Business Process Re-Engineering - Essay Example

BUSINESS PROCESS RE-ENGINEERING By Part Evaluation of BPR Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is widely used in various organisations in the world. This strategy framework was first used in the 1990s and has proved over time that it is an effective tool for bringing greater performance in organisations (Deans, & Ricks, 1993, p.16) The proponents of this strategy aimed at redesigning how workflows in an organisation. It should, however, be noted that success rates are high among organisations that conduct a successful redesign of the processes. Previous research has shown that only thirty percent of the BPR initiatives register success for over five years in the corporate world (DeToro, and McCabe 1997, p. 59). This, therefore, means that 70% of the BPR initiatives do not see the light after the fifth year of implementation. Several scholars have defined this strategy as a model of radical redesign of business processes sand organisational change that is primarily based on recognising and discarding current business operations and starting afresh again (Hammer, & Champy, 2009, p. 36). Business process reengineering is an important aspect especially in the ever-changing business environment. It helps an organisation to keep track of changes in its environment of operation (Hammer, & Champy, 2009, p. 33). Most organisations that have pursued this course are considered innovative since BPR efforts are geared towards change. This strategy has led to the emergence of Business Process Management model that has changed the way organisations are managed (DeToro, and McCabe 1997, p. 56). BPR is a good strategy for organizations that evaluates their productivity by closely looking at the business processes and thinking about the best way to streamline them for the better performance. This strategy consists of many drivers that are utilised during implementation. According to Zairi (1997, p. 76) the drivers include globalisation, advancing technology, stakeholders’ actions, organisational boundary erosion, and regulation. Some scholars who have provided useful insights into this strategy have argued that BPR lacks the relevant coherent theoretical framework that provides more insight on implementation. Today global competition brought change in the management styles of many organisations. It is one of the tools used in competition in the business environment. BPR creates one important advantage i.e. improving the measures of performance such as costs, service, customer satisfaction, speed, and productivity (Zairi, 1997, p. 78). This brings a major change internally and externally in regard to quality, innovativeness and effectiveness thereby creating and increased value for both the customer and the employee (Deans, & Ricks, 1993, p.18). Academicians have identified several dimensions of BPR, which include organisational culture, organisational structure, management style, and information technology (Haghighat, & Mohammadi 2012, p. 286). A careful change in the mentioned dimensions brings about a complete change in the organisation. Due to this any organisation that aims to use this management approach must assess its readiness to reduce the chances of failure because 70-80 percent of BPR projects fail in less than five years. Implementation of BPR could have challenges especially if the organisation did not make sufficient preparation for the implementation. On successful implementation, business process reengineering is a good management approach that can yield beneficial change in an organisation (Deans, & Ricks, 1993, p.20). This is only if its implementation is done with focus and with the commitment to change. It should, however, be noted that organisations that have approached BPR with a check on all the necessary requirements for its successful implementation have registered much success. It is, therefore, a good management approach for organisations to compete in the ever-changing environment (Haghighat, & Mohammadi 2012, p. 286). Part 2. Individual Reflection Business Process Reengineering is an approach that has given many organisations a reason to continue operating in the turbulent business environments. Many organisations use this strategy to manage their public relations. Many times it is easy to come across a conspicuously written sign boards (Dixon et al., 1994, p. 93).’Now Under New Management’. This strategy involves the use of BPR to boost customer confidence and bring back the good image. Business process reengineering is not without its challenges (Elmuti, & Kathawala, 2000, p. 32). When a firm decided to redesign its business processes, many people within and without the firm may be affected negatively. Employees are the most vulnerable group because of they are directly affected by what happens. This happens if an employee takes long to adapt to the new change or finds it hard to accept changes. When business process reengineering was developed back in the 1990s, Hammer and Champy (2009) in their book titled “Reengineering the Corporation” asserted that BPR is the only way organisations could cut down the waste on cost and improve the quality of the services they offer to their customers. These two gentlemen suggested seven principles that are important in the reengineering process across various organisations from various industries. The principles include (1) organising the tasks around the outcomes. This means that tasks are directly related to the expected outcomes. (2) The identification of all the business processes and classifying them in ranks of urgency. (3) Integration of information processing into work (real) that provides information. (4) Treatment of resources that are geographically dispersed as though they are centralised. (5) Instead of integrating the results of parallel activities, link the activities so that they comfortably inform each other. (6) Putting off the decision points closer to the work point to help build control of the process