Traditional Business Process Management

Abstract

The rapid development of process management and its practical uses stems from the changing conditions of business, which are the result of overlapping and mutually stimulating changes in business culture, social conventions, the development of information and communication technologies, as well as the process of globalization and changes to the principles of competition themselves. For several years now it has become apparent that practical methodologies and IT systems supporting the implementation and use of process management in organizations are developing at a much faster pace than their theoretical underpinnings. This chapter discusses the limitations of traditional business process management, as well as its main discrepancies with the requirements of business in the knowledge economy. The 3rd wave of development of process management, which has been initiated around the year 2003, is becoming increasingly less responsive to the requirements of modern business. There is a lack of theoretical reflection on traditional process management, despite the fact that due to changes in the paradigms of the knowledge economy it may be used in the case of a mere 20–30% of the processes within the organization. The chapter describes changes to process management and the practical solutions which exceed traditional process management. Of fundamental significance for practitioners dealing with the preparation of tools and the implementation of methodologies pertaining to process management is the distinct integration of the methodologies and tools of business process management (BPM) and case management (CM). Such integrations are often the result of trial and error, sometimes fall outside of the mainstream of process management, but have nonetheless been positively verified by the clients, that is, in the most objective manner possible. The chapter also points to the factors leading to the emergence, as well as the main characteristics of the so-called 4th wave of process management. Just as in the case of the previous waves, its direction is mostly determined by practical solutions.