Business process improvement through change management : a case study

Change is a constant companion in today’s business world. Organizations face more and more complex changes at a higher speed. To stay competitive and achieve more profit, organizations are forced to adapt and adjust to the changes in their environment or find more possibilities to operate their processes in a more efficient approach. To operate in a more cost efficient way, organizations have to adjust and adapt to changes, but also need to improve their internal processes. The case company is operating in the paper market sector, which faces currently a negative trend due to the digitization. This research had two complementary objectives, first to gain a common understanding of change management and business process improvement and the possible correlation between both terms. Secondly, to find out whether the case company implemented the process changes effectively enough to increase cost efficiency and what improvements can be carried on to similar transitions. Both, primary and secondary data were used in this research. First, primary data was collected from literature to establish a basis for the research and to provide a deeper understanding of business process improvement and change management. Secondary data was collected in form of the project itself and survey results of the participants in the transition project. These results have been analysed and put into relation to the primary data collected. At the end, the conclusion was drawn that the case company has managed to implement the business process changes effectively enough to achieve the targeted cost efficiency. The research also concluded that both change management and business process improvement share a common factor – change. While business process improvement is focusing more on the identification and implementation of change, change management focuses more on the soft factors of change – people and the organization’s culture. Aligning and linking both methodologies together, allows organizations to achieve and sustain real business process improvement required to face more complex changes at a higher speed in today’s business world. Confidential information are excluded from the public version of this researc