The changing nature of the business processes in the knowledge economy – Action research

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to propose the authors' business process nature assessment method and to indicate how to use the data provided by it as guidance for implementing and developing business process management (BPM) in organisations operating in the present complex and dynamic knowledge economy (KE). The study is based on the existing research literature relating to BPM and knowledge management (KM), and thus investigating how the evolving KE affects the nature of business processes and thus the whole BPM ecosystem. The empirical section of the paper employs action research methodology. The data was collected through internal documentation analysis, interviews, workshops (focus groups), process modelling and, observation during workshops. This part of the study confirmed that the use of the proposed method allows for the diagnosis of the nature of business processes in the organisation, including the identification of the nature of the key processes and their characteristics, which allows selection of the optimal BPM implementation methodology. At the same time, the use of action research allows for efficient communication between management and the team implementing BPM, which has been shown to be a necessary condition for the successful implementation of BPM.