The Effects of Workflow Systems on Organizations: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

The introduction of new information systems has many organizational, economic, and social effects. It is generally accepted that the implementation of workflow systems (WFSs) cannot be seen just as a technological activity. However, although WFSs has been an important technology for almost a decade, there is still a lack of empirical data regarding its effects. Therefore, the field is open to speculation. For example: while one community believes that WFSs will disburden office workers from simple routine tasks, another community argues that WFSs would lead to monotonous ‘chain production’. What are the main findings of the qualitative study? Through the use of WFSs the quality of output of business processes increased: documents became more uniform since processes were under closer control. The implementation of WFS led to modifications in the processes; however, business process reengineering was not carried out in any of the cases analyzed. Additionally the study revealed that overall job satisfaction was influenced positively. Interestingly, for the lower management WFSs led to a disempowerment. From an economic point of view it may be interesting that the use of WFSs led to a significant reduction in cycle time and an increase in productivity. Overall it can be said that the positive effects of WFSs outbalanced the negative effects.