Page 663 - Encyclopedia of Business and Finance

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Reinforcement Theory

1. Resistance to change—Failure to understand the logical solution is far less important than educating
extent and nature of involvement of employees employees to use IT as both a strategic initiative and as a
throughout the process, a critical prerequisite for tool in the reengineering process. IT can prove useful dur-
effective implementation of changes ing the reengineering analysis and design process. Graph-
2. Corporate culture—Traditional operating style that is ics software and computer-aided software engineering
top-to-bottom and not participatory often dooms a tools can produce process maps; spreadsheets and costing
project, even if enthusiastically supported by the software allow for activity-based cost analysis; databases
project team can track customer satisfaction and complaints; and
“blind” electronic-mail bulletin boards can be used to cap-
3. Organizational inertia—Indifference on the part of
key executives to the need for comprehensive under- ture employee suggestions.
standing and participating of all employees During the implementation stage, it is recommended
that companies follow these basic rules: recognize that IT
is only part of the solution—it allows managers to collect,
REASONS FOR OUTSOURCING
store, analyze, and communicate and distribute informa-
Among the key reasons companies outsource BPR proj- tion better; bring in internal or external IT experts
ects are:
because their knowledge, skills, acumen, and experience
• They are able to negotiate and control costs are invaluable; and, after implementation, continually
monitor IT performance and keep up with new IT devel-
• It frees up in-house resources for other purposes
opments.
• They can secure resources, especially reengineering
management skills not available internally SEE ALSO Management
• Reengineering efforts may be accelerated through
the use of such experts BIBLIOGRAPHY
Castano, Silvana, de Antonellis, Valeria, and Melchiori, Michele
(1999). A methodology and tool environment for process
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN analysis and reengineering. Data and Knowledge Engineering,
CONTINUOUS PROCESS 31(3), 253–278.
IMPROVEMENT AND BPR Maull, R. S., Tranfield, D. R., and Maull, W. (2003). Factors
Continuous process improvement begins by documenting characterizing the maturity of BPR programmes. Interna-
what one does today, establishing some measures for tional Journal of Operations and Production Management,
process flow, measuring performance, and identifying and 23(6), 596–624.
implementing improvement. BPR begins with defining
the scope and objectives of the reengineering project,
Nashwa George
learning from customers, employees, competitors, and
technology, creating a vision for the future and designing
new business processes, creating a plan for action during
the transition period, and implementing a solution. BPR REINFORCEMENT
efforts are far more comprehensive than those involved in
continuous process improvement. THEORY
SEE Motivation
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN
REENGINEERING
Most analysts view reengineering and information tech-
nology (IT) as irrevocably linked. Wal-Mart, for example, RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
would not have been able to reengineer the processes used In the competitive global economy of the twenty-first cen-
to procure and distribute mass-market retail goods with- tury, managers are challenged to make tough business
out IT. In another well-known example, Ford Motor decisions, such as how to keep an annual growth rate of
Company was able to decrease its number of employees in 20 percent, how to increase employee productivity, how
its procurement department by 75 percent by using IT in to improve product quality, how to cut down costs, and
conjunction with BPR. how to reduce the employee turnover rate. To make such
Despite studies that indicated that over half of all decisions correctly, managers need research, which is a sys-
reengineering efforts were initiated because of a perceived tematic inquiry that provides scientific findings and con-
IT opportunity, it has been noted that the actual techno- clusions to guide business decisions.

640 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION