Michael Hammer (1948-2008) and James Champy (1942- )
Americans Hammer (pictured right) and Champy (pictured right below) are strategy experts whose idea of
reengineering was extremely popular in the 1990’s.
Key book
Reengineering the Corporation
(1993)
Requirements of reengineering
1. Radical re-design of key processes
Reengineering aims to make an organization as customer responsive as possible by radically
re-designing (completely from scratch) its key processes (like production,
marketing and customer service, product development, purchasing and distribution).
- continuous small change (kaizen) isn’t enough.
- reengineering involves big transformational change that leads to dramatic improvements in customer
satisfaction.
2. Great
people (who are well led and motivated)
Reengineering isn’t just a cost cutting exercise but a cultural revolution in which
employees are inspired to commit themselves totally to:
3. Work efficiency, simple structure and cost
reduction
- minimize layers of management.
- empower employees to take responsibility for customer satisfaction.
- eliminate unnecessary work
4. Better ways of doing things
Key questions are:
So vital are:
- creatively and effectively using computer technology.
- replacing old ways of thinking and doing things with new and better
ones.
5. Keep on doing it!
Reengineering is continuously necessary (even when you’re successful) because of the 3 C’s:
Key quotes on
reengineering
Reengineering... means doing more with less.
Reengineering is the fundamental re-thinking and radical re-design of business processes to achieve dramatic
improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service and speed.
Reengineering is not a project; it must be a way of life.
Business reengineering means starting all over, starting from scratch.
Book and article by Michael Hammer
Reengineering Work: Don't automate, obliterate (1990)
This Harvard Business Review article introduced the
idea of reengineering which aims to obliterate obsolete processes, rules and assumptions.
The
Reengineering Revolution Handbook (1995), written with Steven Stanton, pictured
right
The hardest part of
reengineering is “getting people to let go of their old ways and embrace new ones”.
The 5 I's overcome
resistance to such changes:
Incentives (positive and negative).
Information (giving relevant
information).
Intervention (dealing with people
individually).
Indoctrination (convincing people
that change is necessary).
Involvement (people's participation
in making the changes)
Key quote
You are what you
believe.
Book by James Champy
Reengineering Management (1995)
Successful reengineering requires “reengineering management” based upon:
- effective leadership - inspiring creative work to “invent the future” by
producing new customers, ideas and products.
- motivation and empowerment of the right people - rewarding and
educating people to take responsibility for results with the freedom to make their own decisions.
- a social contract in which management agrees to treat people fairly and openly in
return for their dedicated pursuit of excellence, continuous improvement and learning.
Key quote
The only way to gain control is to give it up.
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