Process Management (2007)

Quality Management with a Focus on
Process Management in Creative Industries

The set of linked activities by which organizations produce goods and services for their customers are often referred to as business processes. These business processes lie at the heart of every company. As a result, the planning and monitoring of processes, also called process management, represents the centrepiece of all organizational efforts to sustain and improve the quality of a company’s products. Process management includes identifying, designing and continually improving key processes that are primarily responsible for creating value for customers. In this thesis, I explored if the deployment of process management in creative industries—an industry that is renowned for a project-oriented, liberal and unstructured working style—is possible.

Based on workshops and semi-structured interviews with employees and managers of the branding and graphic design company Brainds (formerly Buero 16), I designed a process map and a number of key business processes. I then assessed those against the criteria defined by industry-standard quality management models (DIN EN ISO 9001:2000 and EFQM Excellence Model).

Results indicate that process management can be applied to companies with a project-oriented working style. Processes designed as part of this research were a significant milestone in Brainds’ endeavors to establish professional process management and to improve the workflow. They were also the foundation for a number of company-wide change management initiatives and infrastructure projects, designed to increase workflow efficiency and to support employees be more effective in their work.

Selection of Related Work

  • Structure and processes for the company-wide knowledge management system. Company-internal guidelines. Brainds. 2011.
  • Structure and processes for the usage of the company-wide image database. Company-internal guidelines. Brainds. 2009.
  • Project-management process description and guidelines for the company-wide ERP and project-management software. Company-internal guidelines. Brainds. 2008.
  • “Qualitätsmanagement mit besonderem Fokus auf die Einsetzbarkeit von Prozessmanagement in Creative Industries” [Quality Management with a Focus on Process Management in Creative Industries]. Diploma Thesis, FH JOANNEUM University of Applied Sciences. 2007.