Developing a Governance Model for Successful Business Process Standardization

Standardization of business processes is considered as an important instrument in the context of business process management. However, research in that field has mostly focused on the impact of business process standardization on business process performance while only a few attempts have been made to determine the success factors for effective process standardization, yet. Moreover, a major issue in any standardization initiative is to convince decision makers to follow the standard. This is particularly true when it comes to process standardization: how can a firm be sure that its different divisions have implemented the process standard and that the employees adhere to the rules? Following an action design research approach, we introduce a governance model that consists of a role concept for ensuring successful process standardization. As part of the research process, we provide first steps of evaluation through a qualitative case study at an international aviation company.