Process Awareness of an Organisation–results of Pilot Studies

Abstract

Background: The article presents the results of studying process awareness in organisations. The target group comprised operational staff working in commercial companies. Survey questionnaire, which included standardised questions asked directly to employees carrying out basic processes during anonymous interviews, was used as a research tool. Obtained answers were analysed in quantitative terms, taking into account the specific industry and the size of a specific organisation. Companies representing industrial processing industry and the TSL sector, declaring high process awareness, constituted over a half of the studied group. The analysis of answers proves the lack of process awareness among employees performing operational actions. Methods: The purpose of the study was to gain knowledge on the awareness of functioning processes among people who carry out basic activities. The study uses a survey questionnaire which, to make sure that employees understand the questions better, purposefully includes references to specific professional experiences, not to the knowledge on process management. Results: The result of the study was a quantitative analysis of answers, providing for the size of the organisation being the object of the study (micro-, small and medium). The results have borne out the hypothesis that, despite the fact organisations have defined processes, persons responsible for their effective execution (process owners) and persons who design process changes (business analysts), process awareness of operating staff boils down to the knowledge of notions and rules (it is semantic, not practical). The persons performing process activities lack a sense that they are the ones expected to initiate changes in processes.