Revealing the Sociotechnical Complexity of Business Process Modeling - An Actor-Network Theory Approach

In the last few years, the modeling of business processes has achieved considerable popularity in organizations and academic research. However, business process modeling is often studied from either a technical or a social perspective, and as a result of this a priori fragmentation, tends to overlook the sociotechnical complexity involved in modeling projects. To overcome this problem, this paper adopts an analytical approach based on the Actor-Network Theory, and performs a case study on a process-based quality management project in a large aircraft maintenance company. The results of the case analysis show that the form and meaning of both the process models and organizational routines are negotiated by setting up sociotechnical networks in modeling projects, thus making it clear that process models and ‘non-technical’ issues co-constitute each other. In this way, the paper provides an analytical tool that can help unravel the sociotechnical complexity involved in process modeling.