The term “reengineering” has acquired a certain

cachet, and it has been attached to all kinds of Try to fix a process

with reengineering: The
programs that in fact have nothing to do with instead of changing it
key to success lies in
radical process redesign.
knowledge and ability,
not in luck.

Job designs, organizational structures, management sys-

tems—everything associated with the process—must be
refashioned in order to maintain a coherent business system
diamond.
the progressive management of the U.S. subsidiary of a major
Ignore everything
European company commissioned several task forces of workers
except process redesign
DRG had to redesign its job-rating schemes, to address the critical issues of the day: empowerment,
compensation policies, career paths, recruitment and training pro- teamwork, innovation, customer service, and so on.
grams, promotion policies—practically every management system,
Don’t focus on business
in other words—in order to support the new process designs.
processes They describe characteristics or attributes that one might want an
organization to exhibit, but there is no direct way to achieve them.

They are consequences of process designs and they can only be

achieved in that context.
The temptation to take the easy
Be willing to settle for
path and to settle for the marginal
minor results
improvement is great.

When Ford reengineered the way it paid its

corporate management narrowly defines
the problem to be solved
or limits its scope.
vendors, workers’ attitudes and behaviors had
Place prior constraints on the
to shift as well. Purchasing personnel could no
definition of the problem and the
longer view vendors as adversaries to be
scope of the reengineering effort
beaten down. They had to be viewed as Ford’s
partners in a shared business process.

The first reason that the push for

reengineering must come from
DRG reengineered its process for reviewing
the top of an organization is that people near
insurance applications, it also had to make a
the front lines lack the
radical change in its culture. Supervisors could no
It is axiomatic that managers must motivate employees

SUCCEEDING AT
broad perspective that reengineering
Try to make longer be taskmasters, but had to function as
demands. reengineering never, to rise to the challenge of these
reengineering happen Neglect people’s values providers of service to the employees actually
ever happens from the processes by supporting the new
from the bottom up and beliefs performing the work—making sure that case
bottom up. values and beliefs the processes
any business process inevitably crosses
organizational boundaries, so no midlevel manager
REENGINEERING demand.
workers had all the tools and supportthey
needed to do their jobs.

will have sufficient authority to insist that such a

process be transformed.
New management systems must cultivate the
required values by rewarding behavior that exhibits
them.

Senior management leadership is a necessary Assign someone who senior managers must also give speeches about
prerequisite for suc- doesn’t understand these new values, as well as demonstrate their
cessful reengineering, but not just any senior reengineering to lead commitment to them by their personal behavior.
manager will do. the effort

some companies abandon reengineering or scale

Reengineering requires sharp focus and enormous Quit too early back their reengineering goals at the first sign of
discipline, which is another way of saying that Dissipate energy across a problem.
companies must concentrate their reengineering a great many
efforts on a small number of processes at any given reengineering projects
Allow existing corporate cultures and A company’s prevailing cultural characteristics can
time.
management attitudes to prevent inhibit or defeat a reengineering effort before it
reengineering from getting started begins.
The business media are brimming over with ideas and
Fail to distinguish
programs to make companies better: quality
reengineering from company cannot achieve the
improvement, strategic alignment, “rightsizing,”
other business performance breakthroughs that reengineering
customer-supplier partnerships, innovation, and
improvement programs promises without investing in its reengineering
empowerment, to name a few.
Skimp on the resources program.
devoted to
Reengineering isn’t to everyone’s advantage. Some reengineering
Try to make Reengineering also demands the direct and
employees do have a vested interest in current
reengineering happen personal involvement
operations, some people will lose their jobs, and
without making of senior management.
some workers may be uncomfortable with their jobs
anybody unhappy
postreengineering.

Bury reengineering in
Reengineering is stressful for everyone in a company,
the middle of the
and stretching Drag the effort out
corporate agenda
it over a long time period extends the discomfort.

making fundamental changes in

business processes will inevitably have major
consequences for the
structure of the company and many of its management
The first step in managing
Pull back when people resist making systems.
resistance, however, is to expect it and not let it set
reengineering’s changes
the effort back. Attempt to reengineer
when the CEO is two CEO closed to retirement is the effect that the
years from retirement impending change at the top is likely to have on
other managers.

It’s also about translating

Beware of CEOs who, near retirement, contend that
new designs into reality. The difference between
they are now ready to accept the risks that
winners and losers
reengineering entails.
at reengineering doesn’t usually lie in the
quality of their respective
ideas, but in what they do with them.
Concentrate exclusively
on design

payoffs of successful reengi-

neering are spectacular—for the individual
company, for its managers and its employees,
Organizations that approach and for the American economy as a whole.
reengineering with understanding, commitment,
and strong executive leadership will succeed at it.