Re-engineering the Corporation by Hammer & Champy - Book Report/Review Example

Running Head: Reengineering the Corporation Reengineering the Corporation Customer’s Name Customer’s Course: Tutor’s Name: July 18th, 2012 Reengineering the corporation is a well written book describing the concept of Business Reengineering in great detail. This book was descriptively written by Michael Hammer who was the inventor of the business reengineering theory and James Champy, a prominent management guru of the 1990s (Hammer & Champy, 1993). In this book, Hammer & Champy argue that for any company to survive in a competitive market, it has to undergo the process of reengineering. According to the authors, reengineering involves restructuring and reconstruction of work processes in a corporation in a bid to bring about efficiency. Hammer & Champy are not hesitant to state that for this process to be successful, effective management is needed to oversee the process (Hammer & Champy, 1993). This book shares the experiences of several well known corporations such as IBM and Ford among others that have managed to successfully reengineer themselves. The first chapter of the book, ‘The crisis will not go away’ discusses the inappropriateness of Adam Smith’s theories in modern business environments because they do not provide effective utilization of resources. This chapter discusses in detail how businesses tend to lose money, be bloated, clumsy, rigid, and ineffective (Hammer & Champy, 1993). Chapters two and three of the book generalizes the different problems facing many corporations in the United States and how they can be solved. Champy & Hammer also stress on the importance of restructuring and downsizing with respect to corporations. In these chapters, the authors mention that corporations should change the focus of work processes towards task oriented jobs. In chapters four and five of the book, Hammer & Champy address the question of technology and its impact on a company. The authors clearly think that technology is part and parcel of the reengineering process. On the other hand chapters six, up to eight discuss the need for reengineering and the necessary steps of the process. In these chapters, the authors explain how reengineering can be done in a wide range of corporate environments. As I was reading this book, I could not help but think about its relevance and usefulness in the modern business environment. I feel that the book is absolutely relevant to all stakeholders in a corporation ranging from shareholders to top level management and even the ordinary employees in the company. This is because the reengineering process affects them all in one way or another. On one hand, strong leadership is required to oversee the reengineering process while on the other hand, the reengineering process empowers employees. Indeed, in chapter six of this book, Hammer and Champy describe reengineering as a process whereby teamwork plays a major role. The other reason why I felt that this book is well suited for top level managers is because chapters 4 and 5 describe the role of the manager in the reengineering process. In these chapters, the authors state that it is vital for top level managers to know that their role changes from the traditional roles of allocating work to that of a coach who helps in trouble shooting. Since the reengineering process is driven by teamwork, managers should also not be seen as obstacles to the implementation of various changes but rather as professional leaders (Hammer & Champy, 1993). I also feel that this book also offers great advice to companies that want to start up the reengineering process. The authors suggest that such companies should start the process by first identifying the problems that need to be corrected in the company (Hammer & Champy, 1993). Companies should not neglect planning because failing to plan is planning to fail. The authors’ advice in this issue is that the success of the endeavor depends on how the corporation chooses and organizes the reengineering team. Another observation I made is that this book is still relevant in today’s business. This is because it challenges companies to reorganize the whole process of how they do commerce. Reengineering is a comprehensive approach to managerial design, one which is intended to annul the escalation of bureaucracy. In the writers’ estimation, bureaucracy was, and still is, the answer to the predicament of holding together broken down work processes. However, it is a bulky and costly solution that many companies can no longer manage to pay for. In fact, most organizations would be in a better position by reengineer work processes so that they are no longer fragmented (Hammer & Champy, 1993). Much of the traditional bureaucracy that is still practiced in most corporations today would be no longer desired and could be done away with. After reading this book, I also felt that it is still relevant today as it was in the 90s because it addresses the critical issue of technology use in a business. Chapter 5 of this book discusses the wrong steps that corporations take in adopting technology (Hammer & Champy, 1993). I agree with the Hammer and Champy that business owners and managers should first study and understand a given technology before they decide to implement it in the organization. In my own opinion, employees in various corporations should also read this book because it is of significant relevance to them. The book makes it clear in chapter 4 that employees also have a part to play in the reengineering process. The most significant change that reengineering brings about to employees is on their job orientation. In chapter 4, the authors declare that employees must change their focus and become more client, performance and marketing oriented (Hammer & Champy, 1993). The reengineering process as Champy and Hammer describes it, makes the employees understand the significance of clients to a business. In conclusion, I think that this book is well written and is still relevant in the modern business environment since technology and processes continue to develop. This book describes the significance and the benefits of the reengineering process. Just as Hammer and Champy mention in the prologue and in chapter one, I think that reengineering is here to stay. In my own opinion, this book offers great and significant advice to all the stakeholders in a corporation including shareholders, managers and even the employees. Reference Hammer, M. & Champy, J. (1993). Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution. New York: Harper Business Read More