Organizational learning with flexible workflow management systems

• Authors: Thomas Hermann;Katharina Just-Hahn
• Venue: ACM SIGOIS Bulletin
• Year: 1996

The research activities on which the following hypotheses are based are concerned with the social implications of workflow management systems (wms) and with the question of how the necessary extent of autonomy of workers can still be guaranteed under the conditions of wms [Herrmann, 95]. We have learnt that the ability of workers for autonomy and improvisation cannot evolve if wms are not adaptable. If wms are adapted by workers, it might be sensible that the result of the adaptation is stored for further application. Consequently, the organization of business processes is changed if their workflow models are adapted. We understand that this is a specific version of organizational learning, because more than one member of an organization as well as the coordination between them is affected. The adaptation of a wms includes organizational learning under three perspectives:• before a suggested adaptation has reached a state of maturity and is accepted by the members of an organization, a process of learning is required• people must be trained to carry out their tasks in accordance with the adaptation - this requires another kind of learning• the experience with those two aspects above can be used to facilitate the next process of adaptation - this is a kind of organizational learning on a meta-level.We focus on the first perspective. Since nearly every adaptation affects other cooperators the necessity for negotiation between them is obvious. We realized that the course of negotiation can be understood as a process of organizational learning. Where as, the adapted workflow model can be considered as a kind of organizational memory.