【正文】 e process orientation a strategic tool and a core petence of the organization, BPR concentrates on core business processes, and used the specific techniques within JIT and TQM 39。toolboxes39。 as enablers, while broadcasting the process vision. (Johansson et al, 1993, p6) These writers analogy is of breaking the china and then putting the pieces back together again in a new way (p6). Their emphasis is very much an operations approach with all other functions, including those upstream and/or downstream with customers or suppliers, merged into one integrated operation, so that a sense of inescapability and/or symbiosis is generated (p7). Davenport prefers the term business process innovation: Reengineering is only part of what is necessary in the radical change of processes。 it refers explicitly to the design of the new process. The term process innovation enpasses the envisioning of new work strategies, the actual process design activity, and the implementation of the change in all its plex technological, human, and organisational dimensions. (Davenport, 1993, p2) He also has an operations leaning especially using IT for pletely new ways of undertaking business, different not only to the organisation but to the industry. Andrews amp。 Stalick highlight the importance of the organisational integration aspects of BPR, defining it as: radically changing how people work changing business policies and controls, systems and technology, organizational relationships and business practices, and reward programs. (Andrews amp。 Stalick, 1994, p xiii) They too emphasise destroying old ways of thinking and operating, and the key role of information technology (p xiii). These definitions, from some of the pioneer writers and practitioners, are sufficient to pick out the mon threads. One key aspect of BPR is that it defines pletely new and radical ways of how an organisation undertakes its activities. Often they will innovative. Because these new ways cut right across an organisation, and even outside it, affecting all parts they are seen as revolutionary. BPR is at a high level within an organisation and driven by external and strategic demands. It should be differentiated from process improvements, which is defined as incremental changes to existing processes. Successful implementations of BPR bring order of magnitude improvements in business benefits. Impact on the Organisation Because it encapsulates the key ponents of an organisation and because it has Shared Values (or Culture) at its centre, McKinsey39。s 7 S model will be used as a framework to assess the impact of BPR on the organisation (figure ). Figure McKinsey39。s seven S diagram (Henley, 1991, p33) First, each of these elements will be defined. Systems Systems are codified knowledge, organised in a logical sequence. (Henley, 1991, p47). They are the processes, methods, procedures, rules, techniques, technology, manuals, etc. that ensure that work is undertaken efficiently and accurately. They are the instructions that guide staff and management in their daily tasks. All the BPR definitions either explicitly or implicitly refer to these attributes of Systems as the following examples of BPR implementation demonstrate. Rohm, in his review of BPR at the Principal Financial Group Inc., gives an example from its field support transaction. Called Licensing and Contracting, the impact on processes was significant: Under the old system, this was a sixteenstep process requiring input from nine people stationed in different areas and on different floors of the home office. The new structure enabled this process to be cut to six steps, requiring the work of only three people. (Rohm, 1992) As a result, customers were provided with a single contact person who could execute and manage the whole process. Often, as Davenport highlights, new processes are enabled by new technology. As an example, he mentions Federal Mogul, an auto parts manufacture, who is using technology so that many designers can work on a new prototype design simultaneously (p99). Thus, both the new technology and the new multifunction positions demand employees learn new techniques. Structures Henley (1991) defines these as How an organisation breaks down its activities into distinct elements and how these elements are coordinated (p34). Henley goes on to identify 6 distinct type of organisation: 1. Simple structure (the one man band) 2. machine bureaucracy 3. professional bureaucracy 4. divisionalised form 5. adhocracy 6. cult organisation (Henley, 1991, p3537) Having redefine the key processes within an organisation, the next step within BPR is to restructure the organisation along process lines. Process organisations introduce a new form of organisation that aims to break away from many of the above traditional types, particularly the bureaucracies and divisional forms. Hammer amp。 Champy remend a move to much flatter structures organised around the processes (Chap. 4), whereas Davenport remends a multidimensional matrix structure, with process responsibility as a key dimension (p 160). To achieve this, Johansson et al (1993) states: the new organisation must acmodate a balance between functional expertise and process involvement and goes on to say it is essential to remove functional barriers (p191). Andrews amp。 Stalick (1994) emphasise even the boundaries between your customers and your suppliers and you must be redefined. (p219). In the Principal Financial Group Inc. example given above: Like many other organizations in financial services, the Individual Insurance Department at that time was structured mainly along product lines. ... there were many management layers, ... and then, after BPR: From now on, it was agreed, virtually every worker would bee part of a multifunctional team, .... To increase responsibility and accountability at the lowest levels, the number of management layers would be reduced to three (Rohm, 1