From TQM to BPR: Two case studies in personnel administration

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is often presented in opposition to Total Quality Management (TQM) although both techniques adopt a process view of improvement. We recently had the opportunity to apply both techniques in two separate personnel departments of a large administrative organization. The first illustrates that the performance of administrative operations may be improved substantially by applying TQM. In the second case, TQM served only as an eye-opener, to convince all parties concerned of the necessity of a BPR approach. For both cases we describe the process of problem formulation and remedial action. The conclusion summarizes our experience with TQM and BPR in this environment.