Consolidating findings from business process change case studies using system dynamics: Theexample of employee morale

Abstract

In this paper, we explore system dynamics as a useful approach to consolidate findings fromcase studies on business process change (BPC) projects. We compile data from 65 BPC case studiesto develop a system dynamics simulation model that helps us to investigate 'employee morale' as an important construct in BPC projects. We show that such simulation models consolidate the complex and often non-linear findings from BPC case studies in a way that makes it available to discourse among researchers, lecturers and students as well as BPC professionals. Thus, this paper contributes to knowledge management and learning by suggesting system dynamics as a valuable approach to illustrate and convey the complex relationships between important constructs in BPC. This paper also contributes to the domain of business process management by demonstrating the benefits of system dynamics as a way to review and consolidate the abundance of BPC case studies.