Becoming Process-Oriented: A study on organizational transformation

Other conference contribution, 2005

The purpose of this study is to investigate what happens within an organization when a process view of the business is adopted. With the example of an empirical case, we aim to illustrate: how members of the organization make sense of process management; what contributions members of the organization consider to be the result of the adopting of a process view; and the relationship between the functional and the process structure. The case findings reveal an image of process management full of ambiguity and nuances, as well as a problematic balancing between the adopted process view and the existing functional organization. Furthermore, it gives an illustration of difficulties in turning the idea into good currency. We argue that the adoption of a process view should be considered a social negotiation rather than the result of a planned implementation. Additionally, we criticize the simplistic and technocratic discourse on process management as being partly to blame for problems in application.