Applications are invited from suitable qualified graduates for four PhD scholarships at the Business Process Management Group, Information Systems Discipline at Queensland University of Technology as part of the ARC project “Designing Process Models for Decision-Making”. The term of the scholarship is three years. The scholarships provide financial support towards study and living costs.
Project Background
When seeking to re-design business processes – a perennial top priority of chief information executives – organisations use graphical documentations of their business processes, so called process models. These models act as blueprints of organizational processes, and are a key tool for making re-design decisions, i.e., decisions about where, how and why changes to the processes should be enacted to warrant increased revenues, business growth, improved operational efficiency, cost reductions or increased compliance.
A process model that documents a business process in an incomplete, incorrect, cumbersome to decipher, or otherwise deficient manner will not convey the information about the business domain to the decision maker such that a good decision can be facilitated. Any re-design of the processes, in consequence, will then fail to deliver the expected benefits. When creating process models, therefore, business analysts require principles that guide them in conceiving graphical representations of business processes that are useful, intuitive and accurate to the
decision-makers (process owners, process managers, business analysts, systems designers and the like) working with these models.
This project aims to develop a theory, and theory-driven guidelines, for developing
understandable process models. Specifically, it will deliver:
• A fundamental theory about factors and consequences of process modelling for
decision-making tasks; and
• on the basis of the new and validated theory, practical guidelines based on
rigorous empirical insights to guide the creation of useful, intuitive and accurate
process models for decision-making.
Project Governance
The research project is led by Associate Professor Jan Recker, PhD. Jan is Alexander-
von-Humboldt Fellow and Associate Professor for Information Systems at
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, where he is co-leader of
the Business Process Management research group. His main areas of research include
business process design in organizational practice, user acceptance and IT-enabled
business transformations. His research is published in the MIS Quarterly, the Journal
of the Association for Information Systems, the European Journal of Information
Systems, Information & Management, the Scandinavian Journal of Information
Systems, Information Systems, and other key journals.
Jan is currently the highest ranked researcher in Information Systems in Europe and
Australia, based on publications in the top six journals over the last three years. He is
an Associate Editor for the Communications of the AIS, a member of the editorial
board of several international journals and serves on the program committee of
various conferences.
More information is available from www.janrecker.com/.
The Research Group
QUT’s BPM research group is one of the largest BPM research groups in the world with impressive academic achievements, significant third-party funded research projects and major industry linkages.
QUT’s BPM Group is situated within the Information Systems Discipline, the highest ranked IS research department in Australia based on research quality. The discipline is currently the highest ranked IS department in Australia or Europe in terms of publications in the top six IS journals worldwide.
QUT’s BPM Group has a global reputation for its work on BPM maturity management, process improvement, process modeling, and workflow technology. The group has had substantial impact on the global body of BPM knowledge and its uptake in industry and academia. Research from the BPM group has appeared in premier outlets journals such as the MIS Quarterly, the Journal of the AIS, the European Journal of IS, Decision Support Systems, Information Systems, ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology, and others.
To find out more, please visit the research group’s website
(http://www.bpm.scitech.qut.edu.au).
Application Criteria
The successful applicant
- has a Master's degree in information systems, business administration, or a
comparable field. He or she completed the Master’s degree with a GPA of 6 or
higher (or equivalent).
- has the ambition and capabilities to complete a high-quality PhD project
within 3 years.
- has a strong research mindset, and evidence of skills in theoretical and
empirical research.
- possesses strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
- speaks and writes fluently in English.
- likes to work in an international setting.
Application Procedure
Applicants are required to submit a letter of application for the scholarship to Associate Professor Jan Recker (j.recker@qut.edu.au) by 31 December 2011, briefly describing qualifications, relevant skills and areas of research interest. Applicants will be screened and, if suitable, invited for further assessment and interviews.
The following supporting documents are required:
- CV including a comprehensive list and details of all publications if any.
- Certified copies of academic transcripts.
