Organizational culture in Business Process Management: The challenge of balancing disciplinary and pastoral power

Abstract

Business Process Management (BPM) is a management technique which seeks to constantly innovate business processes to improve customer service while reducing costs. While much IS research has looked at the design and implementation of BPM, including its critical success factors, methodology and processes, until recently little IS research has looked at the broader organizational issues associated with BPM. This paper looks at one organizational issue in particular, that of organizational culture in BPM. Based on an action research study of one BPM project, our findings reveal that BPM’s current conceptualization of organizational culture is potentially problematic. Using Foucault’s concepts of disciplinary and pastoral power, we suggest that BPM faces a challenge in trying to balance disciplinary and pastoral power.