Business Process Re-engineering (BPR)

A Business Process Re-engineering is a management process used to re-define the mission statement, analyses the critical success factors, re-design the organizational structure. The re-engineer the critical processes in order to improve customer satisfaction.

BPR challenges managers to rethink their traditional methods of doing work and commit themselves to a customer-focused process. Many outstanding organizations have achieve and maintained their leadership through BPR.

Companies using these techniques have reported significant bottom-line results, including better customer relations, reductions in cycle time to market, increased productivity, fewer defects/errors and increased profitability. BPR uses recognized techniques for improving business results and questions the effectiveness of the traditional organizational structure.

Defining, measuring, analyzing and re-engineering work processes to improve customer satisfaction pays off in many different ways.

Why is BPR Useful?

Improvements in business performance of, say, 10-15 per cent can be achieve in most companies using conventional consultancy techniques. Where quantum leaps are require -- for example, where the old needs to be completely replace with the new -- then re-engineering is a good way forward. The key to grasping the way BPR differs from other improvement studies lies in understanding the focus, breadth and duration of the re-engineering process.

The primary focus is on the customers -- those people who pay the money which keeps the business going. So if a process does not help to serve a customer then why have the process in the first instance? Although BPR requires a detail knowledge of what the customers want it does not demand a highly detail understanding of the tasks involve in every activity of the business.

This makes BPR economical in terms of investigation time when compare with conventional methods, in which highly-detailed studies are usually undertaken before any change is made. BPR requires that those conducting the study are highly experience in business practices and systems, and are able to identify the features of the business which are crucial to its success. A high-level in-house team, working with experience consultants, would be able to provide the necessary expertise.

BPR Approach

A further facet of the BPR approach concerns the speed with which changes are introduce. Conventional wisdom states that change is best brought about through an evolutionary approach. If it is require to introduce a radically change organization, it can be argue that it makes good sense to carry out the necessary changes quickly. Many major BPR projects have been implement within one year.

How to Implement the BPR

Organizations will avoid the problems of 'change programmers’ by concentrating on 'process alignment' -- recognizing that people's roles and responsibilities must be related to the processes in which they work. Senior managers may begin the task of process alignment by a series of BPR steps that are distinct but clearly overlap. This recommend path develops a self-reinforcing cycle of commitment, communication, and culture change. The steps are as follows.

1. : Gain commitment to change through the organization of the top team.


2. : Develop a share vision and mission of the business and of what change is require.


3. : Define the measurable objectives, which must be agree by the team. As being the quantifiable indicators of success in terms of the mission.


4. : Develop the mission into its Critical Success Factors (CSFs) to coerce and move it forward.


5. : Break down the CSFs into the key or critical business processes and gain process ownership.


6. : Break down the critical processes into sub-processes, activities and task and form the teams around these.


7. : Re-design, monitor and adjust the process-alignment in response to difficulties in the change process.

BPR creates change. Change must create something that did not exist before, namely a 'learning organization' capable of adapting to a changing competitive environment.

Continual improvement

A learning organization aims to create a self-perpetuating momentum which changes the culture of the organization. That is to say, the aim is that the norms, values and attitudes underpinning behaviors be change towards continual questioning and continual improvement.

It embraces human resources development on the one hand, and systems development (including BPR) on the other. For without addressing the systems of an organization, from communication and information systems. To reward and recognition systems, you are building your houses on sand, foundations.

The organization must also learn how to continually monitor and modify. Its behavior to maintain the change-sensitive environment. Some people will, of course, find it difficult to accept the changes and perhaps will be incapable of making the change. In spite of all the direction, support and peer pressure brought about by the process alignment.

There will come a time to replace those managers and people who cannot function in the new organization. After they have been given the opportunity to make the change.

With the growth of people's understanding of what kind of managers and employees the new organization needs. From experience of seeing individuals succeed and fail, top management will begin to accept. The need to replace or move people to other parts of the organization.