A study of the effect of the critical process Targeting method on business process understanding in medium sized financial services entities

摘要

This thesis undertakes exploratory research into the area of business process understanding within the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Australia. Published evidence suggests that SMEs lag behind larger enterprises in their knowledge and use of tools and methods which may support business success.udHighly competitive environments are likely to drive SMEs to change their business practices more rapidly than larger enterprises. This means that they require flexibility and agility to survive. SME understanding of what to change and the impact of that change is a critical element of their decision making. A process orientation for businesses is not a recent phenomenon, however for SMEs this can be a difficult change from the traditional functional view of business.udA review of the literature identified evidence that supports the need for SMEs to have tools and or methods which progress their understanding of business processes (learning by doing). This research project considered this important gap in existing research by exploring the effect of the Critical Process Targeting Method (as one possible method) on business process understanding. ‘Understanding’ is the ability to explain, justify, extrapolate, relate and apply knowledge in ways that go beyond the basic knowledge and routine skill (Wiske & Breit 2010, p.5).udThis researcher takes the stance (which is neither right nor wrong, but instead a perspective on a situation) that from an ontological perspective, reality is the product of individual perception. The research is conducted as a qualitative interpretivist study in both data collection and analysis activities.udThis exploratory research investigated three medium sized entity case studies within the financial sector in Australia. The study used participant case studies to bound the data collection with interviews, documents and diary notes as the data collection methods. Data analysis was conducted using a grounded theory aligned data analysis based on a three phase coding approach.udThis research project makes three distinct contributions to Information Systems (IS) firstly, Business Process Management (BPM) and SME practice and knowledge.udTheoretical: This study investigates the subject area using three new case studies in a little explored area of Information Systems and Business Process Management (BPM).udResearch Method: This project employs a variation of a Research Method approach, which has enabled the exploration of the Medium sized entities’ business process understanding environment.udPractice: This project has identified how the CPTM can be used to improve business process understanding and is suitable for SMEs in the financial services sector.