Business process reengineering: A down to earth critique

Abstract

'Change' is a universal phenomenon that many take for granted. Without change, time has no meaning. Even people are essentially dynamic processes, we are constantly changing in multitudinous ways. In light of this, it is reasonable to suggest that organizations are even more dynamic as they are in essence a collective of varied personalities, both internal and external, that interact to form highly complex, evolving entities. Organizations today face acute economic pressures, and rapid rates of technological change. Unsurprisingly, the need for effective techniques to manage organizational and environmental change has never been as urgent as it is today. This paper offers an informative review of one such technique which has dominated management thinking in the 1990 's,Business Process Reengineering (BPR). Although BPR is currently the subject of much academic criticism, it is still being employed as a set of organizational change practices in much of the commercial western world. What follows provides an interpretation of the BPR prescription according to its leading proponents, it then addresses the many issues related to the ambiguous nature of the validity of BPR, and that of its current practice. In short, this paper attempts to offer an overview of the 'BPR phenomenon'.