Business Process Management, Social Network Analysis and Knowledge Management: A Triangulation of Sorts?

As its name suggests, Business Process Management seeks to manage the processes companies typically undertake on a day to day basis. In line with many management techniques, improvements can made through analysing at varying granularity how processes are actually undertaken compared to how management may consider they are being accomplished and vice versa. One innovative way Business Process Management may be improved is through the use of Social Network Analysis to observe actual working relationships among employees. This latter technique permits the workflow manager specifically to consider how well matched employees are to their workflow and as a result of this, we have a means of either reconstructing workflows or alternatively employee practices. A small research-in-progress case study is presented illustrating how these principles may be applied in practice. Overall one may consider such improvements as aiding in the knowledge management of the organization as a whole.

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