Business Process Re-engineering

Remember Stop Jumping on the Band Wagon and use Common Sense and Context.

Let me explain by using BPR as an example. The objective of BPR is to improve the efficiency of a company's business processes through a revolution. The enabler of course is technology. The result is lower operational cost, getting products to market quicker and cheaply, ultimately a heftier  bottom line. 

Below is Hammer and Champy's definition of BPR from their book, Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution.  By the way, the book was written in 1995.. It shows that I'm not making this up and that I'm not too far off the definition.

Well how do you know if you are better than anyone else? Well that's where best practices comes in.

Here is some food for thought. In political terms,  a revolution is directed at the tyranny of a ruling government. In real life, those who propose revolution, die. The BPR revolution is different beast because it is being initiated by the ruling management.

"Big Picture" people, are always on the look out for the silver bullet. Through mis-interpretation, BPR has come to mean and now synonymous with downsizing and right-sizing. Downsizing is the politically correct term for laying people off - cutting head count..

One of the greatest side affects of BPR was the slashing of middle managers. I associate middle management with people who are administrators. You know the "paper pushers". Sure management is tactically a necessary evil especially in regards to maintaining control.

The negative outcome is NO MORE LOYALTY, gotcha !!! What do you mean?

• Why should Jim or Jill remain loyal to you after their friends have been laid off?
• Why should anyone work for you?
• Do you think it's going to be easy hiring people when they know of the "slaughter and massacre"?

Hammer and Champy have stated that,

Well what if people don't want to be empowered ? Or more importantly, is management willing to invest in training it's people.

People for some reason have interpreted BPR as starting a revolution. And sure as hell companies who have just read the press clippings have started a revolution. Their "employees" have in turn revolted. As long as there are workers with the ability to do then their knowledge will always rain supreme.

I'd be interested in seeing a study in a couple of years when the result is in on BPR. It would probably be the same as the earlier studies on major management trends. Just look at Japan. People are dying of being overworked. The Japanese economy is toast. Sure there are other factors such as the "Asian Flu". But it will take Japan a long time to recover.

Now if people were to use a modicum of common sense then, they would focus on automating processes that have a direct affect on the bottom line especially those costly manual processes.

I will have to congratulate Hammer and Champy. Yes, I do. BPR has given companies a wake up call. Companies were forced to recognize that, hey our technology is getting really old. We better start investing again.

IT has made a turn for the better because executives now recognize IT as a profit center as apposed to a cost center. I don't know of any organization where the IT person particularly the programmer knows just as much, if not more then the actual business people!.