Other

Vesna Bosilj-Vukšić orcid.org/0000-0002-0841-7754 ; Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb
Mario Spremić orcid.org/0000-0001-8114-0213 ; Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb
Mislav Ante Omazić ; Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb
Maja Vidović ; Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb
Tomislav Hernaus orcid.org/0000-0002-7200-5279 ; Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb

Abstract

Contemporary companies function in constantly changing and highly turbulent business environment which is
the cause of a constant need for change and learning at individual, group, organizational as well as interorganizational
level (61). Organizational learning is considered to be one of the most promising concepts in
modern managerial literature. According to de Geus ‘ability to learn faster than your competitors might be the
only sustainable competitive advantage you have’ (11).
Dimovski (12) provides an overview of previous research and identifies four perspectives on organizational
learning. His model manages to merge informational, interpretational, strategic and behavioral approach to
organizational learning and defines it as a process of information acquisition, information interpretation and
resulting behavioral and cognitive changes, which should in turn have an impact on organizational performance.
In recent research, another measurement variable for organizational learning emerged – Information quality (18).
Another research topic introduced in this research was determination and evaluation of the business process
orientation construct. Although definitions of the business process orientation vary, we adopt the
McCormack’s and Johnson’s (2001) definition of process orientation: An organization that, in all its
thinking, emphasizes process as opposed to hierarchies with a special emphasis on outcomes and customer
satisfaction. McCormack and Johnson (2001) conducted an empirical study to explore the relationship
between BPO and enhanced business performance. The research results showed that BPO is critical in
reducing conflict and encouraging greater connectedness within an organization, while improving business
performance. The more business process oriented an organization, the better it performs both from an
overall perspective as well as from the perspective of the employees.
The BPO construct describes a four-step pathway for systematically advancing business processes along
the maturity continuum (Ad Hoc, Defined, Linked, and Integrated level). Each step builds on the work of
the previous steps to apply improvement strategies that are appropriate to the current maturity level. It is
important to note that trying to skip maturity levels is counter-productive, since each level builds a
foundation from which to achieve the subsequent level. An organization must evolve through these levels
to establish a culture of process excellence.
The goal of our contribution was to test differences in the way companies learn and perceive their business
process orientation in Slovenia and Croatia. During September and October 2005 questionnaires were
distributed to Slovenian and Croatian companies with more than 50 employees. In Slovenian case, 203
completed questionnaires were returned (which accounts for 16.5% response rate) while in Croatia 202
completed questionnaires were returned to the research group (which accounts for 11.5% response rate).
Received questionnaires from both countries allow us to compare the results and to implicitly test the
impact of various country-based factors on the organizational learning phenomena.
Using data gathered from two independent samples (Slovenia and Croatia) analysis of variance method and t-test
were used in order to get the answer to our research question relating to differences in organizational learning and
business process orientation between Slovenian and Croatian companies.
Results indicate that Slovenian and Croatian companies differ only in 17 out of 48 items considering
organizational learning research – especially in the way they acquire information and the way they perceive
behavioral and cognitive changes currently under place. Croatian companies are more outward directed
when acquiring information and are witnessing more turbulent changes in their internal as well as external
business environment. Nevertheless, there are much more similar traits in the way Slovenian and Croatian
companies learn than there are dissimilarities. However, there are some indications that Slovenian
companies already bridged the transition period, while majority of Croatian companies still has to cross that
bridge.
Data analysis considering second part of the research revealed some important aspects of business process
orientation in Slovenia and Croatia. It showed that Slovenian companies have reached slightly higher maturity level than Croatian companies, which was not surprising considering Croatian contemporary
history. Though statistically significant, the difference is not large and the general state of the BPO in both
countries is promising. Still, a lot is left to change and improve in order to transform the companies into
process-oriented ones.
The investigation also revealed some differences between both counties. Slovenian companies give more
emphasis to the quality of process data and have monitoring and control systems in place to assure it.
Besides that jobs are more frequently multidimensional and not just simple tasks in Slovenia then in
Croatia. This is important aspect of process orientation whereby employees need to be equipped with wide
arsenal of knowledge and skills in order to participate in different areas of a process.
To realize BPO projects, most companies use different business process modelling/management methods
and tools, which integrate components for static and dynamic modelling, measuring and monitoring the
performance of the processes, as well as enabling the transformation of business process diagrams into
tailor-made applications supporting the execution of workflows. The focus of this paper is to discuss the
application of business process oriented concepts in different areas, depending on different projects'
objectives and goals. The paper provides the results of a search in literature as well as a summary and
comparison of features concerning business process modelling and business process management tools,
placing them within an empirically derived framework.

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

137217

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/137217

Publication date:

23.5.2006.

Article data in other languages: croatian

Visits: 5.304 *