Module 0-3: Text 1

e-TERM reference*

TPC3

Version no.*

1

Version date*

2001-09-20

Contributor*

Cain, Piers

Author/s*

Hammer, Michael, and Champy, James

Title*

Chapter 2: Reengineering - the path to change

Print availability

Reengineering the Corporation: a manifesto for business revolution (New York: HarperBusiness, 1993), 31-49.

Electronic availability

-

Copyright

© 1993 by Michael Hammer and James Champy.

Introduction

Reengineering the Corporation: a manifesto for business revolution was an international bestseller that popularised the notion that it is possible to implement a radical redesign of a company's processes, organisation and culture to achieve a quantum leap in performance.

The authors define reengineering as 'the fundamental rethinking and radical design of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service and speed'. They analyse this definition and illustrate its meaning through short case studies of leading international companies. The case studies may appear to be slightly dated because they describe what is largely the replacement of business processes based on using paper to automated solutions. In practice reengineering now may involve transforming one automated solution to another automated solution. However, they clearly demonstrate the principles underlying business process reengineering.

Dr Michael Hammer is credited as being the originator and leading exponent of the concept of reengineering. He is the author of the seminal Harvard Business Review article 'Reengineering Work: Don't Automate, Obliterate'. James Champy is chairman of CSC Index is an expert on the implementation of business reengineering initiatives. His firm pioneered the development and practice of reengineering.

Relevance

Useful introduction to a key strand in management thinking.

Concepts*

Business processes
Reengineering

Cases

-

Module no.*

0-3

Role

-

Contribution to learning objectives*

Preliminary reading

-

Reading help

Concentrate on pp 32-46. Note that although the authors are describing how records are being created and used, records management is never mentioned.

Discussion

The case studies describe basic business processes: credit control, procurement and engineering design. They describe how transactions generate records and how these relate to business processes. Pay attention to analytical method; the description of the workflows and the information and records generated by these processes. Think about the definition of process used by the authors and the emphasis they place on ignoring traditional organisational boundaries.

What implications would there be on the way an archivist or records manager would arrange and describe these records? Would description arranged around business processes and information systems be more useful than 'traditional' archival description? Is there a contradiction between these approaches, or can they be reconciled?

Assignment

Business process reengineering concentrates on using information technology to radically change the way people work. Write a short paper outlining the impact the changes described in the case studies would have on the way the records generated by these processes would be managed. Would it make any difference at all?

Further reading

Records Management Application (RMA), Records and Forms Management Division Office of Support Services Department of Management
http://www.state.mi.us/dmb/
mgmtserv/oss/rfmd/rma/index.htm
The RMA Pilot Project has three primary goals: (1) to assess the ability of an RMA to classify, manage, and execute retention requirements, including the identification and segregation of archival records; (2) to analyse the cultural impact that RMAs have on agency staff, information technology personnel, records managers, and archivists; and (3) to conduct a business process analysis and evaluate the potential for RMAs to be used enterprise-wide. The Records and Forms Management Division of the Department of Management and Budget is conducting the pilot project in collaboration with the State Archives of Michigan of the Department of State. The National Historical Publications and Records Commission is providing funding for this project.