business process reengineering
3
Business Process Reengineering
Page 68
CHAPTER THREE
Business Process Reengineering
Business process reengineering (BPR) has been receiving attention from industries as well as the academic community, because it is likely to change management practice and working processes in organisations in the future. However it is commonly agreed that BPR is important but also problematic. In this chapter we explore the principles and assumptions of BPR and identify the factors affecting its successes and failures. Especially we highlight some major debates currently found in the literature of
BPR. These debates include the definitions used to describe business processes and BPR, the scale of the changes involved in BPR, and the significance and role of information technology (IT) in BPR, especially IT systems. As the main theme of this thesis is applying EM to BPR, it is essential to understand some factors which cause BPR projects failure due to the poor design of the supporting systems under the conventional paradigm.
3.1 Business Process Reengineering: Introduction
BPR is known by many names, such as ‘core process redesign’, ‘new industrial engineering’ or ‘working smarter’. All of them imply the same concept which focuses on integrating both business process redesign and deploying IT to support the reengineering work. In this section we attempt to explore two questions: where does BPR come from and what is involved in BPR (i.e. its principles and assumptions).
§ 3.1 Business Process Reengineering: Introduction
Yih-Chang Chen (2001) “Empirical Modelling for Participative Business Process Reengineering”
3
Business Process Reengineering
Page 69
3.1.1 What is BPR?
Generally the topic of BPR involves discovering how business processes currently operate, how to redesign these processes to eliminate the wasted or redundant effort and improve efficiency, and how to implement the process changes in order to gain competitiveness. The aim
Business Process Reengineering
Page 68
CHAPTER THREE
Business Process Reengineering
Business process reengineering (BPR) has been receiving attention from industries as well as the academic community, because it is likely to change management practice and working processes in organisations in the future. However it is commonly agreed that BPR is important but also problematic. In this chapter we explore the principles and assumptions of BPR and identify the factors affecting its successes and failures. Especially we highlight some major debates currently found in the literature of
BPR. These debates include the definitions used to describe business processes and BPR, the scale of the changes involved in BPR, and the significance and role of information technology (IT) in BPR, especially IT systems. As the main theme of this thesis is applying EM to BPR, it is essential to understand some factors which cause BPR projects failure due to the poor design of the supporting systems under the conventional paradigm.
3.1 Business Process Reengineering: Introduction
BPR is known by many names, such as ‘core process redesign’, ‘new industrial engineering’ or ‘working smarter’. All of them imply the same concept which focuses on integrating both business process redesign and deploying IT to support the reengineering work. In this section we attempt to explore two questions: where does BPR come from and what is involved in BPR (i.e. its principles and assumptions).
§ 3.1 Business Process Reengineering: Introduction
Yih-Chang Chen (2001) “Empirical Modelling for Participative Business Process Reengineering”
3
Business Process Reengineering
Page 69
3.1.1 What is BPR?
Generally the topic of BPR involves discovering how business processes currently operate, how to redesign these processes to eliminate the wasted or redundant effort and improve efficiency, and how to implement the process changes in order to gain competitiveness. The aim
Links: is, the improvements in TQM are smaller than the ones in BPR. Butler (1994) elucidates the difference between BPR and TQM as: § 3.1 Business Process Reengineering: Introduction Yih-Chang Chen (2001) “Empirical Modelling for Participative Business Process Reengineering” may be blocked by organisational boundaries, “like a wave dashing against a sea wall” as Stewart (1993) describes. § 3.1 Business Process Reengineering: Introduction Yih-Chang Chen (2001) “Empirical Modelling for Participative Business Process Reengineering” flows and cut across organisational functions. MacIntosh and Francis (1997) justify the claim that BPR highlights the delays, errors and inefficiencies which are introduced when passing information and work the organisation’s torn fabric. (Davenport, 1996) Also in 1998 it was reported that only around 30% of BPR projects were regarded as a success (Galliers, 1998) discuss the path to reach the final situation; Chen et al. (2000a) explain that one reaction to this failure was to retain faith in IT as a dominant support and just admit that since it could not adapt – or at least (Riemer, 1998) § 3.2 Problems Facing BPR Yih-Chang Chen (2001) “Empirical Modelling for Participative Business Process Reengineering” 3