Issues and Dilemmas Facing Organizations in the Effective Implementation of BPR

Abstract

Business process re-engineering (BPR) is a recent change phenomenon that has grabbed the attention of those working in public sector and private sector organizations. In the organizational sense BPR is identified as a key strategic initiative for achieving business improvement in the 1990s. The failure rate of such initiatives once undertaken, however, is reported to be quite high. Why should that be? This article provides some evidence as to why this could be the case. It draws on current literature which centres on three key issues, namely: classifying, planning and managing a BPR initiative. Each of these issues is discussed. There is also a lack of empirical evidence of the importance of these issues and the difficulties organisations face when undertaking a BPR initiative. It is all very well indicating a methodology should be followed for such an initiative, yet there is no indication as to how difficult it is to implement each stage of the methodology. Hence, the Information Systems Research Centre, based at Cranfield School of Management, wished to address these issues. The Centre undertook a survey of managers working in the public and private sector attending a symposium on BPR. Five success factors were identified as key to the successful implementation of a BPR initiative, namely: (1) induction; (2) providing skills; (3) commitment to the project; (4) changing roles and systems; and (5) changing culture, attitudes and behaviour. The relative importance, difficulties and implications of these are discussed.