How BPM Impacts Jobs: An Exploratory Field Study

Despite frequent allusions to the importance of change management and employee commitment in Business Process Management (BPM) initiatives, academics in this domain have so far failed to analyse how exactly employees perceive and experience these initiatives. Since we know BPM has an impact on employees, it is important for managers that are guiding process related change initiatives or leading people working in process oriented jobs to be aware of this impact and its consequences, as leaders play a crucial role in strategy based change initiatives. This paper aims to explore the employee´s experiences with and perceptions of BPM, and whether these correspond to BPM experts´ visions on BPM. Moreover, it constitutes a first test of a model that proposes an extra path through which BPM can increase the Organisational Performance: through Organisational Citizenship Behaviour. Results from eight case studies suggest a partial mismatch between the impact on employees that is generally claimed in literature and the real-life experiences of impacted employees, and reveal a potential for an increased beneficial impact of BPM.