Business process rearrangement and renaming: A new approach to process orientation and improvement

Abstract

Purpose

Process orientation, which involves managing organizations based on horizontal end-to-end processes, has been shown to increase the quality of products/services, decrease costs, and make business functions faster and more reliable. However, current process orientation methods are radical and destructive, leading to failure in most cases. The purpose of this paper is to present a non-destructive method of implementation.

Design/methodology/approach

Supporting by literature review and two case studies, this paper presents a new process orientation methodology named as Business Process Rearrangement and Renaming (BPR2).

Findings

The existing process management methodologies mostly aim to provide a comprehensive view on all of the main activities involved in process management and strategic alignment, with insignificant focus on mitigating the risk of failure in their redesign stage. In contrast, every step in the methodology presented in this paper, including the design phase, aim to reduce the risk of failure.

Practical implications

Name is the most communicated characteristic of a department; however, this most communicated characteristic of the departments has always been the most neglected characteristic as well. For the first time in the literature, this paper provides a description on how to use the power of departmental names to promote the main customer values expected from each department.

Originality/value

Added to a detailed guideline on the new process design and process names, this paper presents a new marketing mix model with a process-oriented delegation of authority view, which may be of interest to the marketing researchers and practitioners.

Citation

Khosravi, A. (2016), "Business process rearrangement and renaming: A new approach to process orientation and improvement", Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 116-139. https://doi.org/10.1108/BPMJ-02-2015-0012