Leveraging Workarounds for a Problem-Focused Improvement of Business Processes

Abstract Business process improvement remains a central activity in organizations seeking to address process deviations and enhance operational performance. This paper introduces an innovative and systematic process improvement approach that leverages knowledge derived from recurrent workarounds performed by process participants. Building on prior evidence that such workarounds often originate from perceived goal and process misalignments, a structured procedure is proposed that detects, analyzes, and interprets workarounds to uncover their underlying root causes. The main artifact developed in this study is the Workaround-Driven Improvement Cycle (WDIC), an iterative improvement cycle that connects recurring workaround patterns to targeted improvement directions. To operate this cycle, a complementary improvement decision framework is introduced that links misalignment categories to appropriate improvement directions. The approach was developed using a Design Science Research (DSR) methodology and informed by goal-based analysis, the workaround motivational model, and established categorizations of misfits and process redesign patterns. The WDIC and its integrated decision framework were developed across three organizational settings, each involving numerous recurring workarounds, with a fourth case providing a full demonstration of the WDIC’s practical application. The results demonstrate that systematically investigating workarounds provides focused insights into socio-technical misalignments and supports the design of precise, context-aware process improvements.