Citation
Al-Mashari, M. (2001), "Business Process Management Journal a new vision", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 7 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/bpmj.2001.15707baa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited
Business Process Management Journal a new vision
Business Process Management Journal – a new vision
As we embark on a new era of digital economy, it is no longer sufficient for organisations to rely on the use of piecemeal technologies, working in isolation and super-imposed on rigid structures and systems. Furthermore, the new information-based economy requires a real departure from a functionally-based modus operandi to one which is based on agility, flexibility, responsiveness and mass customisation. The concept of business process management (BPM) is an overdue major re-alignment of the ethos of value-adding principles. It ensures that activities are integrated to provide high levels of synergy and focus. BPM seeks to optimise the various capabilities that exist in business organisations and has the potential to eliminate the various impediments from which organisations tend to suffer. However, the challenges that organisations face when considering the use of the BPM approach are numerous. They encompass hard and soft elements. Among the main issues that can be considered in this task are the following:
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Hard issues. Although there is a wide array of tools, techniques and technologies, documented failures of change programs tend time and time again to point to the lack of consideration of a thorough, systematic and progressive approach in appreciating the powerful usefulness and impact the following hard issues, for instance, can have:
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IT strategic planning.
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IT investment appraisal and decision.
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Process-oriented IT infrastructure development.
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IS integration.
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IT effectiveness measurement.
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Business process modelling, analysis and design.
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IT outsourcing and strategic alliances management.
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Legacy systems reengineering and migration.
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Role of IT function in BPM.
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IT risk management.
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Process improvement tools: total quality management (TQM), business process improvement (BPI), business process reengineering (BPR), process innovation (PI).
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Soft issues. An umbrella of issues covering aspects ranging from behaviours towards continuous improvements to cultural. For instance:
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Understanding the power of BPM.
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Strategic considerations of IT-enabled change introduction.
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Cultural resistance to continuous improvement.
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Training and people competencies development.
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Core competencies/capability of organisation to handle change.
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Performance management.
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Teamworking culture creation.
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BPMJ is the premium channel for researchers and practitioners to disseminate and acquire knowledge in the broad area of BPM. We are, therefore, setting our vision for the BPMJ to build on its current success as being:
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A refereed and international journal that is supported by scholars from all over the world.
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Focused on quality and relevance.
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Timely in disseminating business process management related knowledge to researchers, practitioners, academics, and educators all over the world.
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International in all respects: content, authorship, readership, and the editorial board.
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At a leading edge in disseminating research that reports latest development in BPM concepts, practices, tools and technologies.
Our aim is to create and maintain new roles for BPMJ in:
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Encouraging position papers that build theoretically-grounded, methodologically-sound frameworks and models that can structure the BPM research in a cumulative manner.
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Placing more focus on practice-oriented research in the form of complete case studies.
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Encouraging focused review articles that update readers on the progress of BPM concepts and practices.
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Building strong partnerships with leading international conferences through, for instance, identifying quality research and new potential researchers who can provide fresh insights into the development of BPM theories and practices.
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Promoting the field of BPM from a multidisciplinary and balanced perspective to make the BPMJ appealing to researchers and readers, and hopefully to ensure that the various papers will provide inspiration, ideas and "food for thought" in the special area of BPM.
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Encouraging manuscript submissions from authors all over the world, both from academia and industry.
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Giving more focus to reviewing new books that have bearing on BPM aspects.
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Enlightening readers from time to time, in the form of invited columns or interviews, with the knowledge and novel approaches of experts from both the academic and industrial communities in the fields of BPM.
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Directing and organising research published in BPMJ to serve focused aspects through the call, from time-to-time, for contributions that address particular BPM themes and problems. This also includes the review of proposals prepared by active researchers to edit special issues on important BPM issues.
The above are some of the many ideas for promoting the role of the BPMJ in achieving its short-term and long-term ambitious targets. We would like to work closely with our readers and contributors to promote research in various areas of BPM, particularly those which focus on aligning the BPM principles with eBusiness techniques.
Majed Al-MashariKing Saud University