IT-ENABLED BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING - ORGANIZATIONAL AND HUMAN-RESOURCE DIMENSIONS

The paper addresses how IT-enabled business process reengineering (BPR) can be delivered to organizations. Firstly, it reviews the relevant literature and a recent UK survey and suggests that BPR activity is too often methods driven. Methods tend to be partial in their approach to issues that need a more holistic perspective. In particular IT-enabled or IT-driven BPR programmes are likely to marginalize attention to human, social and political processes, despite the fact that these may be strong determinants of success or failure. Three case studies - set in aerospace, pharmaceuticals and health care - are used to pursue these themes. They demonstrate that BPR raises political issues that are inherent, not marginal to BPR activity. The political dimensions of BPR are discussed and an approach to managing the political human and organizational issues is detailed.