The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep but possible merge. Since consensus is in favor of keeping this content somewhere, discussion of a merge or redirect can and should continue at the article's talk page. Beeblebrox (talk) 21:28, 12 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Process improvement (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log)

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Original research and trivial definition of a non-notable neologism that's too vague to mean ... well ... anything:

• In organizational development (OD), process improvement is a series of actions taken by a process owner to identify, analyze and improve existing business processes within an organization to meet new goals and objectives.[citation needed] These actions often follow a specific methodology or strategy to create successful results/
• Process improvement is also a method to introduce process changes to improve quality, reduce costs, or accelerate schedules.

Mostly a See Also list to a large number of articles that themselves need to be looked at. Contested proposed deletion. Smerdis of Tlön - killing the human spirit since 2003! 17:56, 1 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Business-related deletion discussions.

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Lists-related deletion discussions. Smerdis of Tlön - killing the human spirit since 2003! 17:57, 1 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• Merge with Business Process Improvement [1] The article is notable.--User:Warrior777 (talk) 19:33, 1 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• I could easily live with a redirect. Is there anything to merge? - Smerdis of Tlön - killing the human spirit since 2003! 19:52, 1 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• More then likely you are correct but I'll leave that to the author(s) to decide. If the author(s) do see this deletion activity perhaps the might help with "Business Process Improvement". Just a suggestion.--User:Warrior777 (talk) 20:21, 1 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• merge as suggested above. We can decide that, though someone does have to do the work. DGG ( talk ) 08:26, 4 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
• Keep Entire books are written about process improvement as you can readily see from the search link above. For example, see Process improvement: enhancing your organization's effectiveness. Wikipedia and AFD is itself a process in much need of improvement and work upon this notable topic might help this along. Deleting the topic instead would be an absurd act of denial. Warden (talk) 09:38, 4 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the Article Rescue Squadron's list of content for rescue consideration. Warden (talk) 09:44, 4 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• Keep - This topic has been covered in reliable tertiary sources. Here's two I added to the article:

• Cook, Sarah (1996). "Process improvement: a handbook for managers". Gower Publishing Ltd, et al. Retrieved February 04, 2012. ((cite web)): Check date values in: |accessdate= (help) ISBN 0-566-07633-0
• Kock, Nereu F.; et al. (1994). The nature of data, information and knowledge exchanges in business processes: implications for process improvement and organizational learning (Research paper). The Learning Organization. ((cite book)): Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

—Northamerica1000^(talk) 11:46, 4 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• Hard to sort through the 26,700 Google news archive search results, and the 103,000 Google book search results. I eliminate the word "business", "managers", "office", and others from the results, but I still keep getting those which are related to business. If it the same thing is business process improvement, then merge makes sense. Dream Focus 11:53, 4 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]
• Merge As suggested. Sources provided above emphasize this is a business process. "Process improvement: enhancing your organization's effectiveness" and "Process improvement: a handbook for managers" and "The nature of data, information and knowledge exchanges in business processes: implications for process improvement and organizational learning (Research paper)". These sources are a perfect example of why this should be merged into Business process improvement. We don't need two articles on the same exact subject. This isn't a loss of content, it's consolidation of the same topic.--v/r - TP 01:39, 5 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• Process improvement is not confined to businesses. For example, as a member of USAF, you should be familiar with the Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century program. Warden (talk) 17:41, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

• Keep: This article is 9 years old, created in 2003 when the project had maybe 150,000 articles. People weren't making pages for every Captain & Tennille single or what have you back then. Admittedly, "process improvement" is a very generic term and isn't a flashy one like Taylorism, and the article could use improvement, but the term is notable. Books like this one [2] confirm that. I know this stuff it utterly boring, but its important to business management research.--Milowent • ^hasspoken 14:27, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, and re suggestion of merger to Business process improvement, I am not sure. That article claims it derives from a 1991 book, and I would be surprised if process management research in a broad sense doesn't predate that significantly, things like the Hawthorne effect derive from research done in the 1920s.--Milowent • ^hasspoken 14:31, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The sources seem to support a merge. Do you have sources that support a stand alone article?--v/r - TP 16:31, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. I've had the misfortune to do studies in this area so I know this isn't a "non-notable neologism" as the nominator claims. Whether I want to actually do this work is another thing entirely, but there's a reason we don't have a Wikipedia:WikiProject Organizational Behavior around here.--Milowent • ^hasspoken 18:10, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Can you show me some examples? The examples above seem to support that this term is a business term. I'd like to see what you have so I can determine whether or not your sources support this claim for myself.--v/r - TP 18:46, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I see what you are saying. Digging up these old textbooks would be a pain if I still have them, but yes, the term is a business or management term. But the Business process improvement seems to be some specialized version based on a 1991 book. Perhaps a merge and rewrite is what's really needed.--Milowent • ^hasspoken 19:09, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe the other article needs to be renamed too.--v/r - TP 19:11, 6 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.