both redesign techniques were asked to come up with as many ideas for process improvement as possible and project their expected possible impact when the ideas are applied. The number of distinct and unique ideas that were generated by the participants were used to measure the extent or the level of productivity. Questionnaires that used the Likert scale of seven points were subjected to the participants in order to determine which technique was more applicable, relevant and effective in the process improvement (Vanwersch et al, 2015, p. 16).

In the findings, the study found out that the unique process improvement ideas that were generated in the RePro technique by each individual were averagely 17.82 while those generated in the Traditional Brainstorming technique were averagely 14.57 (Vanwersch et al, 2015, p. 17). It is evident that the participants who used the RePro technique generated more process improvement ideas than those who used the Traditional Brainstorming technique. Using the Likert scale of seven points from the questionnaires that were subjected to the participants, the level of satisfaction of the process redesign techniques was measured where the level of satisfaction in the use of the RePro technique was 5.3 while that of the Traditional Brainstorming technique was 4.7 (Vanwersch et al, 2015, p. 14).

 Testing the willingness and intention of the participants to use the techniques, it was found that participants who had a positive intention were 82%, 14% were neutral while 4% were negative to having an intention of using the RePro technique (Vanwersch et al, 2015, p. 15). It was observed that the participants made use of two styles of starting the RePro technique in this experiment. In the first style, which was named as the opportunity-centric generation style, the participants went through the principles of RePro technique carefully with an intention to identify opportunities which could need the application of one or more of the principles. On the second style, which was termed as the problem-centric generation style, the participants first identified the problems or weaknesses which were stated in the case description and then went through the principles of the RePro technique in order to match any possible and relevant solution (Vanwersch et al, 2015, p. 16).

The RePro Technique Evaluation

Moreover, it was found that the participants who used the opportunity-centric generation style came up with 67% more process redesign ideas than those who used the problem-centric generation style as well as those who used the Traditional Brainstorming technique (Vanwersch et al, 2015, p. 18). However, it was critiqued that when individuals are exposed to many solutions or alternatives, they tend to get overwhelmed hence they eventually fail to apply the most relevant and applicable solution in adequacy (Vanwersch et al, 2014). This experiment did not investigate the effect that the different styles of using RePro technique have on productivity in the business sector. Nevertheless, these findings give us the sense that the RePro technique is more efficient and relevant to business processes than the Traditional Brainstorming technique.

There have been other many techniques of process improvement for quite some time apart from the Traditional Brainstorming and the RePro technique (Rosemann and Vom Brocke, 2015). However, this experiment is the first attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of process improvement techniques to productivity among all other techniques. Kettinger, Teng, and Guha, (2013, p. 62) argues that there has not been found specific studies that are related to business process redesign. Additionally, there has not been an identified method that tells when to redesign business processes (McCormack and Johnson, 2016). In contrast, Van der Aalst, (2013) proposes the Critical Process Instance Method which predicts the time at which deep analysis should be carried out using a certain number of business process instances. However, a more advanced and sophisticated experiment needs to be carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of this RePro technique as well as the impact of other possible styles of applying this RePro technique.

The RePro technique qualifies to be very significant in any business process management because it allows the practitioners or business managers to select solutions to the existing problems in the business process. This then helps the entire business process to avoid excessive costs, ensure the satisfaction of the customers and also reduce time wastage in the overall activities of the business. Sadiq and Governatori, (2015, p. 70) indicate that redesigning business processes help them to survive in the competitive market. It also propagates the achievements of the goals and objectives of the business (Chang, 2016).

Conclusion

Through the above discussions, it is evident that the traditional techniques of business process redesign have been greatly overtaken by the RePro technique. Despite the fact that the RePro technique is not accurately reliable in reference to the research design that was used, it still remains to be more efficient than the Traditional Brainstorm technique. More research, however, will extend the reliability of this technique. 

References

Chang, J.F., 2016. Business process management systems: strategy and implementation. Auerbach Publications.

Ferretti, M. and Schiavone, F., 2016. Internet of Things and business processes redesign in seaports: The case of Hamburg. Business Process Management Journal, 22(2), pp.271-284.

Grant, D., 2016. Business analysis techniques in business reengineering. Business Process Management Journal, 22(1), pp.75-88.

Kettinger, W.J., Teng, J.T.C. and Guha, S., 2013. Business process change: a study of methodologies, techniques and tools, MIS Quarterly, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 55-80

McCabe, S., 2014. Quality Improvement Techniques in Construction: Principles and Methods. Routledge.

McCormack, K.P. and Johnson, W.C., 2016. Supply chain networks and business process orientation: advanced strategies and best practices. CRC Press.

Rosemann M., vom Brocke J., 2015. The Six Core Elements of Business Process Management. In: vom Brocke J., Rosemann M. (eds) Handbook on Business Process Management 1. International Handbooks on Information Systems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

Sadiq, S. and Governatori, G., 2015. Managing regulatory compliance in business processes. In Handbook on Business Process Management 2 (pp. 265-288). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Sanford, C., 2017. The Regenerative Business: Redesign Work, Cultivate Human Potential, Achieve Extraordinary Outcomes. Nicholas Brealey.

Van der Aalst, W.M.P., 2013.  Business Process Management: A Comprehensive Survey. ISRN

Vanwersch, R.J.B., Pufahl, L., Vanderfeesten, I. and Reijers, H.A., 2014. The RePro technique: a new, systematic technique for rethinking care processes. BETA publicatie: working papers, 465.

Vanwersch, R.J., Vanderfeesten, I., Rietzschel, E. and Reijers, H.A., 2015, August. Improving business processes: does anybody have an idea? In International Conference on Business Process Management (pp. 3-18). Springer, Cham.