A Study on the Effect of Information Technology on Process Improvement

프로세스 개선에 있어서 정보기술의 영향과 효과 분석: 품질경영 분임조 활동을 중심으로

This research studies the role of IT (Information Technology) in improving productivity of a company through samll group activities. For this purpose, this research analyzed the samll group activities of the company as to how IT was employed bo improve business processes. Cases of small group activities that were conducted from January, 1996 to December, 1996 in a Korean company (name withdrawn) were analyzed. Eight out of eleven small group activities have been studied. They were examined as to the effect of IT in time and cost savings, reduction in manpower and so on. TQM is the activity of process improvement based on the existing processes in pursuit of satisfaction of customers' needs. This study analyzed how IT was used to solve the current problem in business processes. As a result of the case study, it is found that TQM activities with IT could reduce expenses significantly. More specifically, expenses have been cut down by 56% a year on average. By improving the business processes through the activities of TQM which used IT, companies could remove the unnecessary business processes and the duplicated business processes. In other words, with the use of IT in TQM activities, they could move closer to goals of the satisfaction of the customers' needs by reducing expenses and time. This study examined the role of IT from the point of view of business process improvement. Internally, IT has a positive impact on reducing expenses, processing time, manpower and so forth. Externally, it plays an important role of company's gaining competitive advantage through the satisfaction of customers and stakeholders. In conclusion, the proper use of IT will significantly increase the performance of a company.