Workflow management as you like it

Workflow Management Systems (WfMS’s) offer a tremendous potential for organizations. Shorter lead times, less mistakes in work handoffs, and a better insight into process execution are some of the most notable advantages experienced in practice. At the same time, the introduction of these systems on the work floor undoubtedly results in great changes in the way that business professionals coordinate their work. If a WfMS's coordination of work is experienced as too rigid or mechanistic, it may negatively affect employees' motivation, performance, and satisfaction. In this paper, we propose a set of measures to "tune" functioning workflow systems to minimize such effects. The measures we propose do not require undue cost, time, or organizational changes, as they characteristically lie within the configurable options of a WfMS. We asked an expert panel to select and validate the 6 most promising measures, which we present in this paper. From our evaluation of three commercial WfMS products, we conclude the ease with which the 6 measures can be implemented depends on the specific WfMS product