Deriving organisational business process change factors using the hierarchical elicitation workshop

Abstract

The hierarchical elicitation workshop (HEW) is a new initiative designed and developed to address common shortcomings in business process change (BPC) initiatives in organisations, particularly those with tight temporal constraints imposed by exogenous bodies. This paper presents a systematic solution to deal with dramatic BPC under tight temporal constraints in large business and government organisations. In an empirical case study, the hierarchical elicitation workshop is developed and trialled. Based on the Software Engineering Institute's Quality Attribute Workshop methodology, a step-by-step process was carried out to elicit and validate the required BPC factors. Engaging internal stakeholder teams to consider implications for BPC with respect to factors such as organisational objectives and strategies, governance, business process architecture and applications, a prioritised list of change actions was systematically elicited and then implemented. The HEW framework and process was successfully applied to elicit BPC factors in this case study, with an immediate and effective implementation of process change. This paper will be of particular interest to researchers of change management and business development.