Exploring the relationship between business process improvement and employees’ behavior

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate and clarify the relationship between business process improvement and employees’ behavior. More precisely, the purpose is to test whether a business process improvement initiative has a positive impact on performance and employees’ behavior, namely, motivation, communication and knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach The empirical research of this paper was conducted in the year 2013 in an ICT company on 52 employees who worked in the company’s R&D Centre. Business process improvement is analyzed in the change of work method for software development. Two projects of software development were observed. The data about the projects were collected by using the company’s documentation. The data about employees’ behavior were collected by a specially designed questionnaire. Findings Business process improvement led to better results and overall performance. Furthermore, it was found that business process improvement enhanced three important elements of employees’ behavior. These are motivation, communication and knowledge sharing. Research limitations/implications The main limitations of this study are small research sample, focusing on just the way of business process improvement and on only one company. Therefore, the results cannot be generalized and considered as being generally accepted. Practical implications The findings of this study could be useful for ICT companies because it shows the benefits of the Kanban method. Originality/value The major contribution of this study is to prove the positive impact of business process improvement initiatives on overall performance and on the special elements of employees’ behavior. This cognition enhances the existing knowledge on business process improvements.