IT Enabled Process Improvement (Spring 2023)

Abstract

The students will learn theoretical foundations of IT-enabled process improvement and apply these to a real life practical context by working with an organisation.

Description

Continuously improving and innovating organisational processes is considered essential for organisational survival. Accordingly, many frameworks and theoretical perspectives exist for approaching such improvement initiatives. While business processes may be improved through redesign or through automation, this course focuses on the redesign of processes that involve human work.

After the course, the students should be able to: 

• Use the methods taught in the course to analyse and improve business processes that involve human work 
• Analyse business process improvement initiatives using theories taught in the course 
• Reflect on similarities and differences between different methods and theoretical perspectives on process improvement and on the effects that these differences may have when conducting process improvement in an organisational context
• Explain how different types of information technology can enable or inhibit process improvement 

In addition, the students have to demonstrate (as part of the project work) that they can: 

• Develop an appropriate research design for an improvement project in a specific organisational context reflecting upon different options and qualifying their decisions 
• Define a relevant and adequate problem definition for an improvement initiative in a specific organisational context involving relevant stakeholders 
• Facilitate/conduct an ample analysis of the current situation in a specific organisational context as a basis for suggesting actual improvements
• Develop and justify a plan/solution for an improvement initiative in a specific organisational context involving relevant stakeholders 
  
• Perform an executive presentation of the result of their project work 
  
• Reflect upon the project work; research design, process, result, learning etc. 
  

Formal prerequisites

The course does not presuppose any specific knowledge.

Intended learning outcomes

After the course, the student should be able to:

• Use the methods taught in the course to analyse and improve business processes that involve human work
• Analyse business process improvement initiatives using theories taught in the course
• Reflect on similarities and differences between different methods and theoretical perspectives on process improvement and on the effects that these differences may have when conducting process improvement in an organisational context
• Explain how different types of information technology can enable or inhibit process improvement
• Develop an appropriate research design for an improvement project in a specific organisational context reflecting upon different options and qualifying their decisions
• Define a relevant and adequate problem definition for an improvement initiative in a specific organisational context involving relevant stakeholders
• Facilitate/conduct an ample analysis of the current situation in a specific organisational context as a basis for suggesting actual improvements
• Develop and justify a plan/solution for an improvement initiative in a specific organisational context involving relevant stakeholders
• Perform an executive presentation of the result of their project work
• Reflect upon the project work; research design, process, result, learning etc.

Learning activities

In this course, the students will learn both methods and theoretical prespectives on process improvement. The methods include:

• Business Process Reengineering
• Design Thinking 
• Lean Management
• Business Process Simulation
• Service Design
• Agile Methods
• Six Sigma

Theoretical perspectives include theories of routines, organizational learning, change, and others.

Learning activities include lectures, reading practitioner and academic literature related to process improvement, in-class discussion, exercises, case study discussion, e-learning exercises, and, in particular, the work on a student project. The student project revolves around improving an organizational process in a specific real-life context. The projects are carried out in groups. Each group will identify and define a relevant improvement initiative in close collaboration with its case organization, analyze the current situation of the chosen process, and, based on the analysis, develop and justify a plan or a solution for improving the defined situation. 

Course literature

The following list is subject to change. A more up-to-date list will be available on LearnIT. The literature that will be required for the exam will be communicated via LearnIT.

Hammer, M., & Champy, J. (1993). Business process reengineering: A manifesto for business revolution. In: Harper Business, New York (chapter 1 and chapter 3)

Brown, T. (2008). Design Thinking. Harvard Business Review

Brown, T. & Wyatt, J. (2010) Design Thinking for Social Innovation. Stanford Social Innovation Review

IDEO (2009) Human Centered Design Toolkit. 2nd edition (skim-read)

Dorst, K. (2011) The Core of ‘Design Thinking’ and Its Application. Design Studies 32 (optional reading)  

Stalk, G. (1988) ”Time - The next source of competitive advantage”, Harvard Business Review, July

Womack, J. & Jones, D. (1996) ”Beyond Toyota: How to Root Out Waste and Pursue Perfection”, Harvard Business Review, September- October

