Page 196 - Sustainability Communication Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoritical Foundations
P. 196
15 Computer Support for Cooperative Sustainability Communication 179
and clearly identified inputs and outputs; or in other words, a structure for action
(Davenport 1993). So, the focus of business process management is on the design
and control of all relevant business processes within an organization. All questions
of cooperation are solved and communication is no longer necessary. It is replaced
by business process models and business rule specifications. Software applications
can support the design process with the aid of a business process modeller and a
business rule editor (Costello and Molloy 2004). A business repository stores the
results of the modelling. It is the database of a process engine and a rule engine.
Both engines control operational process execution.
Floyd refers to business process models as operational forms or autooperational
forms. An operation is treated as a special kind of human activity. “Operation can
be analytically separated through scientific observation… Operations are rooted in
repeated human action of individuals or groups. Fundamental to operations is the
separation of description and performance. The description of operations makes
well-defined ways of proceeding possible that can be taught, planned, and enforced.
The performance of operations is embedded in situated human activity (…)
Operational forms result from connecting the descriptions of individual operations
in terms of temporal, logical, and causal relations” (2002: 18).
Floyd points out that operational (re-) construction as a basic method associated
with computing is a social process. She talks about the concept of operation, the
roles and perspectives of observers, levels of software practice and social reflection.
So, the identification of routine and the design of operational and autooperational
forms is a social activity. Even if business process re-engineering stands for profit
maximization, cost cutting and the release of staff, it is also a non-routine activity.
Kieser (1996) has identified in concepts like business process re-engineering preser-
vative organizational patterns: (1) the identification of key factors, with regard to
sustainability for example climate change and carbon dioxide, (2) an imminent
breakdown (as defined above), e.g. on the basis of the Stern Report, the IPCC reports
or an international conference, (3) the problem that central action orientations are
endangered, e.g. future profit maximization under conditions of climate change,
(4) the presentation of new excellence initiatives as paradigms instead of special
instructions, (5) members within an organization who adopt the new ideas as pioneers,
(6) very simple ideas and principles are combined with ambiguity, yielding easy to
understand action orientations but not simple recipes. All these phases and aspects
show that these concepts are mainly based on communicative action (Dietz 2006),
e.g. now obvious problems with conventional action orientations, offers of new,
hopefully successful ways of thinking etc. In other words, concepts like business
process re-engineering can serve as examples or paradigms that allow the identifica-
tion of development formats for transition processes.
There are many different promising approaches for the computer support of
sustainable development. With respect to the role of communication in development
and transition processes, two orientations can be distinguished: conversation support
and decision support. Computer-based conversation support is especially required to
question problematic action orientations and routines. Furthermore, computers as a
medium should support the process of finding new, more sustainable routines. In this