and capturing of the information only once and at the source (Weiss, 1994, p.37). Any successful implementation of BPR must be presided on specific, measurable objectives based on all the factors that affect the business in question. Reengineering of the business processes has been reported to fail if all the factors and stakeholders are not taken on board (Hammer and Champy, 2009). The process of implementing business BPR includes the sharing of the business vision and goals of all relevant parties so as to help them understand the direction of change. This is important because it aligns the minds and actions of these people in one path towards a common course. After this important step, all the slacking processes are identified and the best way to redesign them determined. At this point, benchmarking may be necessary to find out how the best competitors in the industry go about it. In almost all the modern firms, information systems create an important value especially in communication and execution of various business processes (Feltes, & Karuppan, 1995, p.3). It, therefore, becomes the next thing to examine. Its capabilities are vetted against the needs of the organisation and the best way to realign things determined. When all is done, a new design of activities is created and tested. This comes with the restructuring of the manner in which activities are conducted in the firm. Management of change is very important here since some people may be unwilling to accept change. Sometimes an organisation is forced to lay off some employees in the course of restructuring. A successful BPR is realised through various results i.e. customer needs to become the greatest priority of the firm, cost advantages start accruing to the firm due to the improved cost efficiency, a strategic view of all the business processes and operations by the management, more focus of the employees on the business goals and objectives and that everyone gets motivated to change the way things work (Beugre, 1998, p.354). Signs that the system has failed is manifested through the various ways i.e. adjustments resulting from the whole process show minor improvements of the existing processes, the employees commitment to the change is low, one department or section of the business benefits at the expense of other areas and if the focus is more on the internal restructuring without a paying attention to the manner in which the external environment restructure. Successful Examples of BPR Implementation The Ford Company following the suggestions of Michael Hammer one of the scholars who have contributed much to BPR implemented a successful reengineering. Hammer suggested that the company eliminates the invoice and instead preferred the use of online check that greatly reduced the workforce need in the accounts payable department (Beugre, 1998, p.355). Hallmark, on the other hand, was spending 3 years to bring a new product to the market and after the company had identified new markets, the executive arm of the company was faced with a new challenge of getting the product to the market faster. They believed that product development process needed redesigning (Beugre, 1998, p.356). Using BPR they decided to redesign this process into one year in the course of implementation assessment, they learned that the company was using 75% of its productive stage in the planning and conceptualisation of the card than on printing. After a successful re-engineering of the process, the new card hit the market within eight months (Beugre, 1998, p.357). Conclusion In conclusion, business process reengineering is an important tool of management that has helped many companies to pursue their goals with a renewed focus and energy. Some of the benefits of this management framework include, increased customer satisfaction, increased employee satisfaction, increased flexibility in the organisation, maintains the firm’s competitive advantage, brings lean processes into an organisation, improved way of cost management and increased effectiveness of the internal processes. References Berger, C.D. 1998, "Implementing business process reengineering: The role of organizational justice", The Journal of applied behavioral science, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 347-360. Deans, P. C., & Ricks, D. A. (1993). An agenda for research linking information systems and international business: theory, methodology and application.Journal of Global Information Management (JGIM), 1(1), 6-20. DeToro, I. and McCabe, T. 1997, "How to stay flexible and elude fads", Quality Progress, Vol. 30 No. 3, pp. 55-60. Dixon, J.R., Arnold, P., Heineke, J., Kim, J.S. & Mulligan, P. 1994, "Business process reengineering: Improving in new strategic directions", California management review, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 93. Elmuti, D. & Kathawala, Y. 2000, "Business Reengineering: Revolutionary management tool, or fading fad?", Business Forum, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 29-36. Feltes, P. & Karuppan, C.M. 1995, "Reengineering: Getting down to the business of doing business", Industrial Management, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 3. Haghighat, F. & Mohammadi, M. 2012, "Designing the Model of Effective Factors on Acceptance of Business Process Reengineering(BPR) Case study: Isfahan Municipality", Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research In Business, vol. 3, no. 9, pp. 281-289. Michael, H. & James, C. 2009, “Reengineering the Corporation: Manifesto for Business Revolution,” A. Zondervan. Michael, H. & James, C. 2009, “Reengineering the Corporation: Manifesto for Business Revolution,” A. Zondervan. Weiss, J. 1994, "Reengineering the small business", Small Business Reports, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 37. Zairi, M. 1997, "Business process management: a boundary less approach to modern competitiveness", Business Process Management, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 64-80. Read More