Swank, C. (2003) ”The Lean Service Machine”, Harvard Business Review, October

Laguna, M., & Marklund, J. (2013). Business process modeling, simulation and design. Boca Raton: Tailor & Francis (chapter 5)

Laguna, M., & Marklund, J. (2013). Business process modeling, simulation and design. Boca Raton: Tailor & Francis (chapter 7)

Psychogios, A. & Tsironis, L. (2012) ”Towards an integrated framework for Lean Six Sigma application: Lessons from the airline industry”, Total Quality Management, April, pp. 397-415

Atkinson, P. (2014) ”DMAIC: A methodology for Lean Six Sigma business transformation”, Management Services, Spring, pp. 12-17

Galli, B. & Hadley, H. (2014) ”The right approach to Six Sigma Leadership”, Industrial Management, May/June, pp. 25-30 

K. Beck, et al. (2001) Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Access at: https://agilemanifesto.org/ 

Hoda, R. & Noble, J. (2017) Becoming Agile: A Grounded Theory of Agile Transitions in Practice. IEEE/ACM 39th International Conference on Software Engineering

Dumas, M., La Rosa, M., Mendling, J., & Reijers, H. A. (2013). Fundamentals of business process management (Vol. 1). Heidelberg: Springer (chapter 9)  (optional reading)  

Grover, V., Jeong, S. R., Kettinger, W. J., & Teng, J. T. The implementation of business process reengineering. Journal of Management Information Systems, 12(1), 109-144, 1995.

Jarvenpaa, S.L., and Stoddard, D.B. 1998. "Business Process Redesign: Radical and Evolutionary Change," Journal of Business Research (41:1), pp. 15-27.

Newell, S., Edelman, L., Scarbrough, H., Swan, J., Bresnen, M. Problems in the Transfer of Reengineering Efforts. In: Grover, V., Markus L.M.: Business Process Transformation, Sharpe, Armonk, 2008.

Sarker, S., Lee, A. A Case Study of Business Process Reengineering Failure. In: Grover, V., Markus L.M.: Business Process Transformation, 251-271, Sharpe, Armonk, 2008.

Benner, M. J., & Tushman, M. (2002). Process management and technological innovation: A longitudinal study of the photography and paint industries. Administrative Science Quarterly, 47(4), 676-707.

Feldman, M. S., & Pentland, B. T. (2003). Reconceptualizing organizational routines as a source of flexibility and change. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48(1), 94-118.

Repenning, N. P., & Sterman, J. D. (2002). Capability traps and self-confirming attribution errors in the dynamics of process improvement. Administrative Science Quarterly, 47(2), 265-295.

Student Activity Budget

Estimated distribution of learning activities for the typical student

• Preparation for lectures and exercises: 15%
• Lectures: 15%
• Exercises: 15%
• Project work, supervision included: 45%
• Exam with preparation: 10%

Ordinary exam

Exam type:
D: Submission of written work with following oral, External (7-point scale)
Exam variation:
D2G: Submission for groups with following oral exam supplemented by the submission. Shared responsibility for the report.

reexam

Exam type:
D: Submission of written work with following oral, External (7-point scale)
Exam variation:
D2G: Submission for groups with following oral exam supplemented by the submission. Shared responsibility for the report.

Time and date

Ordinary Exam - submission Wed, 17 May 2023, 08:00 - 14:00
Ordinary Exam Tue, 6 June 2023, 09:00 - 17:00
Ordinary Exam Wed, 7 June 2023, 09:00 - 17:00
Ordinary Exam Thu, 8 June 2023, 09:00 - 17:00
Ordinary Exam Fri, 9 June 2023, 09:00 - 17:00
Ordinary Exam Mon, 12 June 2023, 09:00 - 17:00
Ordinary Exam Tue, 13 June 2023, 09:00 - 17:00
Reexam - submission Wed, 26 July 2023, 08:00 - 14:00
Reexam Mon, 14 Aug 2023, 09:00 - 17:00
Reexam Tue, 15 Aug 2023, 09:00 - 17:00