Process Maturity : A Component of Process Management

To be able to meet an increased competition through for instance globalization, and shorter product lifecycles, focus on performance control is central for organizations, where for instance processes and stakeholder orientation are central when continuously improving the operation of the organization. The purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the knowledge of how process maturity can be linked to process management. The following research questions have been formulated: How does process theories relate to the integration of management systems? How are process theories used within the field of process maturity? Which are the key elements in a process maturity model? Regarding the first research question a literature review was conducted in order to find out how organizations are working with integration of management systems. The main focus of this study was how integration of management systems relates to processes and stakeholder involvement. Secondly a literature review has been conducted on the concept of process maturity. The main aim was to find maturity models focusing on processes and process management, examine the structure of the maturity models used and explore how process management is described within different maturity models. Thirdly a conceptual model for measuring process maturity has been constructed. The content of this model has mainly been based on findings from the literature review conducted on articles on process maturity as well as a literature review of Process Management literature