Knowledge management can be Lean: Improving knowledge intensive business processes

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to analyse the knowledge dimension of a repetitive, but highly complex business process (BP) in a case organisation-a large logistics service provider. More precisely, the paper illustrates an application of a combined Business Process Management (BPM) and Knowledge Management (KM) framework to one of its core BPs and demonstrates a possible approach to analysing "knowledge-intensiveness" of the chosen process. The paper illustrates that in this particular example of a BP, a sustainable source of competitive advantage does not come from process automation, but is related to the experiential knowledge of decision makers, and complexity of their decisions. Also, in order to improve this type of process, our research shows that it is necessary to consider human-centred process knowledge rather than simply focus on process structure, as it was typically done in the past, in the case of highly structured BPs. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.