Improving university processes through computer‐mediated process redesign groups

Describes an action research study of a computer‐mediated business process redesign (BPR) group in a New Zealand university. The BPR group used an integrated BPR framework, which comprises a group process methodology, called MetaProi, and an asynchronous groupware tool. BPR group members were from two different departments and successfully redesigned two course‐related processes. Reveals some possible effects of computer mediation on BPR groups, namely: lower demand for leadership skills, much lower overall running cost, and much lower degree of interaction. No impact on the group effectiveness was observed. Also indicates that computer mediation lowers barriers to, and, in turn, fosters more interdepartmental communication. This favours the occurrence of new BPR groups involving different departments. On the other hand, indicates that those groups lead to more threats to management, which can lead to lack of support from managers for future BPR groups. Finally, suggests that strategic BPR groups, as opposed to those dealing with local operational issues, can better benefit from computer mediation when this is combined with face‐to‐face and other types of oral interaction.