Hi Zeljko,

to improve and assess performace I recommend the use of simulations or games. See the link below with plenty of ideas and resources. i've had the opportunity to share a conference with them and I 've realized how much they know about corporation issues.

hope this helps,

Laura

http://www.thiagi.com

In my opinion, in the context of Business Process Management these two approaches are considered as complementary and should be conducted jointly.

I endorse what Amina said about complementary approaches. From the theoretical rigour point of view, you can only work bottom-up (as you call it) if you use grounded theory method, i.e. assuming no theory (standards). And there is surely enough theory/standards on organizational practice (e.g ISO) that you don't need to do that - and then you have to have a top-down element - that defines what topics you will be asking questions about. But you still need the bottom-up element because all organizations are different, even in the same industry there is always scope to compete by being a bit different!

Best wishes,

John E

Dear professor Edwards,

thank you for valuable suggestions. I am thinking about bottom-up approach, which will provide possibility to take into account specific context of each small company. Grounded theory is excellent choice in that case, based on my experience and literature review. However, idea about later use of top-down is very interesting.

Zeljko

In that case I would suggest a "Straussian" approach to grounded theory method, not a "Glaserian" one - that accepts that you do have some theoretical base (bias!) before you start, and encourages you to document your assumptions. A PhD student of mine did this successfully, working with SMEs, but there isn't a journal paper about her research yet.

John E

The combination of these approaches will give better result indeed.