write:Resulting in “lean six sigma” that combines both approaches to target every opportunity to control quality and improve processes (Pepper & Spedding 2010)1. Second the busines

quality control and process simplification (Brocke et al.
2015). Figure 4: The Scope and Evolution of Business Process Management Source: Own illustration based on BPTrends Associates (2013) and Brocke et al (2015) First
the tradition of work simplification and quality control have mostly been coined by engineers such as Taylor who shaped the way of performing tasks through time and motion studies (1967) and Ford who created the assembly line (Rae 1957) and laid the foundation stone for quality control (Soderborg
2004). This has been built up on by Toyota who gave birth to “lean” – creating value by minimising waste – and Motorola who brought forth “six sigma” – reducing defects by solving problems (McKinsey 2009). Resulting in “lean six sigma” that combines both approaches to target every opportunity to control quality and improve processes (Pepper & Spedding
2010)1. Second
the business management tradition has emerged during the mid-twenties
where business schools delivered a focus on functional line thinking – strategy
finance
operations and marketing as separate discipline – rather than on processes (Brocke et al.
2015). This brought forth the value chain that organises a company’s 1 According to Pepper and Spedding (2010) the literature in general is lacking content on the integration of the combined approach – after conducting a brief literature on “lean six sigma” this hypothesis has been verified