Juhani Anttila
Venture Knowledgist Quality Integration
Helsinki, Finland
www.QualityIntegration.biz

AN ADVANCED INSIGHT INTO MANAGING BUSINESS PROCESSES IN PRACTICE 

Abstract

Organizational business systems consist of interrelated business processes and organizational structures. Performance of the processes is of the greatest strategic and operational importance in affecting organizations’ business results, competitiveness, and sustained success.

This paper presents a holistic approach to business processes and their management, and it especially aims at reacting against existing problems and superficial pseudo solutions that we have found in many organizations. Basic process management concepts are clarified in a business minded way. The presented principles, and managing tools and infrastructures have proved effective and efficient in practical cases in different organizations. Especially people and leadership aspects, information and knowledge aspects, and requirements of modern business networks and ecosystems are highlighted.

Quality management and all other specialized managerial disciplines, which are the subject matters of many international management system standards, are naturally implemented in organizations through business processes. The paper presents how business integration and innovations, responsiveness, and collaboration can be achieved through managing business processes properly.

The value of our approach is in its comprehensiveness and base of theoretical concepts. Theoretical foundation, and flexible and practical business minded tools ensure that possible limitations can be evaluated and taken into account in organizational applications. The achieved results provide possibilities for immediate application, organization dedicated tailoring, and starting points for multifarious further research.

The research approach of this paper is business pragmatism combined with relevant academic studies based on the authors’ long-term experience both as business and standardization practitioners, and academic researchers. In compiling this entirety we have used ideas and material from many different theoretical references, and our own experiences from implementations in different organizations, including some telecom operator companies in Finland, Latvia, and USA, and public service organizations in Finland. Practical solutions have been created during years by using sound theoretical foundation, and benchmarking, learning by doing and evaluating achievements. Thus practical results are grounded in the ontological and epistemological theoretical foundation, and linked with business reality.

[This text was prepared together with Kari Jussila, and presented at the QMOD conference in Poznan, Poland in 2012. Abridged version of the text was published in the journal Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, Volume 24, Issue 7-8, 2013]