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Change approaches & management tools SeCtion tWo
Implementation steps in BPR
1. Prepare the organisation: through clarifying the opportunities and challenges facing the organisation; clear stating the objectives and strategy; and communicating these throughout the organisation;
2. Fundamentally rethink work processes: through identification of current core processes (‘process mapping’); specification of new performance objectives; and design of new processes consistent with objectives. These key tasks are typically well resourced and performed by a cross-functional team to encourage new ways of working. Existing processes are redesigned in accordance with the following rules:
• Processes start and finish with expressed customer needs;
• Simplify old processes through combination and elimination of steps;
• Attend to social as well as technical aspects of processes;
• Do not be constrained by past practice;
• Identify crucial information required at each step;
• Perform activities in their natural order;
• Assume that work is done correctly first time;
• Listen to people who do the work
3. Restructure the organisation: around the new processes identified; and
4. Implement new measurement systems: to reinforce the changes
(Adapted from Iles and Sutherland, 2001, pp. 50–1)
Further reading
1. Bowns I and McNulty T (2000) Reengineering Leicester Royal Infirmary: An Independent Evaluation of Implementation and Impact, Sheffield: School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield.
2. Buchanan DA (1997) The limitations and opportunities of business process reengineering in a politicized organisational climate, Human Relations, 50, 1, 51–72.
3. Dixon J (1994) Business process reengineering: improving in new strategic directions, California Management Review, 36, 93–108.
4. Hammer M and Champney J (1993) Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution, London: Nicholas Brealy.
5. Lessem R (1998) Management Development Through Cultural Diversity. London: Routledge.
6. Packwood T, Pollitt C and Roberts S (1998) Good medicine? A case study of business process re-
engineering in a hospital, Policy and Politics, 26, 4, 401–15.
7. Wastell DG, White P and Kalawek P (1994) A methodology for business process redesign: experience and issues, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 31, 1, 23–40.
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