- Copies of most important research papers or theses
- A letter stating how the above criteria are met by the applicant
- 2 letters of reference from academics who have taught/supervised the
applicant at university.
Project Background
When seeking to re-design business processes – a perennial top priority of chief information executives – organisations use graphical documentations of their business processes, so called process models. These models act as blueprints of organizational processes, and are a key tool for making re-design decisions, i.e., decisions about where, how and why changes to the processes should be enacted to warrant increased revenues, business growth, improved operational efficiency, cost reductions or increased compliance.
A process model that documents a business process in an incomplete, incorrect, cumbersome to decipher, or otherwise deficient manner will not convey the information about the business domain to the decision maker such that a good decision can be facilitated. Any re-design of the processes, in consequence, will then fail to deliver the expected benefits. When creating process models, therefore, business analysts require principles that guide them in conceiving graphical representations of business processes that are useful, intuitive and accurate to the
decision-makers (process owners, process managers, business analysts, systems designers and the like) working with these models.
This project aims to develop a theory, and theory-driven guidelines, for developing
understandable process models. Specifically, it will deliver:
• A fundamental theory about factors and consequences of process modelling for
decision-making tasks; and
• on the basis of the new and validated theory, practical guidelines based on
rigorous empirical insights to guide the creation of useful, intuitive and accurate
process models for decision-making.
Project Governance
The research project is led by Associate Professor Jan Recker, PhD. Jan is Alexander-
von-Humboldt Fellow and Associate Professor for Information Systems at
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, where he is co-leader of
the Business Process Management research group. His main areas of research include
business process design in organizational practice, user acceptance and IT-enabled
business transformations. His research is published in the MIS Quarterly, the Journal
of the Association for Information Systems, the European Journal of Information
Systems, Information & Management, the Scandinavian Journal of Information
Systems, Information Systems, and other key journals.
Jan is currently the highest ranked researcher in Information Systems in Europe and
Australia, based on publications in the top six journals over the last three years. He is
an Associate Editor for the Communications of the AIS, a member of the editorial
board of several international journals and serves on the program committee of
various conferences.
More information is available from www.janrecker.com/.
The Research Group
QUT’s BPM research group is one of the largest BPM research groups in the world with impressive academic achievements, significant third-party funded research projects and major industry linkages.
QUT’s BPM Group is situated within the Information Systems Discipline, the highest ranked IS research department in Australia based on research quality. The discipline is currently the highest ranked IS department in Australia or Europe in terms of publications in the top six IS journals worldwide.
QUT’s BPM Group has a global reputation for its work on BPM maturity management, process improvement, process modeling, and workflow technology. The group has had substantial impact on the global body of BPM knowledge and its uptake in industry and academia. Research from the BPM group has appeared in premier outlets journals such as the MIS Quarterly, the Journal of the AIS, the European Journal of IS, Decision Support Systems, Information Systems, ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology, and others.
To find out more, please visit the research group’s website
(http://www.bpm.scitech.qut.edu.au).
Application Criteria
The successful applicant
- has a Master's degree in information systems, business administration, or a
comparable field. He or she completed the Master’s degree with a GPA of 6 or
higher (or equivalent).
- has the ambition and capabilities to complete a high-quality PhD project
within 3 years.
- has a strong research mindset, and evidence of skills in theoretical and
empirical research.
- possesses strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
- speaks and writes fluently in English.
- likes to work in an international setting.
Application Procedure
Applicants are required to submit a letter of application for the scholarship to Associate Professor Jan Recker (j.recker@qut.edu.au) by 31 December 2011, briefly describing qualifications, relevant skills and areas of research interest. Applicants will be screened and, if suitable, invited for further assessment and interviews.
The following supporting documents are required:
- CV including a comprehensive list and details of all publications if any.
- Certified copies of academic transcripts.
- Copies of most important research papers or theses
- A letter stating how the above criteria are met by the applicant
- 2 letters of reference from academics who have taught/supervised the
applicant at university.
Application Deadline : 31 December 2011
