It is All about the Interface: Factors Which Drive Process Interface Criticality in Organzations

摘要

Although many companies implement business processes, workflows often run across functional units. As a consequence, business processes contain several organizational interfaces between various roles and functions. As such critical interfaces are subject to information losses and misunderstandings, they have a negative impact on the overall process and business performance. Organizations therefore aim to reduce interfaces and their negative effects. However, literature and business practice still lacks an effective model to assess or even predict interface criticality. This study is an initial attempt to develop factors evaluating the criticality of organizational interfaces. Drawing on the literature of related fields, this work in progress proposes 23 determinants of interface criticality from fields such as organizational structure, situational factors, organizational climate, individual factors, communication and mechanisms reducing interface criticality.