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Essay / Business Process Management - 1260
Business Process ManagementIntroductionFor every company, a process is in place. For some businesses, there are a number of predefined processes. These processes actually constitute the building units of the company which are a prerequisite for the final results of the company. Zairi (1997) defined a process as an approach to converting inputs into outputs. Davenport (1993) defined process as a structured and measured set of activities designed to produce a specified outcome for a particular customer or market. We must realize that these processes can be routinely carried out by organizational staff members who are also the operators, without regard to the end results. Operators perform their duties normally as expected of them. This often leads to business processes being executed, but the desired end results not being fully achieved and therefore little added value. Objectives When we talk about processes here, it is not about systems or technology, but it involves people and methods to do these operations, like Smith. As Fingar (2003) pointed out, process management is not another form of automation. However, we can see this as an increased use of information technology to coordinate the activities of people and resources. Paim et al. (2008). It is therefore necessary that the department that will play a key role in an organization drives the processes to ensure that these processes are well executed. Paim et al (2008) state that business process management is an “everyday” activity in which necessary tasks must be performed in order to drive processes in an organization. This department would be the Business Process Management department. Business process management allows organizations to significantly increase their productivity while reducing the time cycles for creating and adapting processes, but requires significant changes in the managerial and particularly cultural practices of organizations. (Harmon, 2003; Piam, 2002; McCormack, 2001; Schein, 1997; Davenport, 1993). Business process management, however, should not be used to replace business process reengineering, but rather to coordinate reengineering activities..